KYLE STEWART INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

PORTFOLIOSPRING 2015

How can we create an emotionally stable environment for mildy autistic children in the classroom?

5 weeks - Group of 4 - Spring 2014Universal design studio project sponsored by RERC. Our team was given the personas Anna and Andy. Andy is an 8 year old with mild autism and Anna is his concerned mother. We had to address her worries about his social well being and communication difficulties.

WINNER: Best Student UX

PROBLEM

It is the fastest growing development disability with a

growth rate of 1,148%

au·tism. n. : a mental condition characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.

Today,1 in 88 children in the U.S. are affected

46%mild

of cases areforms of autism

RESEARCH

Doesn’t comprehend all steps or details when not interested. Struggles with emotions. Gets very upset and extremely angry.

We interviewed mothers of autistic children, special education teachers and professional psychologists to understand then biggest issues that these children encounter.

Finding A lack of connection, communication, and understanding make it difficult for parents and teachers to pin point outbreak triggers.

Tasks Needs constant prompting. Struggled with school early on.

Behavior Follows school rules to the max. Disturbed when other kids don’t.

Attention He zones out, gets fixated on certain things.

Zones out a lot, not always in tune with surroundings. Social He has full blown anxiety attacks at large events.

Playing and socializing are tough.

Mother of Shamus-9 Mother of Daniel-7

OUT BURST SCAUSESSIGNS

PREVENT ION

COMMUN ICAT IONISSUES

SOCIALT RIGGERS

SENSORY ST IMULAT ION OBSERVABLE

PHYSIOLOGICAL

CHILDPARENT

T EACHERINT ERACT ION

RECORDING

PROMPT ING

CROWDS

BULLYING

FRUST RAT IONS

EXPRESSING

ALERT SDATA T RACKING RECORDING

DATA T RACKING

ADDRESSIMMEDIAT ELY

BLOODPRESSURE

HEART RAT E

SKINCONDUCTANCE

FIT S

ZON ING OUTDENYINGREQUEST SLIGHT ING NOISE

Interviews

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENTWe developed the concept of a wristband that can detect stress. When detected, they would be directed them to a mobile application for them to answer questions and record this situation. The information would be kept on a database for parents to then access.

Wristband detects stress

Directed to mobile appQuestions asked to record

the situationParent alerted

of situation

Parent and child talk over the situation that evening and

determine how to prevent future

occurrences

IDEATIONOur concept switched from a wristband with a smart phone to a child friendly smart watch.

ZONE is a smart watch and mobile app combination designed to prevent both short term and long term outbursts amongst children facing autism.

FINAL PRODUCT

PRODUCT DETAILS

During excitation sweat glands in the skin fill with sweat, a weak electrolyte and good conductor. This results in many low-resistance parallel pathways, thereby increasing the conductivity of the skin.

Home button

Touch Screen

Metal Fastener

Adjustable Band

Skin ConductanceSensors

Skin Conductance

STORYBOARD

Detecting stress, the watch begins to vibrate.

The watch asks if he is okay to ensure that it isn’t a false alarm.

Knowing whether he is in class or in lunch/recess, the watch will prompt him to properly get help from an adult.

A teacher comes over to calm him down. Once calm, they would go through a series of questions to record the situation.

Responses are accessible on the app for parents to talk about with the child. They can then work to prevent the same situations from occurring in the future.

A sequence of what would happen if a situation occurred during class time.

Raise your hand and wait for help.

Find an adult and ask for help.

Raise your hand and wait for help.

Find an adult and ask for help.

WATCH SEQUENCEThe focus of the watch is to help the child communicate what it is that upset them but also includes features like Breakzone, to help relax the child, and the ability to receive messages from parents.

!

M T W T F

12

1

2

3

Lunch

English

Art

School Bus

Verizon 12:30PM 87%

Andy Smith

Monitor

Schedule

Messages

Settings

Contacts

Records

Verizon LTE 12:30PM 87%

Child Chat

MessagesTeacher Chat

Ok! I’ll keep a close eye on him and let you know how he does!

Janet Smith English

Dave Kelly Guidance C..

Great! Thank you!

New Message

I talked to Andy about his behavior during lunch.

Verizon LTE 12:30PM 87%

Responses

Your son had a complete meltdown at his lunch table today. He was assisted by his aid to calm down after he threw his lunch at some of his peers for being noisy.

Who were you with? NobodyWhat was bothering you? Noise How did you feel? Angry

Teacher Notes:

Questions:Location: Cafeteria

Tantrum Severity

Low High

Dated Responses

3/14/14 2:00 PM

3/14/14 12:40 AM

Trends

Verizon LTE 12:30PM 87%

MonitorMin Hou Day 5D 1Mo

3/14/14

10am 12pm 2pm

! !

MOBILE APPLICATION

Verizon LTE 12:30PM 87%

Username

Password

Sign-UpOur Goals Help

Login

The other side of ZONE is the mobile app, where parents can access outburst data, send messages to their child, and communicate with teachers.

Verizon LTE 87%

12:30Friday, March 14

slide to unlock

Zone 5m agoAndy has had a tantrum!

Verizon LTE 12:30PM 87%

ScheduleM T W T F

12

1

2

3

Lunch Dave Kelly

Janet Smith

Ellie Turner

Ryan Black

English

Art

School Bus

Home Screen Altered when situation occurs

Menu Screen Child’s schedule

Outburst monitor gives the ability to track a child’s data throughout the day.

