Category
Emotional Box with Compartments Closed
Emotional Box with Compartments Open
Brief
Urgent:Â You feel a need for immediate action to address a critical situation
- How the user feels about the box
- How the user feels about the contents and the sender
- How the user feels about the process of opening the box
- How the user feels about themselves when they experience this interaction.
Sense of Urgency
Factors that influence urgency
- Time
- Stakes
- Unfavorable circumstances
- Need for action
Disarming a bomb, a classic example of a situation that invokes urgency.
Brainstorm
We brainstormed multiple concepts based off of these factors, taking inspiration from situations like a pot boiling over and earthquakes.
In the end, we took inspiration from escape rooms, where a user has to complete a number of tasks within a given time
Concept
An item of value to the user lies underneath a glass of water which will overflow unless the user completes 3 tasks. To start the process of opening the box, the user has to press a button on the exterior, starting the pump which begins filling the glass.
The challenges:
- Decoding Challenge
- Wire Matching
- Shape Matching
Pump Subsystem
- Glanceable clock
- Water is intuitive
- Fills at steady rate
- Urgency increases as it is filled
- User can calculate %filled
- Item of value in the container
- 100 ml Graduated Flask with tapped & threaded hose barb insert
- Joined with platform using a laser cut 6-sided insert
Wire Matching
“Complete the circuit”
- 5 different wires with laser cut slots into breadboard below
- Completed circuit causes servo to go from 0 to 180, releasing unlocking shape matching compartment
Shape Matching
- 3D printed shapes with magnets on bottom
- Hall effect sensor inside cutouts to detect presence of magnet
- When all shapes are detected, water stops
Putting it all together
- Electronics housed under floors
Reflection
How to use engineering elements (mechanisms, material properties, sensors, and affectors) to affect human emotions by tapping into senses, routines, and social/cultural influences.