Out of the Behavior comes the Object

This is an interactive bin for stuffing garbage in Cairo 

Week 3 Semester 2

This video is part of a series that I am posting as a blog about my weekly experience of doing a masters in Interactive Media and Design at the University of Limerick.

Rubbish!

After college I met a friend for hot chocolate in Scholars bar beside the Spar shop at the University. Yes, this is indeed the area were I will be designing for. When we left Scholars, what do you think I seen at the picnic tables.... Mountains of RUBBISH (I wish I took a photo to prove this to you all). It really is disgusting and frustrating, yet this fuels my design motivation because I want to solve this problem. Furthermore, I know for fact (because I was told by the caretaker) that this area is swept down and cleaned last thing before they finish work. So it's clearly the students problem for their dirty habits. This really frustrated me tonight, and it's not like there is no bins. In a 10 meter radius I think there is 5 or more bins, so there is no excuse for this RUBBISH behavior. I can't wait to finish my designing stage and get the prototype on site to test it, to really see can an interactive approach to using bins really make a difference! Time will tell...

Red tape (getting permission)

I went to the University Students Union and was trying to get permission to do the interactive bin project in the court yard. It seems that Edel in the office has given us permission to do our project and test it out for a few hours on the picnic tables outside the Spar shop which is on campus. I have also found a location that will allow us to monitor the site being studied from  a window that over looks the court yard. This is great because it is on a second floor and allows us to clearly see the flow of traffic around these tables and also see who is doing the littering. Furthermore when we test the prototype, this location will allow us to monitor the interactive bin in action from at a safe distance without getting involved with peoples interaction with the bin. After they have disposed of their rubbish we can interview them to see how effective our prototype was.

Sketches and drawings for Bin Project

Drawings and Sketches form my Sketch book for the Interactive Bin Project.

Bouncy Bin (top image) and TurBin (Turbine Bin bottom image)

This first idea I explained a few days a go on this blog. Its about how to create an interactive bin that rotates in the wind, and as it rotates it would light up a series of LED's to highlight the bins presence to encourage the disposal of rubbish. 

Bouncy Bin 

This final idea is what we decided to research and focus on for the Interactive bin Project. We wanted to address the litter problem that generates from the picnic tables outside the Scholars bar and Spar shop at the University of Limerick. So we decided to create pressure pad seats that will trigger when someone gets off their seat. When this happens a voice will remind them to put their litter in the nearest bin. We have also been looking at the prospect of designing a bin that is attached to the table so that when the pressure switch is released (when someone get off the seat) then the bin lid goes up and again a voice reminds them to dispose of their litter and we could also attach lights to increase the bins visibility. 

The interactive bin/picnic table 

How to make a pressure pad

Today we further developed our concept of the bin/rubbish project. I have been looking at how the pressure pad idea can be made. It seems that our idea can be made and will take some electronics to get it developed. However below is a link that shows you how a pressure pad can be created. Good tutorial to get my ideas flowing. 

reacTIVision

At the moment I am thinking about possible technology that I could use for my project that I'm working on. (Final project). This is very early however it is just to give me an idea. If you remember from my first blog post I posted a video were reacTIVision is implemented to solve a design problem. I have been researching this and it seems that the software is open source. Have a read at reacTIVision website. I think this could be used in conjunction with my ideas to present not just the art work but the process involved making art within a therapeutic setting.