Week 3 (January 26th- 30th)
In the early part of the week we pitched our instructors on 3 ideas.
- The first was more of a technological pitch on using the Sphero Ball. The idea was to get kids active by having them chase the ball around the room. The instructors raised a few valid points about durability and charging, as well as what might happen if a kid tries to take one. In our research we found that there is a silicon cover that can be purchased for the Sphero adding to its already durable hard plastic frame and adding waterproofing. We tested the
- The second idea was a painting interaction. It would use a top down projector as well as a front facing projector. The input would be the PS Move. The idea would be that the kids paint the white screens by running around them and blasting paint onto the walls. The PS Move would act as a sort of “hose” for the kids to paint the wall. We might even have pre-made outlines of paintings that the kids can try to color in.
- The third idea is a tower defense game that bridges the physical and digital realms. It would be a top down projection but the towers themselves would be physical objects that the kids need to lift and move around to place in the correct locations. Of the three ideas, this might the most difficult for such a young age to understand. This idea may be the most inclusive for older kids that visit the museum as it would introduce a more gamey and strategic element.
Client Visit
We went to West Virginia and met with the client on Wednesday. This was a fantastic learning experience for the team. For the first years, it was their first time on site with a client. We got to take a lot of photos and see what exhibits the museum currently has. We found that most of the kids that were there during normal visiting hours were very young. They were young to the point where we could almost rule out anything that is gamey and start focusing more on a toy like aspect. With this in mind we pitched our ideas to the client. While they really liked the Sphero, there were a lot of limitations which would make it difficult for them to keep track of them. Also, we found that kids would not look up when they chase the ball, but keep their focus downward. This is a potential safety hazard. The painting idea seemed to get everyone excited quickly. This aligns with the teams emotions as well. What is particularly interesting is the museum staff has tried different types of painting and drawing interactions in the past, but none of them really played out too successfully. There are a number of problems with trying to get kids to paint in a physical space, the biggest one being the mess. We can solve that with the digital solution we proposed. The tower defense idea seemed to be ok with the client but they were far less excited about it.
The week Ahead.
We have just one more week until quarters. We will have our art and branding session on Monday. We have set up a 1 week sprint to get a prototype out for the paint idea for quarters. We have a projector and the Playstation now so we can get to work on it. Our goal is to really show how juicy the interaction can be. Joo Yun and Casey will be focusing on some design documentation and iteration while the programs start to tackle our tech challenges.
Until next time,
P4L