Joel Sadler

Bloctopus: A Novice Modular Sensor System for Playful Prototyping

Tangible prototyping enables designers to rapidly iterate design concepts, gather feedback, and learn quickly from mistakes. However, when a higher level of functionality is needed with sensors, novices struggle with technical implementation. Existing novice electronics toolkits, such as Arduino, have lowered the threshold to electronic experimentation, but still require manual creation of circuits and software programming ability. We present Bloctopus, a modular electronic prototyping toolkit that allows direct electrical interfacing over USB, and physical interfacing with LEGO blocks. We present the stand-alone sensor model, where each module can directly interface with either a computer or microcontroller, using musical message passing over MIDI. We show that the modules can be programmed with a simplified data flow model in a web-based visual programming interface. Finally, we present a prototyping case study that demonstrates the expressivity of devices that can be created using LEGO pieces, combined with functional electronic modules.

Hands-Free Image Capture, Data Tagging and Transfer Using Google Glass: A Pilot Study for Improved Wound Care Management

Chronic wounds, including pressure ulcers, compromise the health of 6.5 million Americans and pose an annual estimated burden of

Building blocks in creative computing: modularity increases the probability of prototyping novel ideas

25 billion to the U.S. health care system. When treating chronic wounds, clinicians must use meticulous documentation to determine wound severity and to monitor healing progress over time. Yet, current wound documentation practices using digital photography are often cumbersome and labor intensive. The process of transferring photos into Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) requires many steps and can take several days. Newer smartphone and tablet-based solutions, such as Epic Haiku, have reduced EMR upload time. However, issues still exist involving patient positioning, image-capture technique, and patient identification. In this paper, we present the development and assessment of the SnapCap System for chronic wound photography. Through leveraging the sensor capabilities of Google Glass, SnapCap enables hands-free digital image capture, and the tagging and transfer of images to a patient’s EMR. In a pilot study with wound care nurses at Stanford Hospital (n=16), we (i) examined feature preferences for hands-free digital image capture and documentation, and (ii) compared SnapCap to the state of the art in digital wound care photography, the Epic Haiku application. We used the Wilcoxon Signed-ranks test to evaluate differences in mean ranks between preference options. Preferred hands-free navigation features include barcode scanning for patient identification, Z(15) = -3.873, p < 0.001, r = 0.71, and double-blinking to take photographs, Z(13) = -3.606, p < 0.001, r = 0.71. In the comparison between SnapCap and Epic Haiku, the SnapCap System was preferred for sterile image-capture technique, Z(16) = -3.873, p < 0.001, r = 0.68. Responses were divided with respect to image quality and overall ease of use. The study’s results have contributed to the future implementation of new features aimed at enhancing mobile hands-free digital photography for chronic wound care.

Building Blocks of the Maker Movement: Modularity Enhances Creative Confidence During Prototyping

Abstract Design is a cyclical journey from creative ideas to concrete realizations of those ideas though prototyping. Designers today have increasing access to low-cost technology toolkits within the electronic and computational domain. However, for technical novices, including electronic components in prototypes can hamper the ability to create novel ideas by introducing technical obstacles. Electronic modules can increase the probability of prototyping success, at the cost of reduced design flexibility. This research (1) presents the results of a pilot usability evaluation of (N = 68) participants making physical light emitting diode (LED) light creations with non-modular electronics components, and (2) uses this evaluation to motivate a creative prototyping study (N = 86) exploring the question: ‘How does prototyping tool modularity influence the creative result?’ Using a browser-based crowd platform (Amazon’s Mechanical Turk), participants created electric ‘creature circuits’ with LEDs in a virtual prototyping environment. We found that increasing the modularity of LED components (i) increased the novelty rating of prototypes as rated by a condition-blind panel, (ii) increased the quantity of prototypes created and the quantity of LEDs used by study participants, (iii) increased participants’ degree of perceived self-efficacy and cognitive flow, and (iv) reduced the number of errors due to LED polarity. The results highlight that novice prototyping with electronics is difficult due to the number of possible ways to fail. The findings show that modularity can reduce the chance of errors and improve the likelihood of creating novel prototypes.

Creating Paper Robots increases designers’ confidence to prototype with microcontrollers and electronics

Can we enable anyone to create anything? The prototyping tools of a rising Maker Movement are enabling the next generation of artists, designers, educators, and engineers to bootstrap from napkin sketch to functional prototype. However for technical novices, the process of including electronic components in prototypes can hamper the creative process with technical details. Software and electronic modules can reduce the amount of work a designer must perform in order to express an idea, by condensing the number of choices into a physical and cognitive “chunk.” What are the core building blocks that might make up electronics toolkits of the future, and what are the key affordances? We present the idea that modularity, the ability to freely recombine elements, is a key affordance for novice prototyping with electronics. We present the results of a creative prototyping experiment (N = 86) that explores how tool modularity influences the creative design process. Using a browser-based crowd platform (Amazon’s Mechanical Turk), participants created electric “creature circuits” with LEDs in a virtual prototyping environment. We found that increasing the modularity of LED components (i) increased the quantity of prototypes created by study participants; and (ii) increased participants’ degree of perceived self-efficacy, self-reported creative feeling, and cognitive flow. The results highlight the importance of tool modularity in creative prototyping.