Child’s question responses

Messaging between parents, teachers and specialists.

Connect | Communicate | Understand

“...I think that such a tracking device is great. I think for a parent to be able to track his day and be able to connect with the child through situations is amazing.”

-Parent of a child with autism

“...This is really innovative and very cool! I really like that you can monitor vitals and see if they are even about to have a problem. Then the teacher could use some antecedent modifications to possibly deter problem behaviors. I also like the parent connection, as they don’t often know how to help when the kids are at school.”

-Special Education Teacher

FEEDBACK

“We would love a product like this. You guys should look into making it real, it could help out a lot of families.”

-Parents of child with autism

SEAT, SURFACE, STORAGEHow can a piece of furniture simplify the way a business functions?

5 weeks - Group of 2 - Spring 2014The project prompt was to design and build a piece of furniture that embodied the concepts of “seat, surface, and storage.”

DAY NIGHT

CONCEPT/IDEATIONDowntown inspired, we developed the concept of a table for businesses that serve as cafes/restaurants during the day but venues for live music at night, thus needing to easily clear space for a dance floor.

Angle holds stools in Stools rest inside table

Table with built in seats?

Interlocking seats?

PROCESS

Angled the table saw blades to create rabbitt joints

Dado table saw for finger joints Sanding finish

Test joints

DETAILS

Finger jointsLap joint

Rabbet joint

The final product is a table with two stools that can be easily lifted and moved as a single unit.

85o anglePoplar wood

The final product is a table with two stools that can be easily lifted and moved as a single unit.

FINAL PRODUCT

Seat Surface Storage

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

Thinner membersIncorporation of multiple materials

Accenting with different woods

Lighter lookLighter/less material

Based on critiques and feedback I came with a few improvements we could make if we wanted to come back to the project.

MODULAR KITCHEN How can we maximize the elderly kitchen experience in minimal living spaces?

15 weeks - Group of 3 - Fall 2014A studio project sponsored by the architecture firm SFCS. They were looking for projects to present at their Living Big in a Small World conference. Projects were intended for elderly, independent living communities with apartments between 400 and 800 sq. feet.

RESEARCH

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or

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dist

ract

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reac

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clean

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clean

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Biggest concerns?

Healthier than fast food and frozen dinners.

Why should the elderly cook more?

Why don’t the elderly cook more?

Cheaper than eating out.

Provides social opportunities.

Healthier than fast food and frozen dinners.

I feel like there is never enough counter space.

I have to use a step stool to reach the higher cabinets.

Downsizing has made it harder to clean the floors.

I’ve gotten much shorter, it’s harder to reach things.

I have trouble hearing buzzers and alarms.

My kitchen is too small to wait around in.

I can’t reach the back of my cabinets.

There isn’t enough light in the kitchen.

“

”

“

”“

””

-Eleanor, 78

-Nancy, 76

-Ralph, 90

We interviewed three retirement community residents and a retirement community architect to understand the biggest problems they face in the kitchen.

FINDINGS

Too High

Too LowMost UsedAppliances

Average loss of 3 inches between ages 30 and 80

-There’s no such thing as too much counter space.-Drawers are better than cabinets.

How do we maximize accessibility while minimizing spacial footprint?

Design Considerations

-Corner space is usually wasted space.-There’s no such thing as too much storage.

-Full sized appliances are too big for our needs.

SKETCH IDEATION

OVEN/MICROWAVE

DISHWASHER Unnecessary sizeBring everything up?

Advantium ovens function as both microwaves and conventional ovens

Bring everything to counter height

Utilize the corner space

Too complicated?

Avoids bending and lifting

Avoids bending and turning

MISC.

SINK Cutting board creates a flush surface Raises and lowers, gives a place to sit?

Smaller pull out trash/recycling binsDrawers utilize the space under appliances

Kick stool to replace areas that are too low to reach

Spot to put cutting board

Induction stove tops with storage underneath

Multiple compartments necessary?

Avoids long periods of standing

Avoids kneeling down and getting up Avoids reaching up

CONCEPT

25”

25”12.5”

100”62.5”

75”

62.5”

87.5”

Oven Dishwasher Sink Stove Trash Storage

We decided to make our design modular. Each appliance is it’s own unit and can be placed anywhere based on the preference of the customer.

We built a full size cardboard model to test our dimensions and then made a smaller wood/3D print model to check our details.

MODELING/TESTING

3D printed ABS Laser cut acrylic

Laser cut plywood

ASSEMBLY

Each cabinetry module is fit for specific appliances and are installed first.

Appliance bays, such as the dishwasher, oven, and stove, are installed into the modules.

The smart counter top is installed on top of the appliance bays.

Appliance lids, sink, etc. are dropped through pre-cut holes in the counter top,

Drawers, kick-stools and other finishing touches are applied.

CONTEXT

01 Kick activated kick stool adds 7 inches of reach.

02 Option of sitting and working.

03 Induction heat only make the pots/pans hot.

04 The sink is fully functional with the cutting board removed.

05 No more fear of lifting hot and heavy dishes.

06 Dishes are easily accessible from the countertop.

01 02 03 04

05 06

FINAL RENDER

THANK YOUkstew116@vt.edu

609.968.8719