Welcome to the I.M. Lab Cat
Two images designed on Adobe Illustrator and Sound Effect. Using Isadora with a IR range finder and Serial Xbee. Signal from the receiver trigger the meow sound effect and ‘Welcome to the I.M. Lab’ image. Uses a gate and trigger delay to avoid toggling the image and sound effect continuously when multiple people walk through.
Neopixels
A strip of Neopixels line the bottom of the TVs the cats are on. These are controlled by a Redboard. When a signal is received from the Xbee connected to the Redboard, two pulses of bright light travel from the center of the strip outwards, leaving behind a dimmer trail of color. Multiple pulses can fire at a time. These pulses are controlled by a matrix that keeps track of the pul’s location, whether it is active or not, and what color it is. The is also a pulsing center section of light which quickly randomises its color.
User Testing
Individuals noticed the cat first but failed to notice the neopixels. After discussion, we concluded that this was due to the lights not being at eye level and the cat, therefore, taking attention, further due to the additional sound effect. We moved the lights up so they are visible with the cat.
We also deemed the original cat sound effect to be annoying and sound like a sickly cat. The sound effect was changed to a kitten’s meow to be more pleasant to the audience.
User Testing Documentation
I know you left user testing until the very last minute, and it is reflected in the documentation here. If I was someone coming from the outside trying to learn about your project from this documentation I wouldn’t be able to get a real good idea of how it works, does it work, how I might be able to build it myself if I wanted. Try to tell a story. Take pictures and video every step of the process. These will be essential and useful when it comes time to put together the documentation and tell a story. Put essential code snippets in, or all the code. If you find some sample code online that really helps you, include the reference to the place where you found it. Show not only how it works, but also the process you went through to build it.