We presented Moby 2.0 at Modo and everything went very well. Our presentation reflected the friendly and playful aspects of our cart. Thanks to Modo for sponsoring our senior design studio project, and for giving great feedback in both conceptual development, as well as design direction.
Moby 2.0!
After much thought about what to call our cart, we finally landed on something that was both gender neutral and friendly: Moby.
We wanted the logo to be friendly & playful, robotic/tech, and clean & simple. Below a few variations for the logo.
I've never worked with sheet metal before, so this was something completely new to me. It wasn't as difficult as I imagined, but after a few cuts, scraps, and the help of some tools, this is the result!
I am still determining where I want the light bulb, since it works better as a sculpture piece. I'll also be painting the interior white to contrast with the steel.
Our cart is using the iPad as the user interface and as the platform for personal interactive gaming. This video shows the versatility of the iPad and everything that it can do. + velcro. :)
iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.
We took what we learned from the first prototype and made some revisions to Prototype Plan B.
The base was created to be more symmetrical and "bubbly". We also made each foot wider and rounder. From there we stacked foam blocks and started to carve away.
Our form was a little narrower than we liked, so we moved some blocks around and came up with a form that flowed better - happy accident!
We're going back elementary - foam, paper mache, plaster cloth... but this all speaks to our audience - kids.
It's been a fun process, and we've learned a lot from our mistakes. It's all helped us get to where we are now.
Now that the form is in physical reality, I'm even more excited to see the final product. Stay tuned! It's all coming together REALLY soon.
After creating the inner structure, we created an outer shell for the plaster to adhere to. Then we began to coat it with plaster. This ended up being very messy and very heavy. But in the end - a learning experience of what NOT to do.
We decided to start fresh with plan B.
I glazed my ceramic candlesticks over the weekend. I'm excited to see the outcome and how the different glazes interact with each other!
We started building the framework and skeleton of our cart with MDF boards. From there we also added foam to the interior to fill in the voids. Our plan is to cover the base with plaster so that we can carve our form more precisely.
The iPad dock was carved out of foam and will be attached when we get the entire frame together. It's all coming together and we're all very excited to see the final prototype come to life!
Below are our process photos:
I went out to lunch at Newman's Grotto (a fish and chips restaurant) and was delightfully surprised by the forms that hung overhead. The interior of the restaurant was our selected color - turquoise; and the sea theme was almost perfectly matched with our form studies.
Fresh seafood, fresh interior + delicious clam chowder and fish & chips = a fun eating experience!
I've been working on ways to incorporate the iPad into a docking station for our cart. Some key aspects we're focusing on are to keep it very flexible, solid in the user's hands, friendly, and easy to clean.
The iPad needed to be accessed from all directions, so the handles were included on 3 sides to allow for a webcam on the top orientation. A few other variations were created and some handles eliminated to help speed up cleaning time.
These different forms were a study of facial features, since the docking station would be connected to a "neck". We didn't want it to be a literal "face", and the intention may have been to literal, so we designed a form that was easy to handle, but still in a friendly way.
Our final design works like a clam-shell. It holds the iPad in the center and is locked for security purposes. Side buttons are still accessible, as well as the main button on the front. Webcam and speakers are built into the clam-shell to enhance entertainment value and user experience.
I really love these shapes and the versatility that this single form carries: coffee table, side table and stool. Cute forms and environmentally friendly materials. These elements are an inspiration to our TC1000 cart. Stay tuned for more updates on the design and construction of the gaming cart!
Via Blue Ant Studio
Our group has had numerous discussions regarding the form of our cart, and today, we have come up with the final concept sketch. We also went out and collected supplies and we're ready to build our prototype!
We also talked about different details that can give our cart more personality. The name and colors are still being considered.
Now, on to making!
While going through my subscriptions in Google Reader, I came across this vacuum concept by Yanko Design that is sleek, manueverable, and has a form similar to our cart design. I also really like the renderings and the color choice of orange -- it's a color that we're also currently looking at.
Roomba Watch Out
The All-In-One Robot Cleaner is a stick vac carrying a passenger with a mind of its own. Like any good stick vac, you’ve got something easy to push around. But if you’re feeling particularly Jetson’s like, a robot slides down and does the vacuuming for you, ala Roomba. For serious tho, I want this NOW. I’m sure the robot amidship will throw off the center of gravity but nothing a couple months of R&D couldn’t figure out.
