Reflection on the process and outcome:
First of all I am glad I switched from the incense burner to making a seat because it made the whole process more challenging.
The stool bears a flashing red LED light which invites people to come closer by suggesting there is more to it than a seat. Once a person sits on it, it speaks a phrase (in Greek) about how good it is to… be sitting down! It is the beginning of a series of talking seats that I would like to develop. I believe that it can be intriguing, funny to Greek-speakers and puzzling to non-Greek speakers!
I believe that the planning of my project had been realistic. I even allowed for some days in order to be able to bounce back from any mishaps and that was useful. I was able to build a new fabkit and experiment on it without feeling the pressure of time and although I had aimed to finish on Sunday 12th, I completed the electronics and construction on the 13th around lunch time. I was able to take the stool at home where I sanded and waxed it and I made the video. I also made and uploaded the project slide without stress. The video encoding took me a lot longer than I expected. It probably took me more than 6 hours to figure out what Neil meant with his email about 'avconv' and HTML5. In the end I was not able to produce a 10MB video with sound using the avconv commands he sent. I exported it from Adobe Premiere.
Overall, I was flexible and able to switch from electronics to the actual stool construction, judging by whether I could do research on my own to solve my issues or I needed the active invlovement of my instructors. I even changed my design to a more modest approach for time management and I can now make the 15th of June deadline! I tried to utilize every available moment and I definitely documented as I went along. This has proven to be very good practise because my days have been so full that I simply forget what I did two days ago. One characteristic example was that I forgot that the SD cards had initially worked on the FabKit at the beginning and then they stopped!
One major task which remained unresolved was the SD card being read by the FabKit. It was unfortunate that I was not able to find a solution for that. Especially since they worked at the beginning, but they stopped half way through my process. I was forced to use an Arduino, despite making and programming two kinds of fabkits.
An interesting issue which appeared at the last minute is that I have to re-adjust the code every time the stool is in a different environment because the sensor readings are different depending on the intensity of the light. At times I might be hearing the sound over and over again until I upload a new code! It drives me crazy!
For the first time, I reversed my process. I started thinking the capabilities of the machines which I had at my disposal and then proceeded to design the final form of the stool. By designing with layers of 8mm plywood in mind I was able to easily test at half scale on the laser cutter by using 4mm plywood.
I made something more technical rather than aesthetically pleasing, but I do believe that it still retains some of the quirkiness that my other designs have. It is collapsible and has the ability to be flatpacked since it is made and put together with press-fit joints. The bottom rail locks every component into place by sliding into pockets created on the legs. It has a second layer under its seat where the electronics are nested. They are within reach, but also hidden away.
It was designed in Rhino, modelled on the BRM lasercutter and milled on the ShopBot. The PCB boards were made on Roland Modela utilising an Adafruit Sound Shield and a QRE1113, Miniature Reflective Object Sensor. I believe that I have used the capabilities of the FabLab in many ways and I have learned a lot about electronics through it. I have also come in contact with what is available in the market and how I could use it. Dare I say that I have found an end with coding as well?
S.W.O.T. analysis:
Strengths: A definite strenght is that I have been able to add and control some electronics devices onto a design of mine. I have been given the chance to experiment further with the ShopBot and challenged myself with designing and making a strong seat from a single sheet of 8mm plywood. Finding the right joint which would provide strength without the use of glue or screws was very important to me, as was to keep the stool collapsible.
Weaknesses: Putting the stool together was a little bit tricky because I did not test the joints beforehand. I thought I was saving myself some time, but I was obviously not because I really needed to work on those joints to make it all come together. This caused some splitting, which is visible on the top of the seat. A major weakness is the fact that I appear not to have cared at all about the placement of my electronics components. I did put some thought into it but I simply did not have the experience in order to care for it more. My sugru solution seemed to work at the beginning securely holding each component in place, but later it begun to detach from the plywood leaving me with hanging components.
Opportunities: This project opens up an avenue of opportunities for me. I could definitely develop this stool into the series of talking chairs that I have imagined. Most issues have been successfully resolved and it has become clear on what I need to focus my attention to in order to finalize it and turn it into a talking chair. I wish to further experiment with the form of the chair so I can reach a more aesthetically pleasing design, one which I can add to my product line. I have also learned about licenses and how to secure my work if need be.
Threats: I guess there can't be many actual 'threats' when it comes to open source design but I could still name the loose electronics as a threat. Neil said that some of the projects shown would stop working in a month and I think he meant mine too! Another (very personal) 'threat' is that I believe that the design of the stool is not characteristic of my work but has a 'fablab aesthetic' :-) This is something that I was afraid of when I started to make the chair and was unfortunatelly unable to avoid…
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