Final Presentation

Here is the final proto-type for our bus stop design. Unfortunately after slaving away for days on the electronic components, we were unable to get the circuitry how we wanted it to run. It would have been really cool if we could have used our device at the final presentation, but we were able create some basic images in illustrator to further explain the poles abilities and functions.

  

I have really enjoyed working with my teammates Pat and Ned over this semester. I feel we worked coherently together and got our design to the best possible for the time we had available. Two things I’ve learned from this project are to manage my time more strictly and consistently record and organise all work conducted on projects.

Moldy Puzzle

Pat came up with a brilliant idea for a quick and easy manufacturing technique to produce the route shape for individual poles. Because every route will have a different map, we had to think of an easy way to manufacture the different route shapes using one machine. Pat's idea involves a series of steal puzzle pieces that all have specific sizes and fit together on a vacuum molding table.

New Model

Our previous idea for the model was soon disregarded as it was far to labour intensive and we were unable to come up with a way of easily bending the laser-cut acrylic with the tools we had access to. After discussion with Tim and Yasu we have come up with a new way of creating our model which seems plausible in a real life manufacturing situation.


The route display will be made of several layers of laser-cut acrylic which house the L.E.D's, sensors, transmitters etc. The wires and other electrical components will be encased in a vacuum molded semi-circle PVC (or similar) tube which covers the entire back half of the pole.

Travel Buddy

With the design of the pole coming to a freeze, we discussed the meaning and intentions of the pole with our tutors. Yasu pointed out that although our design is great and caters to all users' needs, we still needed more interactive communication between the pole users. So we came up with Travel Buddy.

Basically Travel Buddy is an incorporated feature that allows commuters at bus stops to check weather a friend is on their route. Friends will appear as a red flashing L.E.D at their current position. To active Travel Buddy all commuters have to do is simply swipe their go-card on the designated area on the pole.

Scenario Networking

Interaction

Recently we have spent a lot of time concentrating on the functionality and appearance of the pole, now that we are happy with the design we can look into the interaction between the bus driver, user and twitter.


By using the route display, people at bus stops will be communicating indirectly with; bus driver (when bus is selected at stop, alert is sent to driver), other stop patrons (by leaving their chosen route displayed on pole) and twitter pages (twitter page for each bus will show delays, accidents, number of occupants on bus and its location).

The bus driver communicates with; twitter page (using an on-board computer), people at the bus stop (through the L.E.D. position on the pole) and the patrons already aboard the bus.


The people on the bus communicate with; people at the stop and twitter. This is done indirectly thru just being on the bus.

Pole Dilemma's

We met in Pat's garage on Saturday to begin construction of our lo-fi model. We are making it full scale to get a better understanding of how big it should be and we can test how users will be using it.


Pine wood is used as the internal structure of the model. All the electronics (L.E.D's, wires, sensors and power) will be secured into cut-outs in the ply, which will be covered by a semi-translucent piece of acrylic. The acrylic will cover all the routes on the pole and will bend around the edges of the ply, allowing the light from the L.E.D's to refract around the sides of the pole.


- Insert Photo of Model -


It will obviously not be a full working prototype as we don't possess the necessary skills, knowledge and tools. The most we will be able to display is; the selecting of one destination and the distance between your stop and the bus coming. This should quite clearly show the intent of our design.

Context of Use

Initially the new bus route poles would be installed at inner-city bus stop. It is not necessary to have the poles installed in Bus-way stations as there are too many routes to display on the one pole and it is easy enough as is with large maps and digital time tables. All of the poles will be next to a road, so it is import that the pole is aesthetically appropriate, easy to see from a distance and meet public safety criteria.




Many contexts of use exist for the Press Destination. Obviously its main and most important context is catching the bus. As the general population increases, so do the amount of public transport commuters. The Press Destination will both encourage and assist when catching bus services in Brisbane.


Our intent was to design a bus stop pole that would be easy accessible to people who are physically or mentally impaired. Current bus time tables are useless to people who are blind or cannot read. By designing a bus stop that caters to these disabilities, means that anyone is able to use it. Three features of the design assist with this; brail, the priority seating button (activates a speaker both at the stop and on the bus) and the physical shape of route on pole.


Another main context of use for our device is everywhere other then the stops themselves. Twitter pages will be set up for each bus stop in Brisbane. This will allow commuters to access all information on selected bus stop; route images, bus numbers, times, location and capacity.

