Author: vedantic

Objective of the Week:

This week was all about preparing for our Halves presentation while continuing our sensory-driven prototyping. As we reflected on our progress, we realized how much we had accomplished in exploring haptics, sound, and immersive design. We also conducted critical playtests for Rite of Passage and developed an early VR prototype for echolocation, refining how floor haptics and environmental storytelling shape user perception.

Challenges of the Week:

• Structuring our presentation to effectively showcase our research and experimentation.
• Balancing preparation for Halves with ongoing playtesting and development.
• Ensuring that our newly explored haptic and audio interactions align with our long-term experience goals.
• Improving the echolocation prototype to rely more on audio feedback rather than visuals.

What We Accomplished:

• Wireless Body Haptics Workshop: We collaborated with SMEs Vivian Shen and Dave Purta to explore wearable haptic devices, including a concept for simulating whale echolocation through jaw vibrations and a vibrating staff that responds to environmental cues like a stampede or water currents.
• Playtesting Rite of Passage Scenarios:
  • Stampede Experience: Playtesters, even without context, accurately perceived a stampede, emphasizing the effectiveness of our floor haptics and spatial audio. They desired additional sensory inputs, particularly wind and smell, to enhance immersion. Some wanted to explore, while others preferred to observe.
  • Pacing Panther Experience: Participants instinctively understood the presence of circling animals. While most remained still, a few moved hesitantly. Many sought guidance through audio cues, and several noted the absence of smell and ground texture as key missing elements.
• VR Echolocation Prototype: We created a VR build that challenged players to navigate in darkness using echolocation. While the system worked, it relied too heavily on visual feedback rather than sound cues. An interesting observation was that as we gradually darkened the scene and removed visual support—except for echolocation feedback—navigation became significantly harder, revealing a strong dependency on visual cues rather than true auditory navigation. Our next steps involve integrating better audio feedback to shift the reliance away from visuals.
• Presentation Preparation: We structured our Halves presentation to highlight our exploration process, findings, and next steps. The key discussion point for faculty feedback was how to transition from exploration into a cohesive final experience.

With Halves behind us, our next focus is integrating our discoveries into a unified design. How do we merge wearable haptics, floor interactions, and spatial audio into a singular immersive journey? That’s our challenge for the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

Week in Review: Iteration and Prototype Preparation

This week, our primary objective was to focus on iteration and preparation for the next round of playtesting. With the prototyping phase approaching quickly, our goal was to catch up on our timeline and ensure we were ready to begin prototyping without delay. This week was all about setting the groundwork for the next steps in the project—aligning the team’s efforts, securing resources, and making sure we were prepared for the upcoming stages.

One of the major challenges we faced this week was catching up on our timeline goals. The project is progressing rapidly, and in order to stay on track, it was crucial to start iterating as quickly as possible. Prototyping plays a key role in testing and refining our ideas, so we needed to ensure that everything was in place to move forward. This involved aligning with our programmers, finalizing design concepts, and ensuring both physical and digital resources were ready for use.

Despite these challenges, we made significant progress across multiple fronts. We began by meeting with each of our programmers for one-on-one iteration discussions. These meetings were instrumental in aligning our goals, defining technical requirements, and ensuring everyone was clear on the next steps. It also provided us with an opportunity to offer context and answer questions, helping the team move forward confidently.

While the week was filled with work, we also made time for team bonding. We had a great time at Sandbox VR and followed it up with a visit to the food court. These moments of relaxation not only gave us a much-needed break but also helped strengthen the camaraderie within the team—something that is just as crucial to the project’s success as the work itself.

In addition to team bonding, we spent time planning the next steps. With the playtesting round fast approaching, we outlined our immediate goals for the prototype, identified key focus areas, and discussed how to integrate the feedback we’ve received so far. Having a clear roadmap in place is vital for maintaining momentum and keeping everyone aligned.

A huge milestone this week was securing a dedicated room for prototyping. This space will allow us to test physical components, conduct playtests, and iterate on our design in a controlled environment. Having a dedicated space for prototyping is essential to the success of the next phase of development.

We also dedicated time to research the motors needed for our haptic devices. This research helped us identify the best options in terms of performance, size, and cost, giving us the foundation we need to integrate them into our prototype for more realistic tactile feedback.

Lastly, we officially began the iteration process with our programmers. The team has started refining the functionality of the components, testing different interactions, and adjusting elements based on initial feedback. Early iteration is crucial for uncovering potential issues and enhancing the overall user experience before diving further into the prototyping phase.

Looking ahead, next week will be focused on refining prototypes and preparing for the upcoming playtest. We will continue iterating based on feedback, test new ideas, and further explore the integration of haptic technology. With the strong collaboration and team bonding from this week, we are ready to move forward with a more focused and cohesive approach. We’re excited to continue on this journey, and we can’t wait to see where the next iteration takes us.

Week in Review: Welcoming New Team Members and Playtesting Progress

This week, our main objective was to welcome two new programmers to the team and gain insights into their skill sets. We were excited to hear their perspectives on the project and see how their expertise could contribute to its growth. Integrating fresh talent always brings new ideas, and we were eager to explore how their input would shape the development process moving forward.

One of the primary challenges this week was finalizing and fleshing out our design scenarios. We needed to ensure each scenario was comprehensive, engaging, and well-aligned with our project goals. Additionally, as we began playtesting, we faced the usual hurdles of refining interactions and understanding how users engage with the system. Playtesting is an essential step in identifying what works and what doesn’t, and we had to be prepared to make adjustments based on user feedback.

