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CHAIR JAM
Game Design & Installation
Brief Intro
ChairJam is a three-day Game Jam / Hardware Hackathon to create interactive experiences that highlight a sense of joy around wheelchair use. Instead of focusing on the practical and traditional uses of wheelchairs, this project seeks to explore their design and possibilities from a playful perspective.
Our team focused on practicality as much as it did on entertainment. Our product, ChairNav, is attachable for wheelchairs that detect nearby obstacles using Ultrasonic Sensors and notifies the user through haptic feedback. The intensity of the feedback varies in intensity and frequency depending on the distance of the chair from the obstacle. As many feedback actuators can be attached depending on how many directions you want to detect obstructions in.
Design & Prototype
Prototype
Using Ultrasonic Sensors to detect nearby obstacles, send distance data to the LED
Notifies the user through haptic and led feedback.
Design
We envisioned a maze navigating experience that requires the guest to be blindfolded,
relying only on the haptic feedback for guidance. In a more practical sense, this can be beneficial
for aiding individuals who use wheelchairs to navigate and traverse areas more safely
by increasing their awareness of surroundings, particularly blind spots.
Team
Duration: Oct 2019 | 48 hours
Team: Five-person team, made up of tech fabricator, chair user, disability advocate, and programmer.
Contribution: Experience Design | Programmer
Photos
Brainstorm
Prototype
What I learnt from the experience
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There should be a reason for every design. Have several rough ideas first, ask your target audience opinions, settle down at where you can do and also make sense to them.
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Think big! Do not have any limitation while brainstorming, be open to any ideas, always think of the ways to combine the good ideas.
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When it comes to hardware, you can never be too careful, it's hard to “debugging”. Be pretty strict about every step and have patience.
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