Designers: In-oh Yoo & Sun-woong Oh for Metatrend Institute
The main concept of our gaming cart is based around the user experience and interaction. We want the cart be seen and used as a companion to the patient. The iPad is a great way to promote interaction and communication with others. This interactive touch-sensitive game is a similar example of the endless possibilities that the iPad is capable of doing and performing.
marek bereza: multithump
image: seeper
multithump is a special multi-player version of marek bereza’s music sequencer iphone application
thump. this special installation for seeper was installed at the v&a museum in london and executed in
a tabletop format with graphics by david sweeney. the project utilizes a square grid like other music
sequencers, but is manipulated digitally by the multiple users. the table set up allowed multi-touch
interaction from the users, who are able to manipulate the sounds by pressing the squares on the grid.
each user is assigned different sounds so that the culmination of all three created a balanced
composition.
http://work.mrkbrz.com
image: seeper
image: seeperVia DesignBoom
Cross contamination and the spread of infections is something we're really looking into with our cart. The materials we choose, the form, shape, and the way the cart maneuvers can have a great effect on what it picks up in the hospital. While doing some research, we came across a study with different metals in hospital equipment and environment.
Infectious Ideas: Using Antimicrobial Copper Alloys in Hospitals
Top: Hospital room with sani-station and touch-point hardware: grab bar, faucet, and light switch. Bottom: Sani-station in hospital lobby.
Copper Touch is a system of antimicrobial touch-point hardware and sani-stations (alcohol gel dispensers) designed to be deployed in hospitals to reduce infection. The system kills germs in areas people are most likely to touch while addressing some of the behavioral challenges of infection control: hand-washing and cleaning surfaces. The products also showcase the newly-proven antimicrobial properties of copper alloys; the sani-stations act as communication points to brand the material at the place where germs are top of mind.
The project began when the Copper Alloy Association (CDA) approached us at Pensa with the problem of encouraging hospitals, CDA's target market, to adopt copper alloys. Studies proving that these materials kill microbes faster and more effectively than any other antimicrobial material on the market and an EPA registration permitting health claims about these properties were not enough, so the CDA asked that we identify and design compelling hospital products that would inspire designers and manufacturers to use copper alloys wherever there was a need to fight infection.Consistency, patient compliance, and error avoidance are all crucial factors in effective delivery of a therapy. This is the space where we excel: applying an understanding of human behavior to create solutions that work within our imperfect world.
To develop a solution, we first had to understand the challenges of infection control in hospitals and the experiences of a range of hospital stakeholders, including infection control officers, cleaning staff, administrators, doctors, nurses, patients, architects, and facility managers.
Antimicrobial effectiveness: copper vs. the competition. Copper alloys have also been proven to kill Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and E. coli, in under two hours.
Design and medical science
The number of Americans who die every day from hospital-aquired infections (HAIs) is equivalent to one jumbo jet plane crashing every day, according to Donald Wright, MD, MPH, of the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. Surely, there would be an uproar if our society allowed for such continuing aviation disasters, but HAIs just don't have the same prominence in public awareness. Hospitals are under a lot of pressure to rectify the situation—pressure that includes the cessation of Medicare payments in cases of HAIs and several state laws mandating transparency or reporting of HAIs—but fixing the problem is a struggle. The problem of the quantity of infections is compounded by antibiotic resistant "super bugs," created by the overuse of antibiotics.
In a real hospital room, it's quickly obvious that microbes on surfaces aren't the only issue. How many people touched this table? How does it get cleaned?
"The tasks of medical science fall into three buckets. One is understanding disease biology. One is finding effective therapies. And one is insuring those therapies are delivered effectively. That third bucket has been almost totally ignored." —Peter Pronovost, pioneer of medical checklists
Through the work of Peter Pronovost, we came to understand that infection control is largely an issue of effective implementation. The medical establishment already knows how to prevent infection in an ideal world (hand-washing, for example), but they struggle to implement that knowledge effectively in the real world. Even beyond infection control, the issue of effective delivery is one of the major challenges in healthcare today. Consistency, patient compliance, and error avoidance are all crucial factors in effective delivery of a therapy. Fortunately for designers, this is the space where we excel: applying an understanding of human behavior to create solutions that work within our imperfect world. This is what we needed to achieve with copper: the CDA has already shown it kills microbes (effective therapy), but the key issue for us was effective implementation.
Wash your damn hands!
To help us identify what products most needed an antimicrobial surface, we spoke to many infection control officers. But time and again, as we tried to get an inkling of where copper alloys would be most beneficial, they responded with a variation of "That's nice, but we wouldn't need it at all if people would just wash their (damn) hands!"
Hand washing is the top weapon against the spread of infection.
