CIID · Physical Computing · 2024
Giacco
A coat rack that checks the weather and lights up what you should take with you.
The short version
About 1 minute
- Situation
- A physical computing course project, inspired by the team's own rushed mornings.
- Problem
- People get caught in the rain or cold because they didn't check the weather before leaving. One team member's flatmates asked each other every morning whether to take an umbrella.
- What made it hard
- Live weather data, sensors, motors and lights had to work together in a life-size object.
- The object needed enough personality that people would actually pay attention to it.
- My role
A four-person team project. I took part in several parts of the process, including planning and coding.
With Hun Han, Leon Fan, Jill Aneri Shah
Tools: Sensors, motors, lights, live weather data
- Key decisions
- Giacco reads local weather and lights the arm holding the right item, in a matching colour.
- He reacts. Take his suggestion and he's happy; ignore it and he looks and sounds upset.
- Outcome
- Many people who saw Giacco wished they had their own. The team's next step would be new materials to make the combination of sensors, motors and lights more reliable.
Details
Giacco does what a coat rack should: it holds jackets and accessories. It is also connected to local weather data. Depending on the day, it lights up the arm holding a hat for sunshine or a scarf for snow, and it lets you know how it feels about your choice.
Making Giacco
