This originally appeared in my HCDE 210 process blog (syklla.wordpress.com), this was my first experience with device prototyping in my freshman year of college.
When first working with littleBits, it took a minute to figure out what each piece did and how to make them work the way we wanted them to, but after a little bit, we got the hang of it. Creating a system that worked together went well and was not too difficult, but figuring out a purpose for anything we made, or anything that we could make with the littleBits was very difficult. Deciding on a direction to go, and the problem that we wanted to solve was very hard and could have gone better. Eventually I decided to create a system focusing mainly on the use of the sound detector. In my prototype when a sound is detected and the lights are off (indicating night), soothing music and movement is intended to lull a awoken child back to sleep. I wish we had had more time for this sprint, especially just for brainstorming problems, because I was not entirely satisfied with my end result.
Here is a short video about the device that I prototyped.
This sprint was really fun. Problems that I encountered were actually figuring out something useful to make for the project. The littleBits were easy to use and set up in systems, but it was difficult to figure out what use the systems would have.
Wildcard: What are some other ideas that you would have tried if you had more time?
Given more time I would have wanted to set up a system connected to Wi-Fi and made something compatible with a phone. Creating a system that integrated external control with the other neat sensors and action pieces of the littleBits Kit would have been really fun.
A question that occurred to me during this sprint is could these smart home products be miss used? I think that they definitely can, either by the people buying them or by those taking advantage of people with smart homes. People could buy many of these items to spy on people or modify them to do a whole range of things. They can be hacked and you could get really cold or locked out of your own home, even something as innocent as the nest thermostat could be used to predict the best time for a robbery, as it learns your habits. The house would case itself for thieves. The data collected could also be miss used by the company holding it. Selling a record of people’s activities, no matter of what kind would be beneficial data for researchers and product developers, but it would be a violation of people’s privacy.
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