Project List

Helene Berglin, Tobias Rydenhag & Jonas Strömberg

Spyballs: Tracker Twins
[A Spy Ball for Non-Static Spy Games]

Tracker Twins Is New Pair Of Spy Balls That Measures The Distance To Each Other. This Functionality Expands The OrigiNal Spy Ball Concept By Making The Balls More Dynamic And Useful For Non-static Spy Games. The Distance Is Measured Through The Signal Strength That Reaches The Receiver Unit In The Tracker Ball. The Measurement Is Therefore Also Sensitive To Physical Obstructions As Walls And Buildings.

> Tracker Twins overview
> Project Website

Marie Eneman
Ethical ubiquitous computing

Technology, some may argue, is neither good nor bad. However we must always remember that certain technology is inherently easier to use for bad than for good.

Now that technology is moving closer and closer to the human body the sphere of a perceived privacy and integrity is closing. The designers and the creators of technology have a responsibility to design their artefacts as ethically as possible.

The developments in ubiquitous and wearable computing and the coming developments in Cyborg technology pose interesting and important questions. These questions are particularly relevant to the creators of said technology since they today have the power and possibility to design the artefacts of the future either taking the ethical issues into consideration or not.

This paper analysis the ethical issues involved in ubiquitous computing and in Cyborg technology and present a relevant analysis of the ethical challenges facing designers today.Keywords: Ubiquitous computing, ethics, Cyborg, privacy, integrity, designer, social responsibility

> Project Proposal
> Poster

Eva Eriksson & Daniel Lindros
BeatWear

-Gloves that you always can wear and bring with you.
-The gloves should be soft, comfortable and appealing in an esthetical and modern way.
-Different drum-sounds generated depending on which fingers strikes a surface.
-They react with different effects on the sound depending on what type of surface is struck. (Metallic sound applied when metal surface is struck)
-For use both publicly and privately; you could connect them to speakers or to headphones.
-Accompaniment can be chosen by different movements of the hand(s). (Circular movement results in funk-accompaniment).
-They should be wireless, so that you can move around in your environment and drum on anything you see.
-Multi-use. Shaking hands with another GloveDrummer will create a virtual orchestra where both users hear each other’s drumming.
-The batteries will be charged while you drum, by the movement, just like these modern watches.
-Personalization. Change the sounds generated (drumkits) according to personal needs and taste (like covers on the cellular phone).

> Concept
> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Magnus Johansson
Sonic Modulator

The Sonic Modulator is an interactive interface between human and computer, where the user gets the opportunity to reshape sounds and music with modern software technology. The interface is inspired by the trends of contemporary electronic music, where pre-recorded music and sound is distorted and manipulated to create new and exiting soundscapes. With The Sonic Modulator, the user takes the role of a musician, and utilizes traditional tools to destroy and manipulate basic musical factors such sound, rhythm, effects and pitches and thereby creating new and exiting compositions.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Sara Johansson
Weather representation
[Express feelings of weather with materials from the nature]

Today we spend a lot of time indoor in our home or at work. We don’t always have a window nearby or in other ways are able to see or hear how the weather is outside. Information about the weather is also important for our minds to get the right sense of which season it is and so on.
This project is about expressing the feeling of weather indoor and among other things visualizes it by means of materials from the nature. The focus for materials is primarily stones and water.

These objects are able to visualize and give audible and tactile information about the weather, which is a main focus for this project. By building it with stones and water it is going to give the user something more than just information about the weather outside. The materials and composition will give a peaceful feeling to the indoor environment, where you can touch the stones and finger in the water.

The input data comes from a weather station located on the roof or another place near the building where the weather is going to be expressed. A computer connected to the weather station and the weather representation will regulate the flow of water and light shining on the stones.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Hanna Landin
Info Control project
week (10 - 11 and) 14

Outcome: the concept and hopefully a prototype on Internet. Your personal information is a gift if you want to share it with someone. With the Information Control Card you can choose what information you want to share with who, and to some extent also control the information.

> Project Website

Iron Horse project
week 12 - 13 and 15 - 17

The Iron Horse combines modern technology with childhood dreams. It’s a bike – but its sounds like a horse. By biking at different speeds, one can get it to walk, trot or gallop. Sometimes it snorts, and it greets its owner and other iron horses with a neigh.

In the project, we explored how to transfer the auditive expressions of horses into the art of cycling, to stretch the boundaries of cycling and riding respectively. The technology should be an inspiration for the cyclist’s fantasy; turning the playground into a jumping track, the way to school into a race, and the cycle path into a piece of the prairie.

> Project Website

> Project Proposal


Matts Larsson
Mailbox

The mailbox can in a way be seen as a boundary between private and public space. A boundary usually wakens questions, in this case the question of what should be kept private and what could be made public, and how to control this.

