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.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
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.
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.
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