PAT - TURN
Enjoy taking a break
PAT - TURN is a fun interactive desktop toy that helps user release stress while working/studying from home.
It helps in increasing their focus & memory, while giving them apt break from their screens. It is easy to flip, roll & do tricks with, giving the users endless possibilities of fun.
MENTAL HEALTH
STRESS RELEASE
WORK FROM HOME
TANGIBLE PRODUCT
PHYSICAL COMPUTING
ACADEMIC
GROUP PROJECT
2 WEEKS - 2021
CONTEXT
WHY?
There is stress since people started working from home. The line between work and personal time has become blurry , relaxing has also become screen induced
HOW?
By making them relax, improve focus playing a memory game that increases level of difficulty with correct answers, digital hourglass to take break from screen time.
WHAT?
A tangible product, desktop toy that helps user take a break from the screen. It is fun while it also helps releasing stress and improving their mental health.
DESIGN PROCESS
WHAT IS PHYSICAL COMPUTING?
Physical Computing is building - designing - creating interactive systems that use different kinds of software & hardware to sense or respond to an external stimuli.
Physical computing takes a hands-on approach, spending a lot of time building circuits, soldering, writing programs, building structures to hold sensors & controls, and figuring out how to give the desired output.
Physical Computing
Secondary Research
Primary Research
Insights
Persona
Scenario
Opportunity areas
Tech Explorations
Product Ideation
Form Explorations
User Flow
Technical Details
Making Process
Product Details
Prototype
Key Learnings
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Quarantines, lockdowns, and self-imposed isolation have pushed tens of millions around the world to work from home, accelerating a workplace experiment that had struggled to gain traction before COVID-19 hit.
We researched on the patterns and behaviours seen in people who are working from home, there were many articles, conducted surveys, hypothesis and blogs that defined the scenarios.
The lack of routines and the blurred lines between work and home have negatively impacted mental health, with direct ramifications on their sleep, happiness, and relationships with family members.
The psychological effects of working or studying from home are loneliness and isolation; anxiety, stress, and pressure along with depression.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Primary research guarantees that the information collected is up-to-date and relevant, enabling accurate trends to be revealed. The process followed in primary research was quantitative research via survey.
The survey had a set of questions which focused on the problems faced by the students as well as the working professionals who are currently working remotely.
No. of respondents - 53
INSIGHTS
01
Struggling to find the home-work balance.
02
Suffering from stress, depression, fatigue & unhappiness.
03
The demands of the home environment.
04
Blurring of boundaries between work and home.
05
Negative impact an individual’s mental and physical health.
06
Emotional exhaustion and cognitive overload
Distracted and decreasing attention span.
09
Invasion of privacy & personal space
08
Increased workload and screen time.
07
PERSONA
The next step process was creating personas. It helped us understand the user's needs, experiences, behaviors and goals.
SCENARIO
Once we had the personas ready, we tried to create scenarios to understand the problems as well as the needs and requirements.
SCENARIO A : RAHUL IS TRYING TO STUDY FROM HOME
He got bored and tired.
02
01
Rahul was trying to attend his class.
03
He got distracted by his phone
04
He started getting a headache
SCENARIO B : PRIYA IS TRYING TO GET SOME OFFICE AS WELL AS HOUSE WORK DONE.
She switched off camera to fold clothes
01
Priya was having coffee in meeting.
02
03
She realized she was being talked to
04
She apologized & started concentrating
OPPORTUNITY AREAS
After making the scenarios we were able to understand the patterns followed by the users. This helped us figure out the needs and requirements and opportunity areas that the product could evolve around. Some of them are :
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De - stress : Being able to release some stress that comes off work overload
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Focus : Removing distractions and improving focus and attention of the users
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Screen Time : Being able to decrease screen time
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Break : Taking breaks in between work
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Concentration : Being able to concentrate, relax and relieve unnecessary tension and cut away the clutter of noises.
DESIGN BRIEF
To design a solution in form of a Physical Product that :
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Helps releasing stress for users working/studying from home
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Gives them an apt break time from their screens
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Helps in increasing their focus
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Is a companion for their desks
This product should be interactive, modifies patterns according to the user's focus level, and engages the user by translating motion and sound into a visual experience.
TECHNICAL EXPLORATIONS
We started exploring various sensors and components for technical feasibility.
LED
We explored LED connection with arduino and how the code is responded by these components.