What is the big deal about hand washing? Yes, it's key to preventing the spread of microbes, but why the frustration? It seems simple to do. But, the infection control profession has tried every educational method under the sun and papered hospitals with reminder posters, and compliance rates are still not sufficient. It became clear to us that the infection control officers' priority isn't a new technical solution (antimicrobial material), so much as a better behavioral solution.Each piece of equipment has its own cleaning protocols, different people are responsible for different objects, and the systems for letting staff know whether an object has been cleaned are far from fool-proof.
This brought us back to the idea of design playing a crucial role in effective implementation—in this case, of hand-washing. Design changes have already proven quite effective at improving compliance. Architects practicing Evidenced Based Design—a movement in health care design that emphasizes measuring the impact of design interventions on patient outcomes and building on the results— showed that strategic placement of hand sanitizer dispensers and sinks leads to more hand washing. Maybe our solution could improve compliance in a similar way through product design.
Cleaning chaos
When observing hospital cleaning staff, we discovered that they deal with a surprising amount of complexity. Each piece of equipment has its own cleaning protocols to ensure it isn't damaged, different people are responsible for different types of objects (furniture vs. personal electronics vs. highly specialized medical technology), and the systems for letting staff know whether an object has been cleaned are far from fool-proof. This complexity leads cleaning managers to resist the introduction of new materials that require any special care, like polishing. We also found that cleaning, in general, is not very effective. Study after study showed dangerous microbes left behind even after thorough attention. It's another area in which hospitals are exerting a lot of effort but getting spotty results.
An improvised way to track if something needs to be cleaned.
Of course, copper alloy products would still need to be cleaned, but if we used low tarnish alloys, we could ensure that the cleaning staffs' work load would be unchanged. Cleaning could be made even easier by using only smooth, wipeable shapes. A distinctive look could be used as a reminder of key places to clean, like a visual checklist.
Infection control professionals realized that, while neither cleaning, handwashing, nor antimicrobial materials are enough on their own to prevent the spread of infection, combining tactics is very effective. They created "bundles," checklists of tasks that prevent infection together. Like bundles, our product(s) needed to work in a combination of ways to be successful.
Copper's tenacious mythology
The silver color on a quarter is a copper alloy—but hardly anyone knows it. In fact, nearly every designer and engineer we spoke to said the same thing about copper alloys: they're not hard, not strong, they tarnish, and they look old-fashioned. Architects feared using copper would result in a 'steampunk' hospital. But in fact, there are registered copper alloys that resist tarnish and rival steel in strength and hardness. These come in colors ranging from silver to yellow to red, and include nickel silver, brass, bronze, and copper nickel.
Copper and many of its alloys are already informally 'branded.' For example, copper is associated with electrical applications, cookware, and high quality plumbing, while brass is linked to sailing equipment. Our challenge was to create a new association with antimicrobial action while highlighting the material's unexpected capabilities.Many administrators have come to recognize that the patient experience impacts outcomes; stressed patients recover more slowly. Ignoring the patient experience puts the hospital at a competitive disadvantage.
A patient's journey
Patients' perceptions of the safety of their hospitals, in terms of cleanliness, are based on the things they see during their first experiences there. Stefanie, a woman with an auto-immune disorder that required frequent infusions, described how her perception of one hospital was negative from the moment she entered the lobby. The dirty trash can beside the entrance immediately created a sense of mess and disorder. As she made her way through the hospital to the infusion department, she noticed all the doorknobs and elevator buttons she'd have to touch and worried about what germs could be growing there.
Trash can at a hospital entrance.
Fortunately, the hospital industry is beginning to pay more attention to the patient's point of view, diminishing unpleasant experiences like Stefanie's. Many administrators have come to recognize that the patient experience impacts outcomes; stressed patients recover more slowly. Ignoring the patient experience puts the hospital at a competitive disadvantage.
Copper Touch
Our insights and analysis led to Copper Touch (pdf), a system of touch point hardware—doorknobs, light switches, grab bars, wall guards, drawer pulls, etc.—punctuated with sani-stations dispensing alcohol gel. Imagine how different Stefanie's experience would be if she went to a Copper Touch hospital: When Stefanie first enters the hospital lobby, she sees a standing sani-station. She uses some hand-sanitizer and germs naturally come to mind. This makes the sani-station the perfect place to inform her about the importance of hand cleaning, antimicrobial copper alloys, and the safe-to-touch hardware throughout the hospital that shares the same style and logo. As she walks throughout the hospital, she sees more sani-stations on the walls that enable her to clean her hands and that remind and enable others to clean their hands as well.
