Social Anxiety

In this challenging world, we bring forth a special creation—the Social Anxiety Robot with a Wounded Heart. This unique robot is not only a culmination of our technology and creativity but also an exploration of complex human emotions. Crafted from cardboard, the robot has a simple yet heartwarming appearance: a cubic body, two glowing eyes, and a triangular mouth. However, its story is much richer than what its exterior conveys.

Due to past hurts, it fears social interactions, especially in noisy, crowded environments. The design details of the robot—the propeller(repel device) at the top is not just its cooling mechanism but also symbolize a state of self-protection, a readiness to "cool down" its emotions at any moment. Its eyes, through changes in lighting, delicately express its feelings towards various social distances and environments, from anxiety to relaxation, reflecting its complex inner world. The LCD display on its chest directly shows its mood changes, all controlled by the ultrasonic sensor on the bottom left of its body. This sensor detects the people and objects around it, adjusting the robot's response, allowing it to remain cautious while also attempting to connect with the world.

This Social Anxiety Robot is not merely a "useless machine"; it is our deep reflection on injury, recovery, and social anxiety. Through this project, we hope to trigger an understanding of the complexity of the human inner world, as well as empathy and understanding for those who feel uncomfortable in social situations due to past injuries.

Arduino

220 resistor x3

Ultrasonic distance sensor

NPN transistor

Potentiometer

LCD 16x2

DC motor

RGB LED

The starting point of our project is to integrate the ideas from the work submitted by the group members in the Part 1 stage. Rather than looking for any deep innovation, we focused on ensuring that our machines retained their "useless" nature. The initial idea revolved around creating a device that was both fun and thought-provoking, even though it had no actual functional purpose.

Description: distances and drive three actuators based on these distances. The activity of these actuators changes based on the data collected by the sensors, creating the interactive behavior of the machine. This design is intended to simulate how a machine would react in a specific situation.

Next, we use Tinkercad to design the circuit of the machine. This step allows us to arrange and connect all necessary electronic components, including ultrasonic sensors, actuators and Arduino control boards, in a virtual environment. This gives us a clear view ensuring all components are connected and working correctly.

Once the circuit design is complete, we start writing the code that controls the behavior of the machine. The goal of the code is to enable input from sensors to control the responses of actuators, allowing the machine to behave differently based on changes in its surrounding environment.

Then, we started assembling the physical circuit and uploading the written code to the Arduino control board. This step is critical in taking our design from theory to reality.

After the machine is run for the first time, we conduct a series of tests and debugging to resolve any issues that arise. This includes making minor adjustments to the code and making necessary corrections to the circuit connections to ensure the machine operates as expected.

Next, we conceived a story around the machine and designed a device container (the outer shell of the robot). Not only does this give the machine a personality, it also makes it a compelling narrative device.

The final step is to bring all the elements - circuits, code, stories, and device containers - together. This step ensures that the machine not only operates smoothly technically, but is also a complete and engaging piece, both visually and narratively.

Reflecting on the development process of our project, our team not only deepened our understanding of Arduino and various sensors and actuators but also explored the integration of design and programming in practical applications. Overall, the project successfully achieved our set goals, creating an expressive "useless machine" that could sense its surroundings through an ultrasonic sensor and react accordingly.

Successes

• Circuit Design and Implementation: The process of designing the circuit with Tinkercad allowed us to clearly envision how each component interacted, providing a solid foundation for building the physical circuit. Once assembled, the circuit operated stably, which was one of the key factors in the success of our project.
• Programming and Interaction: The code we wrote effectively controlled the actuators, changing the machine's behavior based on input from the ultrasonic sensor. This interactivity not only demonstrated the possibilities of technology but also provided a unique interactive experience for the audience.

Challenges

• Debugging: While our circuit and code worked largely as expected, we did encounter some issues during the debugging process. Specifically, we found that the readings from the ultrasonic sensor were not as precise under certain conditions as we had hoped, requiring some additional programming effort to optimize its performance.
• Design and Physicalization: Encasing our machine in an interesting and eye-catching enclosure was more complex than we anticipated. Finding a design that both fit our narrative and was practical proved to be an engaging yet challenging part of our project.

Learnings

This project taught us a great deal about teamwork, creative thinking, and technical execution. We learned that successful projects require not just technical skill but also creativity and patience. Moreover, the project underscored the importance of testing and iteration, teaching us that even "useless" machines can provide rich learning opportunities during the design and creation process.

Unexpected Performances

• Emotional Feedback: The "emotional" changes exhibited by our robot during interactions were more captivating than we had envisioned. The audience's response to the robot exceeded our expectations, as they were attracted not just by the technical details but also by the "emotions" it conveyed.

Through this project, we not only improved our technical skills but also broadened our perspective as designers and creators. The experience of facing challenges taught us how to more effectively anticipate problems and find solutions in future projects. We look forward to applying this experience to future innovative projects, continuing to explore the limitless possibilities of technology and creativity.