Starting Ideas:
After visiting the Child Study Center a few weeks back, there were a couple of projects that really interested me, the step stools for the cubbies and how to transition between activities in a more efficient way(individual play, group time, snack time and outside).
After doing some brainstorming, I really liked the ideas I was coming up with for the transitioning project. Most of them piggybacked off of another. One of the ideas was to create a poster like structure with pictures and a large corresponding LED light. When the light was on, thats the activity that the children were partaking in. When the teacher decided it was time to move onto the next activity, they would push a button that would start a transitioning sequence with a preprogrammed amount of time; both the lights of the current activity and the next activity would turn on, indicating that it was time to move from one to the next. When 30 seconds was left in the transition, the lights would start blinking. After those 30 seconds, the previous activities light would go off and the current activity would light up. To transition again, the teacher would just have to press the button. Another one of my ideas was similar to the other, the only difference being that the transition period would have a light of its own that would blink and the lights associated with the activities would be completely off during transition. My last idea was, again, very similar to the others, although each activity would have an LED light per every 5 minutes in an activity next to the associated image as a way for the kids to know how long into an activity they are. The issue with this was that the teachers change the times of activities based on how well the kids are playing and how much they’re enjoying themselves.
Idea #1 Idea #2 Idea #3
None of these projects had a mechanism. The sensing, feedback and control of all of them would be the button pressed by the teacher which would launch the transitioning process.
Final Project:
For the final project, my partner Julia and I are working on a device to aid in the transition between the daily activities in the CHC, what we are calling the transition clock. At first, we explored linear options and how the children would be able to conceptualize the chain of events in relation to the poster. After some more brainstorming, we came up with our product.
It would be a circular structure, made out of delrin with LED lights surround the pictures associated with daily activities. An arrow, made up of LEDs, between two activity pictures would represent transitions. The transitioning mode is activated by a button accessible to teachers. During this transition, the LEDs around the pictures turn off, the arrow between the two pictures lights up. The LEDs would have a programmed timer for a certain amount of minutes, last 30 seconds of which the LEDs would be blinking.
The mechanism in this product would be a moving circle made from delrin that rotates around the structure, similar to the hand of a clock to be another way for the children to know what activity they’re doing. During the transition period, the movement of the circle would be proportional to the transition time.
The sensing, feedback, and control in this project would be a button pressed by the teacher to start a transition. The button would set off a timer for for a certain amount of time for the arrows to light up while picture LEDs turn off, blink for the last 30 seconds. In addition, the rotating circle moves along the arrow.
This project will contribute to the Child Study Center by providing more structure during transitions between groups and activities throughout the day, teaching children to transition more efficiently at a young age, and allowing more time and productivity in groups and activities
The physical aspects and required materials include:
- 1/8th” Delrin circular structure
- 1/8th” Delrin rotating circle & 3/16th” rod
- LEDs* for arrows and picture borders
- Drawn and laminated pictures
- Electronics:
- Arduino
- Wires
- Batteries & battery packs
- Servo
- Button
Final Project
