Module 2 Activity Research

Weekly Research For Smart Resistance Band

Gabriela Gonzalez

Project 2

Module 2

Here you'll see our first attempt at guerrilla prototyping using examples from class to create a phone stand.

Workshop 1 Geurilla Prototyping I

First, we created a design and copied it out onto the cardboard using a pencil and we put numbers and other symbols to display what is what and what should be cut and what shouldn't.

This is what it looked like after we cut all the unnecessary pieces out. And we also cut in between the shapes just so then it was easier to bend.

This is our first gorilla prototype of our phone holder. Before moving on to our adjustments.

This is what our phone stand looks like when it is holding a phone, so you are able to prop up your phone using this phone stand.

For our newest adaption, we added a space where you can put a charger through to charge your phone. That way it can be a stand for your phone but also be charging. All at once.

Our phone stand is not just for one phone, but for two. And both sides have a space where you can charge it, and it doesn't get in your way. So it's perfect for when multiple people need to use it.

And these are our illustrations displaying the measurements of everything and the design that we decided to take using Illustrator to show them.

Workshop 2 Geurilla Prototyping II

At first I just wanted to grasp a very broad idea of what the gears could look like because after a lot of research and especially after talking to Steve, gears was one of our options that we could possibly use to make our wearable functional.

And after cutting out the circles, one of the things that I noticed, and was also mentioned in the research I found, was that in between each gear, there would have to be another object to separate them. So we couldn't just layer two gears on top of one another, there would have to be something in the middle so the gears could actually move.

After seeing the gears very broadly, we decided to take it to the next level to actually make the cardboard look like actual gears and as well as add a container around it that was in the shape of a sphere that the gears would go into because in our research one of the tools that we saw is that normally gears would be placed in a sphere and they would help each other work together.

For further explanation of why we added the sphere was based off the research that was found. The sphere had teeth like ridges or edges that when the gears would move they would get stuck or make an actual shift be able to occur. And it could either make the gear stop or continue to go fully around. So that's why the container was made because it actually helps to guide the gears.

And this is what our prototype looked like. Even though it was very rough, it made us realize that it would be very hard to achieve what we wanted our wearable to do with gears, just because there's a lot of things that need to be very precise. For example, we couldn't use cardboard because it's too flimsy. We wouldn't be able to do laser cutting and use wood because if the gears shift, it might break as well too, and as well as the edges might be a little too sharp. And depending on the type of wood that we can get, it might also be too thin. And 3D modeling would also be hard because the gears need to be a very specific thickness, and the teeth have to be in the right place and direction. So after our second gorilla prototyping and talking to Steve, we decided not to do the gears just because there's a lot of things that go into it, and there's a lot of room for error to occur.

Activity 1: My Resarch

Since we planned to use ProtoPie to show the pressure in our adjustable resistance band, I explored examples in the gallery and found a temperature control prototype. I realized I could adapt it by replacing the temperature values with pressure, making it a solid starting point for our design. <a href='https://cloud.protopie.io/p/fd074c4ebbf85cc42a2bde9f?_ga=2.235800065.1044375376.1763001209-909608082.1762451622&_gac=1.183749076.1762808307.CjwKCAiAt8bIBhBpEiwAzH1w6ReOv-FrOQae7hGLOl8rW9on7tVcQm59rB1IHlzDkMiUMBydvMgZYxoCWNQQAvD_BwE' target='_blank'><p>ProtoPie Link</p></a>

When I downloaded the template from Protopie, this is what I saw. I did try finding videos from Protopie or other creators playing around with this example, but none of them did or tested out anything I wanted to do, which was change temperature to pressure.

Since I did not find any videos or examples to follow, I decided to use AI to help me with my problems. At first it was kind of hard to follow, but once I sent a full video and photos, it sent me a step-by-step on what to do, which was really helpful.

Here you can see in the photo that I tried changing the temperature element into pressure and it was easy to edit but when I tried displaying it and showing it on my device it would still go back to temperature instead of showing pressure so I asked AI on how I could possibly fix it and it gave me some step-by-steps on how I could possibly fix it because the main purpose was to show pressure.As well as the different levels of pressure depending on each person's need and weight.

Lastly in this photo you can see that I was able to change everything and it was finally working. I had successfully changed it from temperature to pressure. So now every time when the user is using the adjustable resistance band they will get notified and be told what level they're on.

Activity 2: My Reearch

For my activity 2, I wanted to expand on our ProtoPie platform. Therefore, I did some research on workout apps that track progress or show their workout, and how much they burned, or how much they walked, etc. This is the data that you see on the app that's given to you when you have an iPhone, and it tracks your steps and your movements.

I also looked at the Google Tracker and like the previous, I was just getting ideas of what I wanted our tracker to look like. So I added elements from each website and app that I feel like would fit best for our users who are in physiotherapy and want to track how well they're doing.

And like with my previous activity, I had trouble finding ways to add this element into ProtoPie. And while looking in the gallery, I found what I was looking for. But instead of using it for banking, I would use it to track the user's activity while using the adjustable resistance band. And since it's on the same interface as showing how much pressure is in the resistance band, I felt like it would be perfect. So I took certain elements that I thought I could use and I used it as a template to go base off of.

This is me adding and adjusting the elements that I used from Protopie to what I needed it to do. So I played around with some of the elements, I changed some, I fixed some of the wording because we were not using it for tracking our banking.

And here is a semi-finished product. Obviously, there's some things I still need to tweak, but for the most part, users can see their progress and will be able to see their progress throughout the weeks.

Additional Research or Workshops

We did some research for air pressure, and after talking to Steve, this was our best option to create what we wanted, and the image that we had in our head.

We also did some research on different type of resistance bands that were out there, just to see what had already been done before, and just to get a little bit more knowledge on how resistance bands work.

For research based on air pressure, we specifically looked into a blood pressure machine, which our Prop Steve told us to look into, because that specific look and function would work well for what we wanted to achieve with the resistance band. And so we looked at the different parts that a blood pressure had and how each compartment worked together as a whole to make it function properly.

We also did some research on different Arduinos we could possibly use, and which one would best work for a wearable, and how we could possibly connect it to make a resistant expand and contract.

And after watching some tutorials as well that went along with the Arduino, we also looked at different air pressure sensors that would work best to test the pressure so that way on protopie you can actually see the amount of pressure that is occurring. So we looked on Amazon for a couple different ones.

Project 2

Project 2 Prototype

Below is our final project, showcasing our first prototype of a smart, adjustable resistance band, paired with an early concept sketch to illustrate our design direction.

After all the research and all the testing and all the troubleshooting this was our final project for our smart adjustable resistance band.

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