Communication Options

The KiT's most unique feature is its chosen method of communication. Because the goal was to simulate in-person communication, the communication methods open to me were: text, video, visual, tactile. Text and video are already common for communication, and are served by any number of systems ranging from SMS to Skype. Tactile is devilishly difficult to implement, and would require a greater knowledge of mechanical engineering than I possess. However, I understand light well from my experience in theater lighting, so I chose to use colored light to communicate via the KiT.

Advantages of Light

• Universal. Everyone understands light, and color conveys meaning very well due to our natural associations between colors and ideas or feelings. (NOTE: this product is aimed at the 90% of people who are not colorblind and not blind)
• Simple. The idea of sending a color to someone is very simple, especially for people used to sending a text.
• Quick. All that you need to do is choose a color and send it. With just one knob to choose a color, this can take just a second, much faster than a text message.
• Expandable. You can develop whatever code or shorthand is appropriate for you to match the colors. Are you feeling down? Send Blue. Are you good to go? Send Green. Or just send a random color. Your vocabulary is limited by your imagination.
• Easy to implement. I view a well-engineered project as minimal and accomplishing the goal. Choosing colored light means you can take advantage of tons of hardware and algorithms built around colored light. And a color can be expressed in just 3 bytes, which makes communication faster and simpler.

Disadvantages of Light

• Basic. You can't convey very complex thoughts or feelings by this. But as a secondary form of communication, that's an acceptable compromise.
• Easy to miss. Depending on the implementation, it can be easy to not see the message.