SOUND SENSOR
We explored how led blinks with change in sound when coded with arduino.
ULTRASONIC SENSOR
We explored how the arduino can program the distance, and then we linked it with led and buzzer at different distances to explore varied results.
After exploring multiple technical components, we started exploring what we can do with these. The idea was to be able to de-stress a person using these components. These are some of the explorations.
PRODUCT IDEATION
MUSICAL SPIN
Ideation
This will work as a musical stress release spinning fan. The user rotate fan in clockwise direction, on releasing it, the fan starts moving in opposite direction while playing a calm music.
Inspiration
Working
Buzzer for musical tune
Servo Motor for rotation
Musical Globe
MEMORY GAME
Ideation
The idea is to use coloured lights with sound notes instead of images. A pattern of sound & light will be played which the users replicate. The pattern becomes complex with correct guesses.
Inspiration
Pictorial Memory Game
LEDs and Buzzers for lights & musical tune
Touch sensors
Working
LED HOURGLASS
Ideation
The idea is to make the users take break. This hour glass will have LED matrices, these can be used to take a break while switching off the screens and lights.
Inspiration
LED Matrices
Accelerometer
Working
Hour Glass
Ideation
This will be similar to sponge wall except when the user presses the ball, a vibrating sensation will be felt. It can also be used for eye and neck massages.
Inspiration
Sponge Wall
Sponge ball
Piezoelectric Accelerometers
Working
VIBRATING SPONGE BALL
3D Puzzle
Ideation
Inspire by 3D puzzles, we thought that one side can be a puzzle, this will give the user some time away from screen.
Inspiration
Working
Balls
Sponge Wall
We decided to go forward with only three of these explorations, MEMORY GAME, DIGITAL HOURGLASS and PUZZLE.
FORM EXPLORATIONS
Initially we started exploring multiple forms for the physical product. We wanted it to be user friendly and easy to hold. These were some of the initial form exploration
We then explored dodecahedron because of the perfect shape.
It has 12 sides, all pentagons.
We realized that it might be many sides for a user to interact with, therefore we decided to drop it.
DODECAHEDRON
We then explored truncated octahedron.
It has 8 hexagonal sides, and six squared sides.
It also had the perfect ergonomic of fitting into each other.
TRUNCATED OCTAHEDRON
Due to the limitation of time and the angle of hexagons that came with the shape, we simplified it. This was the Final Form.
FINAL FORM
USER FLOW
We then ideated a user flow in order to get a better understanding of how a user will interact with the product.
TECHNICAL DETAILS - DIGITAL HOURGLASS
The next step was working on the technicalities of memory game, List of Components, Pin Diagram, System Diagram and Code.
LIST OF COMPONENTS
8*8 LED Matrix
Accelerometer: ADXL335USH
Switch Button
Arduino Uno
PCB Board
PIN DIAGRAM
SYSTEM DIAGRAM
CODE
TECHNICAL DETAILS - MEMORY GAME
We then detailed out the same details for the memory game.
LIST OF COMPONENTS
Buzzer
Arduino Uno
Push Button
PCB Board
LEDs
3D Printed Button
PIN DIAGRAM
SYSTEM DIAGRAM
CODE
MAKING PROCESS
Soldering components on PCB
Assembling 3D printed buttons with the circuit
Testing code of digital hourglass with accelerometer
Making the form
PRODUCT DETAILS - DIGITAL HOURGLASS
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2 Matrix are used and placed diagonally.
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60 particles is filled in top matrix
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One particle per second is dropped to bottom matrix.
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It is for the user to take a much needed break for a min.
PRODUCT DETAILS - MEMORY GAME
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Repeat random sequences of flashing lights by pressing the colored pads in the correct order
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It starts off at a nice steady pace.
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The light sequences get more and more complicated as the game continues.
PRODUCT DETAILS - PUZZLE
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A complex maze in the shape of hexagon is on one of the side.
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4 balls, 2 red and yellow balls.
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The game is to get these balls on the center of the maze.
KEY LEARNINGS
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We explored tangible products, how their interactions are different from the digital ones.
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We explored ergonomics as we were making hand held toys.
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We understood the importance of ideations done during hands - on projects.
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We were also able to understand the limitations of the technology we were using.
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We learnt how to work with arduino and other electrical components.
GROUP MEMBERS
Deeksha
Interaction Design '20
Gaurav Singh
Interaction Design '20
