Beacon - Tangible User Interfaces
Beacon - Tangible User Interfaces from Safinah Ali
Beacon - Tangible User Interfaces

Beacon
The project was taken up at The Design Innovation Workshop held my the MIT Media Labs at PESIT, Bangalore. The project Beacon was carried out in the Tangible User Interfaces track in a team of 3 - Nishita, Kiran and Safinah (me).
We tackled the issue of Vulnerability. Detailed analysis and user study led us to classify 3 stages of Vulnerability. We built a working Prototype for a Tangible User Interface that tackled the Critical Aspect of Vulnerability. The product we came up with was a Wrist Band, which has a pull-tag that can be pulled by the user in situations of Critical Emergency. This band sends an Alert and the location of the victim to another band, which is the helper. This helper sends a feedback to the victim that he/she is alerted and as the helper approaches, the victim is notified through a Temperature variation on the Wrist Band. The workshop was carried out for 5 days with a proper Design methodology
Guides - Daniel Leithinger & Anirudh Sharma

Poster for the project Aspects of Vulnerability - 1. Critical - Facing danger? Attacked & No ones around? Can we design an interaction system based on direct & immediate feedback to make you feel help is on the way & you're going to be safe? 2. Anxious - Stressed out? Worried? Nervous? Can we design an interaction system to make you feel that your loved one is holding your hand? 3. Comfortable - Step out of your comfort zone! Feel Vulnerable! Can we design an interaction system that can tell you its ok to feel vulnerable? Can this interaction system tell you to calm down, relax & embrace your naivety!
Ideation, brainstorming
Idea Presentation
Idea Presentation
Product ideation
Workflow
Physical Computing for the Prototype : Working with Arduino
Wrist Band of the victim The tag with the thread is pulled in cases of critical emergency, this notifies the other band (helper) and LED's glow on both the bands
The victim's band and the helper's band. The buzzer goes off on the helper's band as soon as the tag is pulled on the victim's band. A peltier element is used to shut off the buzzer as soon as the helper gets an alert. The helper receives the location of the victim and advances for help. The victim receives a Temperature variation on her wrist band corresponding to the proximity of the helper. This gives a sense of security and guarantee of help.
Team mates
Final presentation of the working prototype. The project was highly appreciated.
Certification of the workshop
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Beacon - Tangible User Interfaces

Beacon
The project was taken up at The Design Innovation Workshop held my the MIT Media Labs at PESIT, Bangalore. The project Beacon was carried out in the Tangible User Interfaces track in a team of 3 - Nishita, Kiran and Safinah (me).
We tackled the issue of Vulnerability. Detailed analysis and user study led us to classify 3 stages of Vulnerability. We built a working Prototype for a Tangible User Interface that tackled the Critical Aspect of Vulnerability. The product we came up with was a Wrist Band, which has a pull-tag that can be pulled by the user in situations of Critical Emergency. This band sends an Alert and the location of the victim to another band, which is the helper. This helper sends a feedback to the victim that he/she is alerted and as the helper approaches, the victim is notified through a Temperature variation on the Wrist Band. The workshop was carried out for 5 days with a proper Design methodology
Guides - Daniel Leithinger & Anirudh Sharma

Safinah Ali
Student Guwahati, India