Tech Beyond the Myth¶
This seminar we learned about the right to repair, black boxes, how things are made, and how we can combine code with machines. We started with a forensic report of a broken item, and followed with creating an Almost Useful Machine. Below are presentations of each project followed by my reflection.
Forensic Report¶
We began the first week choosing an item that had stopped working to disassemble. Our item was a Sports Blender by Electrolux, which was surprisingly difficult to take a part. While disassembling the casing, we came across a single screw (spanner slotted) which is typically used to prevent tampering. This tiny screw made it impossible to take a part the casing, and it resulted in us using a drill and saw to break the base open. We also learned that this particular blender failed because there was a nut bolt piece that had misaligned due to overheating of the PP material encasing it. Although the item was filled with metal and copper parts, this one area of plastic made the item fail. This material choice may be because they intended the blender to be used less frequent because it was designed for a single serving. Older and more robust blenders have the intention of serving larger quantities, so glass or harder materials are used. This item seemed to be targetting individuals who wanted a cheaper and quick solution to make protein shakes or smoothies, but in the end the item was designed to be short lived and unable to be repaired.
Our Foresnic Report can be found here: Forensic Report
Distracted Timer - Almost Useful Machine¶
After learning about motors from our broken blender, we used a windshield wiper motor to create a distracted timer. Using Arduino and sensors, we were able to make our almost useful machine. Initially we were playing around with how to make the motor turn different dirrections and how we could make it feel random. We coded the amount of time it would turn a direction and also played with a manual switch which would reverse the energy, and make the motor reverse. We followed with brainstorming concepts and ideas that were interesting to us as a group and landed on making something that would be annoying to us. The initial timer was able to change directions based on the code, however we added the sensor element to create more of a random and personification of the timer itself.
The presentation can be found here: Presentation
Video
Motor hooked up to Arduino
Cardboard mockup
Reflection¶
This week was very interesting for me because although I have taken a part and built products in industrial design, I am less familiar with electronics. Learning about AC vs. DC motors was new to me as well as working with Arduino. There was a steep learning curve to understand how we could control a motor using code. First was understanding how to make the motor run from a battery, and then learning how we could connect that power to Arduino for it to be controlled. Once we were able to map out how the electricity would flow it made a lot more sense and was a great way to visualize how energy flows from one element to another. It was also exciting to figure out how to make the motor turn different directions and brainstorm what else we could make it do.
The topic of the right to repair is really interesting to me and from an industrial design perspective is something that gets pushed aside in the design process when it comes to cost of material and manufacturing. So many products are designed to work for a short period of time and do not give agency to the user when it comes to taking it a part and fixing it. Also with everything being encased in “black boxes” we are taught to make things look simple and seamless, when in fact that communicates to the user that they should not interfere with understanding how the product is working.