The DIP product launch event marks the end of our 3-week-long design fiction module.
During our first lesson, we were introduced to the paper actuator technology, which is made up of 3D prints attached on paper. With heat and electricity (depending on the type of 3D filaments used), and the arrangements of the prints, we can bend the paper into different shapes.
Our task was then, to produce a design for the theme of “This is a book”, in which we must incorporate the paper actuator technology into a design, which is then placed into our book.
After much design thinking process, my group and I came out with an idea to incorporate the idea of hand signs communications, to show that hand gestures play an important role as our secondary form of communication. With such ideas in mind, we came up with the prototypes below:
To make our product more interesting, we decided to use electricity to control the fingering of our hand so that we can make different hand signs with just one hand. With the help of our mentors, we made use of some simple Arduino coding to control the individual fingers to make our 3 different hand gestures, which are, peace, OK and 666. In the end, our product became a working mess of wires. Sad to say, our product was not fully functional due to the limitations and the inflexibility of the material, but thankfully, with some help from the heat gun, we are still able to present our product.
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Though it was quite a hassle to finish all these in 3 weeks, with days and nights spent in class, our hard work paid off, and our product was featured in the DIP launch event together with the others’.
I am thankful for the great teamwork and also for the help from the mentors for making this possible.
(The short clip below shows our working prototype. )
