While most of my ideas were either very out-of-scope or just dumb, a few stood out to me. Not a whole lot, but a few.
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Fiske Science Exibit
- I am currently in an ATLAS 4519 class whose main goal is to research and design a science exhibit for Fiske Planetarium. My team’s currently project is a miniature model town to demonstrate the effects of different levels of solar activity on our daily lives. This would be by displaying everything from small aurora and radio interference for small events, all the way up to transformers blowing and communications being gone for the largest events. I am loving this class and project, and since the class itself is only designing and researching the project, that would allow me to do the actual fabrication of the project during Capstone 2. The only issue I see with this idea is that currently Fiske wants construction done over the summer, before classes start again, which could cause an issue with not actually BEING in the Capstone 2 class yet.
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Smart Turnout Gear
- Firefighting gear really hasn’t changed a whole lot, compared to other emergency personel’s. This idea would involve designing smart gear for Firefighters and Search and Rescue crews, so that they would be just as well protected while being better able to communicate and make decisions. Some general ideas I had were embedded physiological sensors, external heat sensors, GPS based emergency flares, and “hands-free” control of radios and other equipment.
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Lo-Fi Instant Messaging
- This was more of an art project that I thought had an interesting user interaction. Because of the digital, Facebook age we live in, many of my really good friends live hundreds if not thousands of miles away from me. 99% of our communication is through social media or email, but every now and again I’ll get a wedding invite or holiday card, and that is always the highlight of my day, even if I’m a terrible friend and never send a reply. My idea for this project is two connected typewriters, so you can write letters in real time to each other. I would either build and document one, then send plans to one of my friends where they would build the other, or simply build two ready to use units and send one to the friend. My end goal would be to have the typewriters placed in a public place, where strangers from far away could have an anonymous chat with someone from another part of the world.
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Grey Water Evaporator
- At events like Burning Man, grey water (Not drinkable, but not sewage) disposal becomes a concern. It’s generally recommended not to pour grey water on the ground, as the soaps and oils may cause damage to the dirt, or the bacteria in it. Because storing grey water means you need twice as much storage volume as water you bring, another method is required. Some ideas I’ve seen use the water flowing down a mesh while others use rotating drums to move fabric through a trough (fabric missing in that photo). My plan would be to test a few different designs and come up with a new iteration that is car-portable (if not person-portable), low-cost, energy-efficient and easy to use. That all working out, I would like to release the design and possibly kits for people to build their own.
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Magic Mirror
- I think the elderly could greatly benefit from a magic mirror designed with them in mind. Something that would give them many of the same abilities smart speakers like the Amazon Echo Show might give. Video calling, reminders, shopping lists, all with the simplest possible interface to make it as easy as possible for someone with mobility issues or just a lack of practice with smart homes.