2014 ASDappjam
End of week 1
Updates on Huggable Tech
On Thursday IEEE had a free Arduino Workshop where some group members got to get our hands on with the Arduino, and meet some new people. We’re all computer science, and software majors, but most of the IEEE members are engineers; so it was funny to see the differences. The coding came very easy to us, while we got lost when they talked about circuitry which it seemed like everyone understood.
We had a pretty fun time though, and got to meet some cool people making cool things. Hanging above the desks was a Master Sword from Legend of Zelda, which they made that was controlled by an Android Phone and could light up. You could tell the people there loved building things, and getting their hands on something.
Saturday’s Meeting:
Here’s a really good question. How do we plan on winning 2014 Autism Appjam?
Answer:
Milton Berle has a quote that goes “Laughter is an instant vacation.” After hitting the trough of despair, progress has been slowing; that being said, we probably have the best team chemistry.
At the end of the day, we can’t forget to have fun, and have a laugh about it. While driving today I recently listened to a podcast about Autism. A woman was describing her son who has mild autism, and described him as always being in the moment; being hilarious, and happy all the time, even if it wasn’t the proper time to be.
Saturday’s meeting was about taking a step back, we’ve changed the project into two separate ones. The real way to win Autism Appjam, is by understanding the people and the users better than anyone else, and having something that really resonates with them. Our idea was to create a teddy bear that could be used as an early detection tool for Autism Spectrum Disorder. After thinking about it a bit, what happens when the parents find out that their child has autism? Our bear becomes an expensive plushie. Our user is not the actual child, all they experience is the bear, the technology, the interfaces, and the functionality are really for the parents, and caretakers of the children.
So we wanted the bear to grow while the child grew as well. Our idea of observing play behavior and using sensors to detect autism is experimental; there have been studies which we’ve gotten great advice from Professors on Campus on where to look, but this is something very new; and needs to be delved deeper on.
So we’ve decided to take that part of the project and instead turn it into a research project. The other half is being useful to parents and caretakers of children who have autism. The idea is at first the bear is simply an early detection tool, after that it becomes a helper. We wanted to use those same sensors and technology in the bear, and apply them in creative ways in order to solve pain points, and problems that parents of autistic children face. We want to delegate some of the pain points away to technology.
Our idea for an MVP now is to use a GPS in the bear, that connects to the web user interface that the parent uses, to show where the bear/child are; to help with getting lost, a frequent problem and worry.
There’s a lot more work to be done, but we’ve effectively delegated tasks for week 2 of the appjam. Two people on the research project side, two people on the application side, and me doing whatever else I can. If you ask me if I’m confident or not? I might not be able to say yes, the other team’s blogs have shown up, and it’s sort of a mind game where you look at other people’s progress and feel sick to your stomach when there’s looks so much better than yours. That being said, I have to remind myself daily not to take it too seriously, so our group went out for a team dinner at Sam Woo for some Chinese Food, a great way to end a Saturday, and a good precursor for Easter Sunday tomorrow.
We like to joke around a lot that we want to win the 3000$ prize and whatnot, of course we do, I think everyone wants that, but I shouldn’t really forget about more important things like, fun, helping others, and building something to be proud of. I believe the best ideas and products that will be showcased at the demo won’t be the ones that look the best, or are the most technologically advanced, but the ones that show the most empathy, and can touch an emotional chord with the judges, and audience who have their own stories and experience with ASD.
The stage is set for week 2 of the appjam, who knows what’s going to happen. Will we win? who knows. But here are the team’s fortunes from the after meal fortune cookie.
What to do when faced with a difficult task?
Someone asked me recently how to do something she thought was going to be difficult, in this case recording an audio book, and I suggested she pretend that she was someone who could do it. Not pretend to do it, but pretend she was someone who could. She put up a notice to this effect on the studio wall, and she said it helped.
So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.
And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art. -Neil Gaiman
