Parameterization and geometric optimization of balloon launched sensorcraft for atmospheric research missions

We present a method for the payload centric automated design and manufacturing of balloon launched, high altitude gliders. The purpose of these gliders is to conduct directed measurements of atmospheric phenomena with a variety of payloads. A bespoke airframe design is generated that can protect the payload, ensure recoverability and extend sampling times. A manufacturing technique, that relies heavily on rapid prototyping, allows for rapid realization of the aircraft design. This allows atmospheric scientists and researchers unprecedented access to a broad range of altitudes

Improved Microcontroller-Based Electronic Respiratory Training

Respiratory training is a critical component of many rehabilitation plans, including those of stroke patients. Many current respiratory training techniques lack efficient methods for quantifying progress and updating testing parameters. A previously-developed microcontroller-based device, designed in conjunction with clinicians at the Institute for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, has demonstrated promising results. Here, a prototype of a revised device that is network connected and remoatly sends trial information is presented.\ The proposed device demonstrates enhanced functionality, while being smaller and using less power than the original prototype

Integrated Control of Microfluidics – Application in Fluid Routing, Sensor Synchronization, and Real-Time Feedback Control

Microfluidic applications range from combinatorial chemical synthesis to high-throughput screening, with platforms integrating analog perfusion components, digitally controlled microvalves, and a range of sensors that demand a variety of communication protocols. A comprehensive solution for microfluidic control has to support an arbitrary combination of microfluidic components and to meet the demand for easy-to-operate system as it arises from the growing community of unspecialized microfluidics users. It should also be an easy to modify and extendable platform, which offer an adequate computational resources, preferably without a need for a local computer terminal for increased mobility. Here we will describe several implementation of microfluidics control technologies and propose a microprocessor-based unit that unifies them. Integrated control can streamline the generation process of complex perfusion sequences required for sensor-integrated microfluidic platforms that demand iterative operation procedures such as calibration, sensing, data acquisition, and decision making. It also enables the implementation of intricate optimization protocols, which often require significant computational resources. System integration is an imperative developmental milestone for the field of microfluidics, both in terms of the scalability of increasingly complex platforms that still lack standardization, and the incorporation and adoption of emerging technologies in biomedical research. Here we describe a modular integration and synchronization of a complex multicomponent microfluidic platform

SleepCompete: A Smart Bedside Device to Promote Healthy Sleeping Habits in Children

We outline SleepCompete: a bedside device that encourages and promotes healthy sleeping behaviour in families, with a particular focus on children, in a fun and useful way. SleepCompete encourages children and their parents to monitor sleeping habits by introducing a ‘sleep score’. By sharing this score with others we propose that SleepCompete persuades its users to improve sleeping habits. We outline the concept of our device and the preliminary study we conducted

Crossed Wires: Investigating the Problems of End-User Developers in a Physical Computing Task

Considerable research has focused on the problems that end users face when programming software, in order to help them overcome their difficulties, but there is little research into the problems that arise in physical computing when end users construct circuits and program them. In an empirical study, we observed end-user developers as they connected a temperature sensor to an Arduino microcontroller and visualized its readings using LEDs. We investigated how many problems participants encountered, the problem locations, and whether they were overcome. We show that most fatal faults were due to incorrect circuit construction, and that often problems were wrongly diagnosed as program bugs. Whereas there are development environments that help end users create and debug software, there is currently little analogous support for physical computing tasks. Our work is a first step towards building appropriate tools that support end-user developers in overcoming obstacles when constructing physical computing artifacts

Plug-and-play Physical Computing with Jacdac

Physical computing is becoming mainstream. More people than ever---from artists, makers and entrepreneurs to educators and students---are connecting microcontrollers with sensors and actuators to create new interactive devices. However, physical computing still presents many challenges and demands many skills, spanning electronics, low-level protocols, and software---road blocks that reduce participation. While USB has made connecting peripherals to a personal computing device (PC) trivial, USB components are expensive and require a PC to operate. This makes USB impractical for many physical computing scenarios where cost, size and low power operation are often important

Mixed physical and virtual design environments for digital fabrication

Digital Fabrication (3D printing, laser-cutting or CNC milling) enables the automated fabrication of physical objects from digital models. This technology is becoming more readily available and ubiquitous, as digital fabrication machines become more capable and affordable. When it comes to designing the objects that are to be fabricated however, there are still barriers for novices and inconveniences for experts. Through digital fabrication, physical objects are created from digital models. The digital models are currently designed in virtual design environments, which separates the world we design in from the world we design for. This separation hampers design processes of experienced users and presents barriers to novices. For example, manipulating objects in virtual spaces is difficult, but comes naturally in the physical world. Further, in a virtual environment, we cannot easily integrate existing physical objects or experience the object we are designing in its future context (e.g., try out a game controller during design). This lack of reflection impedes designer's spatial understanding in virtual design environments. To enable our virtual creations to become physical reality, we have to posses an ample amount of design and engineering knowledge, which further steepens the learning curve for novices. Lastly, as we are physically separated from our creation - until it is fabricated - we loose direct engagement with the material and object itself, impacting creativity. We follow a research through design approach, in which we take up the role as interaction designers and engineers. Based on four novel interaction concepts, we explore how the physical world and design environments can be brought closer together, and address the problems caused their prior separation. As engineers, we implement each of these concepts in a prototype system, demonstrating that they can be implemented. Using the systems, we evaluate the concepts and how the concepts alleviate the aforementioned problems, and that the design systems we create are capable of producing useful objects. In this thesis, we make four main contributions to the body of digital fabrication related HCI knowledge. Each contribution consists of an interaction concept which addresses a subset of the problems, caused by the separation of virtual design environment, and physical target world. We evaluate the concepts through prototype implementations, example walkthroughs and where appropriate user-studies, demonstrating how the concepts alleviate the problems they address. For each concept and system, we describe the design rationale, and present technical contributions towards their implementation. The results of this thesis have implications for different user audiences, design processes, the artifacts users design and domains outside of digital fabrication. Through our concepts and systems, we lower barriers for novices to utilize digital fabrication. For experienced designers, we make existing design processes more convenient and efficient. We ease the design of artifacts that reuse existing objects, or that combine organic and geometrically structured design. Lastly, the novel interaction concepts (and on a technical level, the systems) we present, which blur the lines between physical and virtual space, can serve as basis for future interaction design and HCI research

The Form Design of the Datacatcher: A Research Prototype

This pictorial exposes aspects of the decision-making process during the form design of a research prototype called the Datacatcher: a mobile electronic device that receives a continuous stream of location-based sociopolitical messages. Manifesting a physical device generated a myriad of demands on top of our research agenda that included issues with both technology and manufacturing. This pictorial will demonstrate how research through design has to tackle issues beyond core research questions in creating research devices, and suggest that because such seemingly irrelevant concerns are crucial for how research questions are embodied, those concerns themselves become integral to the research