TeamSense: Prototyping Modular Electronics Sensor Systems for Team Biometrics

Abstract This article describes a creative design activity to introduce engineering students to mechatronic prototyping. Our goal was to find a creative task to increase student confidence and skills in mechanical design, electrical circuits, microcontrollers, and programming. We present the Paper Robot exercise, a design activity that blends everyday materials such as cardboard, with electronic components. This activity was introduced during the 2010–2011 academic year and has been repeated every year since, in a global, industry-sponsored design course at Stanford University. The Paper Robot exercise resulted from the observation that students were intimidated to create functional prototypes with microcontrollers. The teaching team needed a way to quickly introduce tools for programming electronic components and to encourage creative experimentation early in the course. Results include a 100% task performance rate of students that successfully made a robot meeting the minimum requirements. 76% of students reported an increase in knowledge in programming microcontrollers (Arduino), and 69% increased their knowledge in creating electronic circuits out of raw components. This activity may be modified to introduce younger students to mechatronic platforms in STEM education curriculum.

Team Cognition and Reframing Behavior: The Impact of Team Cognition on Problem Reframing, Team Dynamics and Design Performance

Electronic sensors systems can be used to unobtrusively gather real-time measurements of human interaction and biometrics. However, developing custom sensor systems can be costly, time intensive and often requires high technical expertise in embedded mechatronic systems. We present a prototyping case study of a real world system, TeamSense, with the scenario of a manager who wishes to use embedded sensors to develop data-driven insights on team performance. Team Biometrics is a term used here to refer to a sensor system that measures some physical characteristic of a group of individuals. We explore how existing novice electronics toolkits, such as Arduino, can be used to develop a custom wireless biometric sensing network, without requiring deep technical experience, time investment, or cost. A series of functional data collection prototypes are presented, and we present lessons learned from initial testing with live deployment in a team setting. The need for more (1) modular and (2) mutable electronics and software components were discovered to be a limiting factor in allowing more experimentation in the early stages of sensor system prototyping. Modularity enables fixed functional blocks to be swapped in and out of a system (enabling combinations), and mutability allows modification of blocks to change their function (enabling mutation). We propose a future sensor platform that explores how modularity and mutability affects electronics prototyping with sensors. This work has broad implications for Designing Thinking, and importance of toolkits in reducing the barriers to entry for rapid prototyping with sensors.

Can Anyone Make a Smart Device?: Evaluating the Usability of a Prototyping Toolkit for Creative Computing

As designers collect information about a problem, they form a mental frame of the problem space that is the scaffolding around which to build a solution. When presented with new information, successful designers can “reframe” the problem and the solution as part of a successful iterative cycle. These iterative cycles are central to the Stanford Design Thinking process. However, individuals and teams reframe to differing extents; is this variation rooted in intrinsic differences in cognitive style, and can it be associated with long-term innovative performance? We propose and evaluate a closed-form assessment tool called the Stanford Design Thinking Exercise (SDTE) to answer these questions. The results shed light on the particularly strong need for improved team dynamics measurements and the challenges of transcending context-specificity. Pathways for enhanced team dynamics measurements are explored.

Abracadabra: Imagining Access to Creative Computing Tools for Everyone

Can anyone make a smart device? Affordable sensors, actuators and novice microcomputer toolkits are the building blocks of the field we refer to as Creative Computing. With the growing maker movement, more tools are becoming available to novices, but there is little research into the usability evaluation of these toolkits. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of closing the gap between idea and prototype, the need for systematically evaluating the usability of novice toolkits, and a strategy for doing so. Specifically, the chapter presents the Tiny Device Test, a method for evaluating the usability of novice electronics toolkits. Using a standard set of building challenges based on common household electronics, we discuss methods for evaluating the Bloctopus toolkit, which was designed for novice electronics prototyping with low-resolution materials. This work aims to contribute to the idea of “making simple things simple, and complex things possible,” with prototyping toolkits of the future.

Comparing Novice and Expert User Inputs in Early Stage Product Design

How might we empower anyone to create anything? Designers may dream of whimsical ideas, and then turn these ideas into physical prototypes. Armed with duct-tape, cardboard and illusion, “Wizard of Oz” prototypes may communicate the essence of an idea using only raw materials found in every household. However, for electronic prototyping, the tools needed to create functional devices may not be accessible to technical novices. Physical Computing tools with electronics, sensors, actuators, programmable microcontrollers and microcomputers, are increasing in their affordability, but the tools and knowledge needed to combine these parts may not be readily accessible to the average citizen. Here we examine prototyping through the lens of Creative Computing, and propose that accessibility is the cornerstone of electronic prototyping tools. We explore accessibility through an observational case study of a designer prototyping a smart electronic device. We show that typical electronics prototyping tools have significant accessibility barriers to the everyday novice. This work underscores the need to find new ways of designing Creative Computing tools to be more accessible to the everyday dreamer.