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Research

Children’s understanding of the physical properties of the

objects around them were described by the two gestalt

psychologists Otto Lipmann and Hellmuth Bogen in 1923

who coined the term ”Naive Physik“[6]. The term was later

picked up by the artificial intelligence community through

Hayes’ now classic Naive Physics Manifesto, which states

that: "Naive Physics is the body of knowledge that people

have about the surrounding physical world” [4]

It seems a logical extrapolation that modern technological

objects augmented with electronic sensing capabilities

would require us to develop new intuitions or naïve

understandings about both the resulting hybrid-object and

the specific affordances of the electronic sensor itself [1].

The black box project is an attempt to begin to probe such

an understanding of ‘naïve electronics’ in preschool

children.

May the crazy circuits begin...

Experience Prototype for 'Expression'

Experiece Prototype

Concept Sketches

Touch and Expression are two concepts that I have decided to take forward and build.

Expression is suitable for children with severe autism. It exhibits simple cause-effect behavior. Ones actions trigger sensory feedback.

Touch is suitable for children with mild autism. It requires some amount of social engagement before sensory feedback is triggered.

I had a with a few friends Feedback Brainstorm on the concepts- to see what potential each idea had? possible combinations? alternatives? which concepts are stronger?

Concept Sketches
Based on the target skills I have chosen to include.

Social Interaction- Joint attention, turn taking, coopera-

tion, coordination

Imtitation skills - fine, gross motor, peer play

Language - Identities Objects, Pictures, People

Communication - Expressing choice, needs

Experience Prototyping

Experience prototypes are simulations to investigate and 
reveal the quality of the experience. Prototypes come in all forms,
shapes and sizes and consist of whatever is appropriate at
a point in time. They can be quick and dirty to obtain feedback 
on design intention or highly crafted solutions for in depth 
usability evaluation.

Building a prototype to explore and evolve an idea, when put in
the hands of a user can uncover unanticipated issues or needs.

Detailing the interactive experience is integral to the development, 
iteration and refinement of a design concept.

..from tracy currer

Notes from an Experience Prototyping Presentation on slideshare

the five core skills of a design, according to Bill Moggridge are...

1) to synthesize a solution from all of the relevant constraints, 
understanding everything that will make a difference to the result

2) To frame, or reframe, the problem and objective

3) To create and envision alternatives

4) To select from those alternatives, knowing intuitively how to 
choose the best approach

5) To visualize and prototype the intended solution

STEPS

1 Understand the Experience

2 Communicate the Experience

Describe it, Diagram it, Model it

3 Explore the Experience

Whats it like? who uses it? What does it require of people?

What are the barriers?

"As an observer of user evaluations one knows very quickly if the 

designed experience is a good one. If it is people get so involved

in the experience that they forget about the limitations of the prototype."

"Experience Prototyping isnt about a tool kit of techniques, but rather an 

attitude and language to solving design problems."

" Get really good at low-fi prototypes, thats where the real learning happens"

- Jane Fulto Suri.

Drawdio: Draw with audio

What is Drawdio? 
Imagine you could draw musical instruments on normal paper with any pencil (cheap circuit thumb-tacked on) and then play them with your finger. The Drawdio circuit-craft lets you MacGuyver your everyday objects into musical instruments: paintbrushes, macaroni, trees, grandpa, even the kitchen sink... 

Created by Jay Silver ( a member of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab), kit created in Collaboration with Ladyada 

Natural Environment Teaching

How to Sketch Interactions

A talk by Jonas Lowgren at Stockholm University in 2004 In interaction design as in any design discipline, sketching serves several purposes. It is a way to think. Ideas develop and grow in the conversation between eye and hand. Sketching is not merely a matter of documenting images that are already complete in the mind's eye. Thinking occurs, quite literally, in the manual actions involved in creating the sketch. It is a way to communicate. Design ideas are made available for others' inspection, appropriation, criticism and development. It is a way to persuade. Other stakeholders in the design process may be convinced of the value of a design idea through sketches. There are, of course, many requirements that could be posed on sketching techniques. Here, I focus on the demands that sketching techniques be expressive (to explore the envisioned use situation in some detail), sketchy (to reflect the tentative nature of the ideas), and versatile (to handle a wide range of use situations including mobile use in physically demanding environments, for instance). Kinds of Sketches Pencil and Paper Sketches Storyboarding Video Prototyping Pitch Movies Animated User Sketches Interactive Prototypes More......

Similar Design Brief

Found this project done by the University of Siena, Italy. The design brief is very similar to my project....

ROLLING PINS IN AUTISM

2007-2008
The objective of this project is to investigate the potentialities of the Rolling Pins technology in the context of therapeutic interventions with autistic children. A Rolling Pin (RP) consists of a semi-trans¬parent plastic tube. The RPs are capable of measuring their orientation and the speed of their rotation to activate a visual (colour modification), tactile (vibration) or auditory feedback. The peculiarity of the RPs is that they are able to communicate with each other. The RPs are used in pairs, since the local feedback of each RP can be dynamically set depending not only on its own speed and orientation, but also on the speed and the orientation of the peer RP. The RPs were specifically designed to support social relationships between the therapist and the patient, providing them with the opportunity to establish a dialogue based on visual, aural, tactile and sensory-motor interaction modalities. For this study, a specific software configuration has been defined: the manipulation of a Rolling Pin produces a feedback (visual and aural) only in the other one and vice-versa. Our hypothesis is that this configuration should encourage the child and the therapist to play together and cooperate in order to obtain a sensory reward. A field study has been set up in order to observe and describe the role of RPs in contributing to the emergence of the following behavioural responses: imitation, turn-taking, children request for interaction, joint attention and generation of novel sensory-motor patterns.

Autism: The Musical

MEDIATE environment

A project from Centre for Responsive Environments, School of Art, Design & Media, University of Portsmouth, UK 

 To promote creativity, exploration and enjoyment in low functioning autistic children that have no verbal communication, we propose MEDIATE, an interactive environment that generates real time visual, aural and vibrotactile stimuli. This paper focuses on the design of interaction with visuals within MEDIATE. The design is guided by the objectives of giving children a sense of agency and enhance non repetitive actions. Other guidelines of this design include natural interaction, use of non invasive technology and non representational visuals. This visual interaction (together with sound and vibrotacile) allows the children to enjoy MEDIATE and be creative within this environment.

Interaction, Material Test Videos

A Mothers Perspective

Interaction Material Test