Hall with wall sani-stations and touch point hardware: doorknobs, wall guards, push plates, and elevator buttons.
This approach is in line with the Broken Window Theory, which posits that shoddy environments encourage shoddy behaviors like vandalism, while well-cared for environments encourage good behavior. The cohesive look of the Copper Touch hardware serves to create an atmosphere that is conducive to best practices and keeps hand cleaning in the forefront of the minds of staff, visitors, and patients like Stefanie. It also provides Stefanie with a sense of security, knowing that this hospital has given infection prevention top priority.
Assorted Copper Touch hardware, made mostly of nickel silver ( a copper alloy that has a steel-like finish) with details in copper nickel (a pale peach alloy) to remind users of the copper content.
Design for health
This project was initially conceived with laboratory science addressing efficacy while design would simply contribute style and appeal. But shifting the focus to the real goal of lessening HAIs allowed Pensa to hone in on the issue of effective implementation of this exciting material. While Copper Touch's antimicrobial copper alloys protect common hospital touch points, the cumulative impact of the system also works towards changing human behavior and increasing hand washing, addressing the issue that concerns hospitals most.
In a larger sense, Pensa's design concept, the Copper Touch system, illustrates how effective delivery of a therapy (which in this case is antimicrobial material) is as necessary to success as the effectiveness of the therapy itself. The healthcare industry is in need of improved delivery of all sorts of treatments, and the knowledge and approach of designers will be crucial to addressing this need.
Via Core77
Animal Chairs by Elad Ozeri
(From DesignBoom)
israeli designer elad ozeri, participated in the designboom mart new york 2010,
held this past week at the ICFF, presented his series of animal chairs for children.
'zelig' elephant chair
image © designboom
each seat is made by ozeri, hand-cut out from a single piece of acrylic sheeting
in the form of an elephant or giraffe. they are then shaped and bent into their final form
through heating.
the prominent features of the elephant (its trunk) and giraffe (the neck),
are used as structural and supporting design elements in ozeri's chair design.
'zelig' was a short-listed entry in the designboom premio vico magistretti competition.
'zelig' elephant chair, back view
image © designboom
'zelda' (giraffe) and 'zelig' chair
image © designboom
'zelig' the elephant and his friend 'zelda'
layout of cutting template
designer elad ozeri
image © designboom
Wenlock and Mandeville by iris
Creative agency iris has unveiled Wenlock (right) and Mandeville, the mascots for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The two characters are based on blobs of steel used to make the girders for the Olympic stadium, and feature headlights derived from the hire light on London taxis.
Wenlock (above), the mascot of the Olympic Games, is named after the English town of Much Wenlock, which inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin to found the modern Olympic movement.
Mandeville (above), the mascot of the Paralympics, is named after the town of Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games.
Above: Wenlock. See full-size image here.
Above: Mandeville. See full-size image here.
More Dezeen stories about the London 2012 Olympics:
ArcelorMittal Orbit, a giant sculpture by Anish Kapoor
London 2012 Olympics logo by Wolff Olins
London 2012 Olympics stadium by HOK
Here’s some text about the two characters from the London 2012 website followed by text from iris’ website:
Wenlock
How did I get my name?
My name is inspired by Much Wenlock in Shropshire, a town that is at the heart of Olympic history. In the 19th century, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was invited there to watch the Much Wenlock Games, which were inspired by the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. De Coubertin was inspired by the Much Wenlock Games, too, and went on to found the modern Olympic movement. The Much Wenlock Games are still held to this day!
Mandeville
How did I get my name?
My name is inspired by Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games. On the same day as the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann held his own sport competition in Stoke Mandeville for World War II soldiers with spinal injuries. The Stoke Mandeville Games grew and grew until they became the Paralympic Games.
(Read more at Dezeen)
Creature Feature Time
It’s that time again! It’s time for a clock. This one is frightfully titled “Creature Clock”, but not in such a terrible way. Nay! This is truly the monster you’ll love to have around your bedside. In five pieces. Yes, weird! Wonderfully abstract! This clock comes in five distinct pieces that you set out, all next to one another, on your shelf or counter, all of them in a group as one. On the one you can see the time, but as there are no numbers, and the forms are mere suggestions of beings, it is all very vague.
Truly that is the aim though, to cast in your mind the idea that time is not an absolute measurement but instead a mathematical representation. And of course, that “the past is always just gone, the present is always fleeting, and the future is always a tick away.”
Designer: Pete Oyler
Via Yanko Design
