Close

Ep. 4 - A fresh approach? #design

A project log for K-Ability Toolkit

Toolkit for diy devices that allow the use of touchscreens to people with neuromuscular coordination problems

dariocosedariocose 06/28/2023 at 22:230 Comments

I decided to meet with my friend Claudio to talk about product design and engineering. He is a teacher of mechanical engineering and design. He is also a designer specializing in enclosure design for PCBs and sensors.
When I introduced him to K-Ability, he immediately suggested that a traditional approach would be time-consuming and wasteful.
We quickly realized that this would be a good opportunity to try an artificial inteligence service.
With these new tools, the process of producing concepts or images is very fast, and by playing around with parameters, we are able to produce images of good quality and consistent with expectations.

In one hour of testing, we produced about 10 images by entering very general and quite similar inputs with each other.

We selected 3 images that triggered curiosity or ideas we had not thought of.

This first sketch impressed us because it described a typical use-case in a few strokes. It did not inspire us any particular ideas, but this sketch manages to explain very directly the typical gestures and interaction of the system.


The second image proposes to us a concept similar to the previous one. In this case the AI focused our attention on the concept of a light button. In truth, we had not yet thought of visual feedback beyond the small display... Lighting buttons could open the development to specific devices for motor problems combined with low vision


Although we have always used very similar prompts, this image is totally different from the others.

The interesting idea of AI is in having proposed a curved device with no buttons. We can see instead of buttons a kind of lever. 
The concept of levers can be interesting for subjects who,for example, have a lot of strength or violent jerks caused by spasms.

At this point Claudio and I wondered if this little experience with AI had been worthwhile. 

What to say...
I don't know!


Certainly it was fun to play with a new tool, and the quality of the images is very good and the working time is very fast.


The inputs and ideas that this process has given us are limited but still good.
I will have to meet my friend Claudio another time and try the old technique of drawing on a sheet of paper!

Discussions