The Proximitiara is a device I put together as a parent for my children. The problem is simple enough: as a parent how can I keep track of my children without being a "helicopter parent," and if I do loose track of them, how can I find them quickly and without causing a scene. In this case I considered my daughter and Halloween. If she's trick or treating with lots of other kindergartners, especially if they're dressed similarly, I could loose her in the crowd. With my design, she feels fashionable, as she has a custom made light up tiara, but the interaction is for me. When all is well, it lights up in a color wheel pattern, that as far as she is concerned is pretty and fun. When she gets too far away from me (a preset distance I decide on), the light pattern changes from the color wheel to a bright red "SOS" sequence, thus drawing my attention more easily. While the light itself and the fact it changes will draw attention in general, the meaning is lost on other people. Thus it's a straightforward but obvious message to me, but not something that will cause a scene.
This design fits in the project requirements as a wearable, interact-able, accessory because it is a tiara (or crown, or laurel, or hairband even) that is not necessary to wear, but it adds something extra when it is worn. The detection of proximity creates an interaction between my daughter and me, and a clear message to me of whether or not she's in what I consider a safe zone.
This design fits in the project requirements as a wearable, interact-able, accessory because it is a tiara (or crown, or laurel, or hairband even) that is not necessary to wear, but it adds something extra when it is worn. The detection of proximity creates an interaction between my daughter and me, and a clear message to me of whether or not she's in what I consider a safe zone.
Sketches
Ideation Sketches
Above are the initial idea sketches followed by my expansion sketches. They typically revolve around "an interact-able accessory worn on the head."
Further Sketches
After playing around with these sketches, I expanded further, trying to flesh out the ideas. I picked two from the headpiece space, and two different ones.
Final Ideation
I finally decided on the tiara idea, honing in on my daughter's and my emotions of being out in a crowd, like trick or treating. I'm one of those parents that acts like a hawk, constantly watching my kids, while also watching everything else. I wanted to design something that would make that notion easier for me, but not make me an overbearing parent. I also wanted to avoid any potential scene causing issues, as I would hate to traumatize my child.
First Prototype
For my prototype, given time and material constraints, I scrapped the sender/receiver aspects of the tiara. I instead used a simple IR sensor to detect distance. My LEDs are a NeoPixel ring. I used an Arduino to drive the two devices, and they are powered either from my laptop or a USB battery pack. The IR sensor reading is used to calculate approximate distance. Based on the distance calculated, the NeoPixel ring displays either a color wheel sequence (showing a pretty sequence, as my daughter puts it) to show that she is close enough to me to be "safe," or a bright red SOS sequence to show that she is no longer in a safe area. This of course is limiting based on my design, as it only works in line of sight, but for future iterations I would like to implement a sonic sensor/sender to truly make an omni-directional tiara that hones in on my position relative to my daughter.
Video demo
NOTE: It's really difficult for children(4 year old's in this case) to be still and pay attention. I think she did amazing considering I had her stand around before making this in order to do some final testing.