Despite these challenges, we made significant progress. We had productive meetings with our two new programmers, who joined the IDEATE team. These discussions were invaluable for understanding their backgrounds and areas of expertise. Their experience brought a fresh perspective to the project, and we were excited about how their skills would complement the existing team’s strengths.

With the new input and feedback, we were able to finalize and solidify the design scenarios. These scenarios are critical to the development process, as they define the context and structure for user interaction. By the end of the week, we had a clearer vision of how the design would unfold and how users would engage with it.

We also took the design scenarios into the RPIS (Real-time Playtesting Interactive System) and began the playtesting phase. This allowed us to observe how users interacted with the prototypes in a controlled setting, gathering valuable data to refine the user experience. The feedback from playtesting has provided crucial insights that will guide us in adjusting the design and improving the flow of the experience.

Looking ahead, our next steps will involve analyzing the playtesting data and refining the design scenarios based on the feedback we received. With the new programmers on board and the collective input from the team, we’re confident we’ll be able to iterate quickly and effectively. The road ahead will focus on further refining the design and ensuring all elements work seamlessly together.

It’s an exciting time as we build momentum on the project, and we can’t wait to continue pushing forward!

Week in Review: Exploring Audio Design and Haptic Integration

This week, our primary focus was on preparing for the upcoming quarters and mapping out the path ahead. We worked on solidifying our goals for the coming months and dedicating time to research the integration of audio design with haptic technology. Our aim was to explore how these two elements could come together to create an innovative and immersive experience. Balancing exploration with clear objectives was essential, as we worked to define our direction for the next few quarters.

One of the biggest challenges we faced this week was deciding on the right approach moving forward. Should we focus on creating an audio-centric project with minimal programming and emphasize creative design, or should we take a more exploratory route and experiment with various possibilities? This dilemma of whether to hone in on developing a single polished experience or to explore multiple concepts before refining them was tricky. We had to weigh the importance of experimentation against the need for a cohesive, finished product.

Despite these challenges, we made great strides. We had a productive meeting with Liam, an undergraduate student studying music technology. Our discussion centered around audio design, multi-channel speaker systems, and spatial tracking. Liam’s insights into how audio can be spatialized and how different systems work together were invaluable for our project, providing us with a deeper understanding of the technical possibilities and constraints when integrating advanced audio systems with our design.

We also made solid progress in mapping out our work for the upcoming quarters. Breaking our goals into manageable chunks and planning for the long term helped us stay focused and avoid feeling overwhelmed by the larger scope of the project. After careful consideration, we decided to take an exploratory approach in the coming weeks. Our focus will be on experimenting with different audio and haptic design ideas, testing out what works, and refining them over time. At the end of this exploratory phase, we’ll consolidate our findings into a cohesive experience.

Looking ahead, the next few weeks will be dedicated to exploring new ideas and testing out different combinations of audio and haptic designs. This phase will allow us to uncover what works best before narrowing down to a single, focused experience for the final product. This week has set the stage for exciting work ahead, and we’re eager to dive deeper into the intersection of audio design and haptic technology. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to explore and innovate!

Week in Review: Exploring Design Challenges and Haptic Applications

This week, our primary objective was to delve deep into the design challenges associated with developing and implementing haptic technology. We focused on understanding the complexities of user experience, identifying potential obstacles, and finding ways to create practical applications while managing technical limitations. The goal was to design within the innovative space of haptic technology, ensuring that our ideas were not only exciting but feasible within the constraints of the technology.

One of the main challenges we faced was determining what aspects of the project we could complete without heavy programming involvement. Since we’re still in the research and brainstorming phase, we wanted to prioritize tasks that could be visualized or conceptualized without diving too deep into the technical side. This led us to reassess our group dynamics—figuring out how we could balance the creative and technical aspects to keep the team productive and aligned as we moved forward.

Despite these challenges, we made significant progress in several areas. We spent considerable time researching different design scenarios for applying haptic technology. This involved not only exploring use cases but also evaluating design considerations such as how tactile feedback could enhance user engagement and seamlessly integrate with existing systems. Our research aimed to anticipate potential roadblocks and identify friction points that might arise during the design process.

With a solid understanding of the design landscape, we gathered as a team to brainstorm potential haptic use cases. Some ideas focused on enhancing immersive virtual environments, while others explored accessibility benefits, like improving navigation for the visually impaired. The brainstorming session was a great opportunity for thinking outside the box and imagining how haptics could impact various industries, from healthcare to gaming.

On the visual side, we began conceptualizing branding for the project, including designing a logo and posters. This process is more than just aesthetics; it helps define the project’s identity and communicate its mission. We worked on visual representations of our haptic technology concepts, aiming to strike a balance between creativity and clarity to ensure the visuals aligned with the project’s goals.

A major highlight of the week was our visit to Vivian Chen’s lab at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute. Vivian, who is conducting research with the Future Interfaces Group, allowed us to test out several cutting-edge haptic devices she’s been working on. We explored devices such as mouth haptics, pull gestures, and innovative touch feedback systems. This hands-on experience provided invaluable insights into what’s possible with current haptic technologies and how we might incorporate these innovations into our own designs.

Looking ahead, we plan to continue building on the momentum from our research and design work. Next week, we’ll refine our use cases and focus on creating prototypes that integrate with existing technologies. We also aim to address some of the challenges we faced with programming limitations and group dynamics to ensure we’re on the best path forward.

We’re excited to see how our exploration of haptic design evolves and look forward to continuing our journey of learning and collaboration. Stay tuned for more updates on our progress!