The Device Project- Designing Waypoint

For the Device Project, I was in a group with Danny, Yadav and Natasha.

We all had our own initial ideas for what our device could be- I suggested an Antweight fighting robot, since it would fulfil our brief in a fun and creative way. We ruled it out though because of time constraints. Danny suggested a personal teleporter of some kind, which is the product idea that we took forward and developed the whole way.

Danny, Yadav and I all sketched our own design ideas for the teleporter.

I sketched my design while keeping in mind user comfort, convenience and modern day trends for technology and fashion. My idea would allow a small, compact casing for the technology that clips comfortably onto a long sleeve or wristband. It had a screen which would allow fingerprint scanning, a concept that we had all discussed, as well as a familiar touch screen user interface. The clip for the casing was designed for comfort, but some may argue that the fact it would flick inwards toward the skin to be the opposite. With it being rounded and smooth it shouldn't be a problem- it would also allow the user to be aware that it is still there without having to check and would be able to feel if for some reason it fell off or if someone tried to steal it. Small and fashionable, I was very happy with this idea.

We ruled this one out because the screen was a little too small and we felt it was too simple.

Yadav's design was a very clever concept. When I saw it I was reminded of a bike's handlebars or a handheld 3D Scanner. It would use voice activated technology and the 'What3Words' system for choosing a destination. We ruled this design out because we felt it was too big and a little impractical.

Danny's design was very well thought out and inspired. It included a fingerprint scanner and a simple looking interface. We mentioned that it looked somewhat like a perfume bottle and rolled with the idea that it would be a similar size so that it could easily fit in a pocket or bag. This design was our top choice but we decided to do some more sketches to include some of the aspects we liked from each of these three.

We took a break between our first set of designs and sitting down to do more- when I sat back down and put on my tablet glove, I was hit with a sudden wave of inspiration. What if we made the teleporter into a glove? It did everything my first design did and better, as well as include all of the features we wanted. When I put the idea forward, that was it. That was the one.

Yadav said that he wanted to have a play around with the design since we all agreed that while it would be the core of our concept, we wanted to try and improve it. I sent him the file and he added in his own idea of an orb on the palm of the glove that would project a holographic display and another touchscreen in the same area.

While we all liked this idea, we did have a couple of disagreements on it- Yadav felt that it would look better on the palm, I felt that it would be incredibly uncomfortable for the user. We took a step back and I went to find a small object in my room the same size to act as the orb and a flat piece of card to act as the screen. It was painful to try and close my hand around these, proving my point perfectly. Having tested this, we agreed to move the orb to the wrist and remove the screen from the palm, leaving the palm completely free for comfort and convenience.

With this design as our main concept sketch, Danny and I went ahead with the modelling stage of the project.