Final Project: Mock Up

The Assignment:
We were challenged to create a physical mock up of our design in order to begin to think in detail of the materials we will need and the way we will go about constructing it.

Our Mock Up:

As you can see from our mock up, we planned to have a stiff bottom material which the sensors and the arduino board would be fastened to. The next layer would have another stiffer material capable of pushing on the sensors. The red and blue side would be separated to prevent interaction with the wrong sensors. Above that would be the red and blue pads and the two corresponding lights. The spinning wheel would have had a sensor on the same prong that housed the rubber piece that would slow the wheel when it hits the pins in order to land on a color. The sensor would have picked up the color then communicated to the mat to decide which color to be sensitive.

Revisions to Our Idea:
Due to time and resource restraints we were forced to simplify our idea. We will no longer require that the wheel communicate with the mat board. Instead the mat will be independent. The teacher will instruct the students to sit on a particular section. The students will then sit on that section and cause the button to light up for a certain amount of time then turn off. If they change sides then the other side will be activated in the same way. Also while one side's light is on, the other side cannot be activated as to prevent kids from going back and forth to make the light turn on.

Physical Design Revisions:
We decided to use a plastic bin for the stiffer component of our design. The plan is to cut the top part of the bin and use the new shallow tray as the base of our mat. The lib can be cut as well to make up the second stiff layer.

Materials List:
*indicates we already have this in the We-Lab.

• yoga mats (1 red, 1 blue)
• plastic bin and plastic lid *
• arduino board*
• 2 LED light tags
• small button sensors*
• strips of fabric

Reflection:

I found the mock up exercise very helpful because it helped us visualize our idea and work out any logistical problems that we otherwise would have missed. It also helped Sonja and I get on the same page concerning our idea to make sure that we both have a clear idea of what the plan is.