PB & A #1

Patrick, Ben, and Arduino: What we've been up to

Here's a quick recap of how our project has been evolving.



Social Beer Drinking

We've been designing around the situation of social beer drinking--partially because it's a situation that we're both quite familiar with, but also because it's a situation that's teeming with interesting interactions that are just begging to be messed with.

First we brainstormed around the items involved with social beer drinking:

• Glasses
• Pitchers
• Stools
• Chairs
• Tables
• Coasters
• etc.

Then we focused in on the vessel itself--all of the information that can be gathered and what that could say about what is happening between the drinkers, each other, and their drinks. The beer-cology started to take shape. Some things we looked into:

• Temperature
• Head
• Drinker/Owner
• Act of Pouring
• Amount of Beer
• Proximity to Pitcher
• Proximity to Drinker/Owner
• Beer "Identity"
• Viscosity

We started to get a feel for the situation and some of the possible effects of learning from these variables. Still, we weren't sure how to manifest potential feedback in a way that would affect the social situation in a really interesting (and maybe fun) way.

Back to the drawing board.

Instead of wrapping our heads around the pint glass and working outwards from the object, we attempted to get a fresh look by zooming out and examining the situation as a whole, once more. As we examined closely some of the other objects present in the situation, one seemed to stand out against the rest.

The table is always there, doesn't belong to any one person, and acts as the intermediary between the drinkers and their drinks--providing the surface necessary for these things to come together. Conveniently enough, it's also able to contain all of the sensing, processing, and actuating equipment we need to use. It is also positioned in such a way that would make it easy to interact with in a tactile, visual, and even aural way.



So a Supertable? What does it do?

Our device intends to measure one variable (to start with): Amount of beer.

It measures the amount of beer in the pitcher and in each member's glass by providing affordances that indicate where the glasses and communal pitcher should be placed (these areas contain sensors that can gather this information).

By reading this information, we intend to inform the user of a few things:

• How many beers have been consumed by each member
• How "drunk" that member might be (ballpark estimated by time vs amount)
• How much money they need to contribute to the group for the communal beer
• Who has had the most, who has had the least

We've also considered the concept of having the table decide who's next in line to buy a pitcher (randomly selecting a member of the group, and eliminating them from being chosen in the next random selection).

By working in this space, we're not trying to solve an existing problem--just make one of the solutions to life's problems a little more interesting. A hat-tip to Neil and Inness for presenting during class the situation that gave us the initial kick in the right direction.


Pictures, Fun Arduino experiments and more to come...