Final concept presentation (photo by Tobias Toft)
On Friday each group presented their concepts and current prototypes to the class. We discussed the evolution of our scale and demonstrated the current prototype. The initial reaction was a lot of confusion. People saw our object as a balance for comparing two objects and not a scale used for measuring. People were also confused by the metaphor of weight and how this can be used to measure a product’s environmental impact. How can we clarify the metaphor of a scale? How can we better present the “weight” of a product in terms of environmental impact?
Studio party in honor of Ashwin's birthday
After the last group presented, we quickly got on with our Friday night.
Rissoto, Girl Scout cookies and a final meeting before Monday
Eilidh, Sid and I got together over the weekend to discuss the feedback from our presentation. We brainstormed ways we could move away from the scale metaphor, but with the course half way over, we decided it would be best to carry on.
Sid's 2D prototype demonstrating the mechanics of our scale
On Monday we moved away from the traditional balance and decided to use the form of a mechanical scale. Sid created this 2D prototype out of foam-core to demonstrate the mechanics of the arm.
Stealing parts from a digital scale
With two weeks left, it is time to begin the electronics. It is often cheaper to buy a consumer product and take it apart than it is buying a single component from an electronics distributor. In this case be bought a digital scale from Ikea so that we could use the load cell sensor.
Sid and Eilidh's 3D prototype demonstrating the mechanics
Finally we made a 3D model of the scale to better understand the mechanics, size, where to hide the electronics, motor, etc…
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