A lot of people come in contact with the mailbox, in the line of duty, or as a friend, slipping a note or a borrowed book to be returned. For quite a few people, the post box is an important part of their work. The postman, the morning paper delivery service and various carriers use it. Connected to the post box, are different kinds of information. Which morning paper goes in this box, where to is this packet to be delivered, who want and does not want commercials in their box?

This work focuses on how this information can be moved forward, from the registers and databases at an office, out closer to the person who needs it. How could this improve the quality and lighten the workload for those who come in contact with the post box in their work. There is also the question of how the owner of the post box can benefit from an increased control over what is revealed in this border between the private and the public.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Magnus Nilsson
Spectrum

Spectrum is a project that aims to explore the Hertizan Space in the city of Gothenburg. Electromagnetic radiation, an artificial phenomenon made by humans, affects us in our daily lives in urban areas. The phenomenon of electromagnetic radiation shapes the invisible but physical space within urban environments. People inhabit and interact with this environment whether they want or not. It is therefore important to understand this environment better. This project will illustrate through a couple of design proposals how a better understanding of this phenomena and can be used in design of things.

Spektrum är ett projekt vars mål är att undersöka de rumsligheter i Göteborg, skapade av elektromagnetiska. Elektromagnetisk strålning, detta artificiella fenomen skapat av människor existerande i urbana miljöer påverkar oss i vårt dagliga liv. Fenomenet elektromagnetisk strålning skapar de osynliga men fysiska rumsligheterna urbana miljöer. Människor lever i och interagerar med denna miljö varken de vill eller inte. Det är därför viktigt att förstå denna miljö bättre. Detta projekt syftar till att genom ett antal designexempel skapa förståelse för detta fenomen och hur det kan tas i beaktning vid design av saker.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Johannes Prison
Mood-reflector
[Beautiful, interactive, ambient display]

The mood-reflector is a dynamic, variable device which interact with the people around it. With the help of embedded computer technology, a new dimension is brought into objects in our homes, which we normally think of as static, only active in silence, foremost through it’s appearance by form and colour.

The mood-reflector changes it’s appearance after how it’s affected by the surroundings at the same time it’s reflecting and amplifying the same. The mood-reflector reflects and amplifies feelings and moods of community and joy in our social intercourse in an ambient way, by silently be alive in the background. With it’s beautiful patterns and colours in movement which in a gentle way reflects the mood in the community.

Stämningsspegeln
[vacker, interaktiv, stämningsspegel]

Stämningsspegeln är ett dynamisk, föränderlig inredningsföremål som interagerar med människorna omkring den. Med hjälp av inbyggd datorteknik tillförs en ny dimension till objekt i våra hem som vi annars tänker på som statiska och endast verksamma i tysthet, främst genom sina framträdanden i färg och form.

Stämningsspegeln ändrar sitt framträdande efter hur den påverkas av omgivningen på samma gång som den speglar och förstärker densamma. Stämningsspegeln reflekterar och förstärker känslor och stämningar av gemenskap och glädje i vårt socialt umgänge på ett icke störande sätt, genom att tyst leva i bakgrunden. Med sina vackra mönster och färger i rörelse som på ett mjukt sätt reflekterar stämningen i gemenskapen.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Linus Rydberg & Johan Sandsjö

BeatCatch
[Tactile and visual input device for high-level exploration of rhythms]

BeatCatch is an input device for exploration of a given pace. The pace is visual as the
device constantly moves in phase with the created rhythms. This makes it possible to
feel the pace in your hands when you use the device. By playing around with the
moving parts in different directions the pace is modulated and beats are produced.

- For who? BeatCatch is a device for anyone who is interested in manipulating and creating music. No particular skills should be needed to enjoy it. The usergroup stretches from novices to professionals.
- What? BeatCatch is an input device for creating rhythms upon a given pace provided by the device.
- And How? Rhythms are created by steering through layers of different multiples of a pace, using a joystick-like device which gives tactile and visual rhythmic feedback.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Johan Sandsjö
Nackspegeln
[Interactive video installation]

We live today to a large extent by the assumption that technology do us good. With
this interactive video installation work, I will give a simple playful example where
technology instead is something you have to fight against, to get what you really
want.

Nackspegeln consist of two computerised “mirrors”, one in front of you and one
behind your back. The problem is that they both shows what the other one is suppose
to show, no matter how you turn or twist. That is if you cannot find a way to fool the
technology.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website

Johan Thoresson
Nyhetsrullen / News Roll
[News Roll: Never bored – never embarrassed.]

Have you ever been bored in a public toilet? Have you ever felt embarrassed when bringing a book in with you? The News Roll offers you access to the latest news and keeps you discreetly entertained while visiting the toilet.

You move your finger near the glass tile labeled “national news” (“inrikes”) and you get news about the Swedish wolfs printed on the toilet paper. You move your finger near the tile labeled “grafitti” (“klotter”) and you get a SMS message that tells you that “Peter loves Jane” printed on the toilet paper.

> Project Proposal
> Project Website