Moodboard

Research is key

I was having a look for similar or related concepts on the web when i came across an interactive trip planning map. The city of Zaragoza, Spain has partnered with MIT's SENSEable City Lab to design an interactive bus stop. In preparation of hosting the 2008 World Expo, the city installing a new bus service. The Lab's design, the Adaptable Bus Stop, incorporates several types of digital technologies in order to offer new services to the public, allow for cost-effective manufacturing, and enable the generation of advertising revenue. A parametric design model determines a unique design for each stop providing optimal sheltering at minimal cost. Bus riders can plan their trip on a interactive map, exchange community relevant information on a digital message board, surf the web, and use the media on the bus shelter as an interface to their mobile devices. It was really helpful finding this site as it gave us a point of comparison and shows the potential of our design. Below are some photos of the Spanish concept:

Persona's

Sarah McDougal – 19yo




Sarah is 19 years old and has been blind since birth. She is extremely independent and can do most tasks herself; however she gets frustrated by technology and public transport. Sarah lives at Carindale and needs to go into the city to see a specialist. She lives about 120 meters from the nearest bus stop which goes inbound. Because she has had trouble in the past with bus time tables, she leaves plenty of time in case she misses a bus. She walks to here stop in the morning at 9:30am, however her appointment isn’t until 11am. She activates the interactive timetable by standing in front/swiping here card. She then feels the pole to find the destination she wishes to go and presses the corresponding button. The display then shows the first two available buses on that route, going to the city. A voice is activated; “Bus 200 will arrive in 3 minutes - Inbound.” Sarah then sits down and a warning light is activated on the pole, which indicated to the bus driver there is a person at that stop






Jeremy Atkinson – 68yo


Jeremy is a retired tradesperson who lives at Forest Lake. He has bad arthritis in his hips and has terrible vision. He is unable to drive, walks with a cane and is intimidated by technology. His wife drives him around mostly and he works 3 days a week at a local retirement village. Jeremy is very stubborn and likes to do things for himself.

One Monday when Jeremy’s wife is working, he gets bored at home and decides to go down to the Oxley tavern for a few beers with some of the locals. His nearest bus stop is about 40 meters down the street. He gets to the stop and sees a twisted pole with buttons and L.E.D’s. He soon puts one and one together and realises that the pole is in the shape of the route the bus follows. This is a big help to Jeremy because he has had plenty of experience with maps and directions. The timetable is active when Jeremy gets closer and the whole thing lights up. L.E.D. lights and text are combined to show Jeremy where he is in relation to the route. He sees further down on the route is a button next to “Stop 28, Oxley Tavern”. He presses this button and the pole displays the position of the next two buses on route. Jeremy sees that the 345 is two stops away from his, so he sits down and waits.

Bad ideas are good?

Last weeks tutorial involved pairing up with a peer, breaking down our concepts and coming up with "bad ideas" of how our device could be used in other scenarios. I came up with three keywords that describe our bus map concept; time managment, route planning and public transport. With these keywords i began thinking of different devices that involve time managment and route planning. The first idea was a device that manages the time it takes for your daily tasks and transportation. The second was a device that helps plan alternative routes to your selected destination. We then had to think how these devices could be bad and write down all their faults. With the faults listed outit is then much easier to correct the desgin and adapt it to meet as many criteria as possible.

Another concept i had was a large interactive display that would be placed around major transport conjestion areas like the valley and the city. A huge map of Brisbane city and its transport systems would be displayed on a board. The user selects their intended destination and the map shows all the possible routes that go to that destination and where the bus/train/ferry stops are to get there. However we discussed the idea as a group and decided to stick with our original idea.

Suitable Situation Search

Below is some photos of the bus stop waiting area at QUT Kelvin Grove. We think this is a great example of the sort of area our device would aim to be placed in initial trials of the design.

Power-ade-Point

Apart from a few minor mechanical and technological errors on the day of the presentation, we were able to successfully demonstrate our ideas to the tutors and peers. After a certain group member accidentally broke the syringe pump that we would use in our displays to show its operation, i was forced to improvise and sure enough, red Powerade worked a treat...and tastes great!

This concept shows an birds-eye layout of the seating in a Brisbane City Council Bus. The image on the left shows the bus is empty, the middle has about 5 seats taken (ten people on bus), and the right image shows the bus is completely full.


After the presentations we got together one afternoon to collaborate and try to find a way we could incorporate all of our concepts into the one interactive bus stop timetable. The three concepts are Pat's part which concentrated on the interactive route display, Ned's part which shows the position of the bus, and my part which shows the capacity of the bus. We also looked at the design breif to see if our design was filling the correct criteria, this includes an exact description of the type of bus stop we are designing for. We came up with many ideas in this sessions and i will go through many of them in the following blog posts.


Throughout the remainder of the project we have been divided up into Object (Pat), Behavior (Ned) and Scenario (me) groups. Each week we will get into these groups in class and discuss different aspects of our designs.

Pump it up!

Meanwhile, Ned and Pat have been doing an awesome job figuring out the positive displacement pump. The photos below show final construction of the pump. Unfortunately, we are yet to successfully get the pump to work using the step motor to rotate the axel. We were able to use the pump with a drill connected to the axel, so we came to the conclusion that the step motor just isn’t powerful enough. We will continue to try and make the pump have less friction so it can pump more freely.

