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Aug
16
2008

Sketching Out the Shell

Working out the shape of the shell that needed to be affixed to the pint glass, I started to sketch out a design on paper that I would later draft in SolidWorks.

Through this process I had to work out a number of problems. The most important problem was how I was going to fit all of the electronic components underneath the glass. I needed to create a design that maximized space of the components. I also had to pay attention to how the design would allow for the placement of a RGB LED and that would allow for easy accessibility if I needed to open it up and change things around. The package design also needed to be robust in case it is dropped and stable so the glass wouldn’t be at risk of falling over.
chicken scratch

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 6:38 pm and is filed under documentation, package design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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  • What is it?

    The Sociable Pint investigates the use of networked objects, not to further an impersonal trajectory of media, but to encourage and augment face-to-face conversation.

    Through the introduction of Pint-to-Pint (P2P) networking, bar glasses become social objects themselves, mapping themselves onto the existing network of people, in turn inserting a new layer of sociability within the space.

    By networking pint glasses capable of sensing, recording, and interpreting gestural data, the glasses can collectively provide direct intervention onto the social fabric within the bar space.

  • Why?

    Sociable media have introduced a shift in how we communicate by providing more intuitive technological interfaces. But as these technologies provide a new salience within existing social frameworks and appropriate the practice of face-to-face conversation toward new media platforms it becomes imperative to not only question sociable media's effect on face-to-face conversation, but to design sociable media which move in the opposite direction: to encourage and augment face-to-face conversation.

  • How?

    Sensors embedded within each glass collect data indicative of how each glass is being used. Among other actions, the glasses can sense if they are being held, if they are being "cheersed," how they are being tilted, if they are being ignored, as well as their relative proximity to other glasses, etc. Through the interpretation of sensor data, each glass has the ability to send information via wireless transceivers to the other glasses in order to gain access to the entire system of networked pint glasses.

    In addition to reciprocating information among the glasses, each glass expresses itself through an RGB LED embedded in each glass. Glasses which are used in similar ways, glasses which are in close proximity of each other, and glasses which are "cheersed" together exhibit behaviors intentionally designed to induce conversation between the bar patrons.

    Data from the entire population of pint glasses is collected by a central computer. Images representing the interpretation of this data are displayed onto the televisions within the bar, providing additional feedback to the bar patrons correlating to the gestural culture of the bar space.

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