Working towards the deadline....

The deadline is coming nearby, it's now monday and we finished the protoype! We are all very excited about the result.

Now we are preparing for the presentation on wednesday,  and we are finishing the showreel:

Tomorrow the Aqua Break Showreel will be online!

So check it out!

Soldering the Arduino + programming Aqua Break software

We made big steps in soldering the Arduino. Also the software is finished, it's written in Max/msp.
The Aqua Break software can go on auto pilot, and have also a manual function , so the user can put the led's or the waterfal indidvidual on and off.

For the Arduino we written custom firmware to communicate with Max/MSP in the way we wan't it to.

Aqua Break software:

Firmware Arduino:

Teun working on the Arduino

Making the prototype

Last week we where working at the protoype, for a 'proof of concept'.

We bought the pump and the watercontainer:

Laser the logo in the wooden box:

Painting the box:

And testing the waterfall:

Redefining the concept

The team recently encountered issues and errors with the story that will be told while using aqua break. Some add ons on the concept solved these problems and brought the installation one step further to be efficiently realized. Aqua break will get a soul to connect to the user more in depth and arise curiosity. Every time the user uses Aqua break he/she will figure out more about what the installation is about and what are the core values.
Furthermore Aqua break is using a rewarding system to teach and entertain the user. It consists of:

Punishment value:
The user will get a "cold shower" by the installation when biking through red

Reward value
The user will get entertained while waiting for the traffic light to switch to green. Therefore the installation will talk to the waiting user about some boring but very funny facts.

Also the team specified the target group more detailed to aim for more sufficient interaction and feedback.

The visual appearance will be more cyborg like to support the idea of a soul within the system. The following storyboards visualize the interaction more in detail.

Punishment scenario

The user approaches the installation

the user rides through the waterfall and gets wet

the user hears a sarcastic quote and hopefully does not get into an accident

Rewarding scenario

The user approaches the installation

The user stops for the red traffic light and listens to some facts presented by aqua break

the traffic lights switches to green and the user can continue riding. Aqua break will wish the user a nice day and highlight the slogan "if you get wet, you might be dead!"

technical design & first visualization

The results of the first test was giving the team content to discuss. During a meeting the main points of the technical realization of the scale model were discussed:

- water pump

- pressure inside the system

- trigger system

- projection method

- visual appearance according to technical elaboration

First draft with technical details

cut-through of the top section

Aqua break v0.1

First tryout

Within the help of a PVC pipe and a drilling machine the first test for the waterfall scale model has been established. The insights that the team got are very useful for the upcoming process of designing the alpha model of "Aqua break". The team discovered that it is important to have the right amount of pressure to the systems to get a nice result with the dropping water.

The team also tried to add several layers of wholes behind each other. The right side of the tube has three rows while the left side has only two. The difference in desity is clearly visible.

Also the size of the installation is important in relation to the resolution of the projected image. In the example below it is hard to recognise the content because the scale of the screen content is way too small to recognize the content.

Concept handout

The past last week the team was establishing the format for the design document and the concept handout (onePager).