Lo-fi'in

Construction of my bus seating device was commenced today. I went to reverse garbage this morning to get inspiration and try to find appropriate materials for my design. I wanted this device to be mounted on the wall so I needed the display to be non-obtrusive and blend in with whatever it is to be mounted on. Clear acrylic seemed to be the most appropriate and manageable material for this. I have constructed a thin rectangular acrylic box with a tube coming out of the bottom. An image of the interior of a BCC bus will be printed on the front of the acrylic box. Coloured liquid will fill the inside of the box and be visible through cut-outs of the seats on the bus. The liquid is pumped into the seat display via a positive displacement pump that will run off our step-motor. The step-motor will communicate with the bus’s computer to find the number of people on the bus. So if the bus is full and no seats are available, the box would be filled with liquid, showing that all of the seats are taken.




(images to come)


Because of the small diameter of the tube that fills the acrylic box with fluid, it takes quite a while to change the level of the liquid. Because of this I have thought of a way to minimise the amount of liquid in the display. I will silicon all the non visible areas of the hollow box, leaving a narrow path for the fluid to flow through. This will enable the display to very quickly change the number of seats availably (level of liquid).

Seat Spyer

This whole time Ned, Pat and I have been working together, sharing ideas and building a step motor and positive displacement pump. We found out in class this week that we have to have to choose separate concepts. After discussing the situation with the tutor we decided we can all use the step motor and pump but choose a different design that uses the mechanism.




My device will display the number of available seats on the bus of your choice. A computer will communicate with the busses computer which shows how many people are on the bus. It will determine this by subtracting the number of go-card “swipe offs” by go-card “swipe ons”. A hollow case is mounted on the wall with an interior layout of the bus. The seats will glow red if they are occupied. Red liquid will be pumped into the bottom of the bus layout and show through the seats that are occupied.

I'm Positive Displacement Pump

This week we looked into the mechanisms and electronics involved in our bus position monitor. One initial idea of the mechanism for this design was using a large syringe type pump and tube to adjust the height of liquid in the tube. This shows the progress of the bus on route, the top of the liquid shows the times remaining, when the tube is empty the bus has arrived. This would work but we would need to make a motor that could pull and push the head of the syringe pump.




The sketch below illustrates our solution to this problem. The mechanism would work using a positive displacement pump driven by a programmable step motor to regulate exactly how much water passes into the tube. The step motor will be attached to the center of the Mercedes symbol which rotates, allowing water to be squeezed through the pipe.

The step motor has not been fully cooperating with us at this stage, but we have faith. Ned and Pat went to the workshop and begun to make the positive displacement pump. The tubing in the photo below was a good example of how it will work, but we realised it will have to be thinner and softer for our lo-fi model.

Now all we have to figure out is how we can tell the step motor the position of the bus. Or at least how we can communicate this in the concept presentation.

Time Tube

For the week two workshop we were told to bring some simple materials to play around with and try to come up with a very basic object. Whilst out in the hall waiting to go into the workshop, Ned told us of an idea of a bus map that communicates the exact location your bus and its distance from that stop.

With this idea in mind, we looked at the materials we had brought to class to see if they could be used for the bus locator. We came up with an idea that used a frosted plastic column with coloured lights that are able to move up and down inside the column. The lights would correspond with markings on the tube showing the user how many minutes until the bus will be at their stop.

We wanted to keep the output (the map) to be a basic and easy to read as possible. Because of this we wanted to make the “locator” to be powered by an independent source. A chain could hang below the tube, which when pulled, charges a small kinetic motor that powers the lights and receiver. Another way we thought of powering it was the same principle but in a foot pedal on the ground. This would make it accessible to the disabled.

Virtual Gday

The First workshop involved us getting in small groups and collaborating to come up with five different materials that could all be used to communicate messages via input and output interfaces. The material would have to be able to communicate ten different messages.

We came up with several ideas based around a design that communicates very basic messages like: “Hello, how are you?” and “Are you free tonight?” After discussing various material input-output methods, we moved onto brainstorming interactive design concepts for social networking.


Pat came up with the idea of a set of pendulums which communicate wirelessly to other pendulums. It works by having to identical pendulum on a frame that can be tilted, the other frame mimics the first. At the bottom of the frame will be certain messages, the messages are chosen by tilting the frame till the pendulum is above the message you wish to send. The other frame copies the position and the message.

Figure 1. Pendulum Message System

While speaking to our tutor Tim, we came up with a virtual hand shaker. After discussing the importance of the shake and its place in culture and society, we thought of a handshake booth. The user enters the booth and a mechanical wrist and hand allows the user to interact with the hand which is then communicated to another booth (wherever it may be). We thought this concept was fun, however it is still a concept and current technology would not be able to replicate an real-time handshake.