Ringdog

Electronic – first tinkering

~ maxmollon ~ Leave a comment

Bought a bluetooth handset,
Opened it,
Wired a very first version of my circuit,
Power supply + sound amplification + big speaker,
Testing the bluetooth connection to the phone.

Thanks to Théo Reichel, technology superviser.
http://www.complex.ch/ – modprobe.complex.ch

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzUsNqKdg5o]

Concept presentation – Ringdog, The Affective Phone

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UK:
The Ringdog project is nothing more than a critic of mobile phone device of communication. My whole masters final project is a critic of nowadays tools of interpersonal communication.
I start from the statement that mobile phone is not sensible to our emotions and have been created for productive aims. It forces ourselves to concentrate our intentions of communication into voice intonation – to have the best quality of signal as said by Roseanne Allequere Stone in her Thesis – and it ignores any other source of communication other than voice – as an example this article on non-verbal language over the mobile phone.

Throughout the mobile we whisper to our loved one, the chick against a piece of plastic, we argue yelling against a piece of plastic, etc. On one side we have got a sensory frustration (tactile and proprioceptive) and a physical isolation towards the receiver.
On the other let’s take the human/dog relationship: affective, sincere, tactile.
Let’s mix the two provoque unexpected situations, new experiences of communication, new usages and try to change users habits on a longer period of time.

FR :
Je travail sur une critique de nos moyens de communication interpersonnelle et en particulier le téléphone mobile d’un point de vue affectif et émotionnel.
Je part du constat selon lequel le téléphone est insensible à nos émotions et à été inventé à des fins utilitaires. Il nous force à concentrer nos intentions de communications dans l’intonation de la voix – comme Roseanne Allequere Stone en parle dans son Doctorat – et il ignore tout indice de communication autre que la voix – pour exemple cet article sur le langage non-verbal délaissé en téléphonie mobile. 

Au travers du mobile on susurre à sa bien aimée la joue contre un bout de plastique, on se dispute en criant contre un bout de plastique, etc.
D’un côté nous avons une frustration sensorielle (tactile et proprioceptive) et un isolement physique envers notre interlocuteur.
De l’autre prenons la relation homme/chien : affective, sincère, tactile.
Mixons les deux pour provoquer de nouvelles situations, de nouvelles expériences de communication, de nouveaux usages et tenter de changer les habitudes utilisateurs sur une longue periode.

CONCEPT:
How can we explore human/dog relationship to emotionally enhance our telecommunications?




TECHNOLOGY:
STRONG AND BEAUTIFUL MATERIAL (LEATHER, RESIN)

BI-DIRECTIONAL CALIBRATED MICROPHONE, HI-DEFINITION SPEAKERS

SIMPLE BLUETOOTH™ PHONE PAIRING
ULTRA LOW RADIO WAVES, NO HEALTH DANGER FOR THE ANIMAL
EASY PICK-UP BUTTON

USE CASES
Lovers, your most faithful friend is with you when loved ones are far away
BRING BACK THE AFFECTION YOU WOULD LIKE TO GIVE ON A PHONE
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuEy014n4vk]

Argument, he understands you and reacts to the conversation (Barking forces you to calm down)
BRING ALIVE FEEDBACK AS A MIRROR OF THE CONVERSATION MOOD
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9LBx99CK2k]

Playful, don’t forget it’s your dog!
BRING BACK LIFE, FUN AND SURPRISE TO YOUR COMMUNICATIONS!

BRINGs BACK EMOTION TO YOUR CONVERSATIONS
BE CLOSER TO YOUR DOG THAN EVER
NO MORE TACTILE FRUSTRATIONS WHEN TALKING ON THE PHONE

CONCEPT: REAL VS DIGITAL WORLD
CONNECTED VIRTUAL WORLD GENERATED A LACK OF PHYSICAL IMPLICATION
TECHNOLOGY GAVE US THE FRUSTRATING EMPOWERMENT OF UBIQUITY
ANIMALS CAN BE A TANGIBLE AND ALIVE LINK WITH THE NON-PHYSICAL WORLD

REJOIN COMMUNICATION AND EMOTIONS IN AN AFFECTIVE INTERFACE
ALIVE, CAPRICIOUS, MOVING, EMOTIONAL, RESPONDING…
BRING BACK LIFE IN OUR COMMUNICATIONS

NEXT :

First tester! Eliot.

The brief – Masters final project

~ maxmollon ~ Leave a comment

Presentation of my final year masters project under the form of a self made brief.

(BRIEF) HEAD Research Lab would like to explore nowadays state of emotional/affective digital communication. On the first hand, through series of experiments you will have to criticize modern tools of communication, the way they involve our senses and modify the nature of our social interactions, on the other hand you will have to conduct a research on the potential of human-dogs relationship in over-distance human communication—project code name, Rindog. (CLIENTS AIMS) HEAD Research Lab’s goal is to make a solid and credible report/critic on modern media of communication and our everyday emotional/affective social interactions. The series of small experiments will stand as basic ground illustrating and justifying this report. The Ringdog project will take the critic at an extreme point aiming to get integrated by volunteer users in their life and habits, changing the way they communicate. (TARGET MISSION) Concerning Rindog, potential users range is wide, basically anyone having a dog and a mobile phone. Best case you will be having a teenager, a young adult, a mid 30’s person, an over 50y.o. person, women and men. (MISSION) Your mission will be to conduct a series of experiments—criticizing senses involvement and emotional social interaction of nowadays personal media–following a precise protocol, then to extract conclusions that will inspire iterative prototypes for the Rindog project. (TIME SCALE) You have 2 months (BUDGET) Half of your spending will be refund until 1000F (CONSTRAINTS) Find dog owners, No long period tests durations, Necessitate product design skills, Product design on animal, Electronic material commands takes time (CONCURRENTS) Research for that by yourself.