March 15, 2018
Foss Finalizes Prototypes for the Design Challenge
Blog post written by Christina Nelson
Twenty-seven high school students from Paula Yost’s Exploring Computer Science class at Henry Foss IB World School in Tacoma joined the UW Social Robot Design Challenge early in February. The class is part of the Tacoma School District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program which teaches students real world skills in a work-based setting. Paula teaches her students with an enthusiasm that radiates through the room, using her passion for technology to inspire students to discover their own. Participating in the Design Challenge has allowed students at Foss to learn about human centered design while working collaboratively with their peers.
Research: Understanding stress and teens
During our first day together, the students dove headfirst into research. After watching the video on research, which is the first step in human-centered design, the students logged onto their computers to find facts and statistics on stress and teens. Each student wrote down their top research findings to share with their table groups, discussing the ways students react when they are stressed and what reduces stress levels.
With their research findings on their minds, the teens began to make a list of interview questions they wanted to ask one another on stress. The questions included:
- How do you deal with stress?
- How do you think the amount of sleep a teen gets affects their stress levels?
- Do you think stress is bad?
Each student shared their experiences with stress with one another to improve their understanding of factors that cause stress and ways stress can be reduced. Sources of stress ranged from parents to school projects while coping mechanisms included listening to music and eating.
Wrapping up the student interviews, a guest speaker Erienne Naccarato, who is a Social/Emotional Special Education Specialist came to the classroom to visit, answering additional questions on stress. The students were able to compile a list of answers to their question to refer to later on.
Ideation: Laying out a plan
After concluding the research phase, the students were already beginning to imagine what their robots would look like. Each table group took a stack of colorful sticky notes in hand, writing down their top three research findings. Once they had laid out their top findings, they quickly jotted down the potential features that their robot might have to help address teen stress.
Surrounded by a trail of sticky notes, the students began drawing out their ideas based on the features they brainstormed. Each student speedily sketched three unique designs, spending only two minutes per robot design. Once the sketches were finalized, the students shared their drawings with their group members in order to come up with one design scheme to follow for their cardboard prototypes.
Prototyping: Making drawings come alive
Once the students had drawn their prototypes on paper, it was time to make their ideas come to life! Representatives from each group gathered around the classroom table housing googly eyes, cardboard and other knick knacks to select their tools. Soon, pool noodles became limbs for robots while wheels gave other robots the ability to move. Each student was engaged as they fought through two class periods in order to make sure their designs were exactly as they had imagined.
At the end of the prototyping phase, six robots were created. The Foss robot family includes:
- Encouragement-Bot: A robot with a screen that displays positive words to keep stressed students encouraged
- Boom-Boom: A small robot that hovers, dispenses drinks and candy to stressed students, and converts students’ trash into fuel
- Steven-Bot: A robot with a flower pot for a head that features a squeezable glove to release the tension of stressed teens
- R2-02: A robot constructed from materials including cardboard and a paint roller that features a fridge and speakers to play music to calm stressed students down
- An unnamed life-sized robot with a detachable head that communicates with stressed teens
- An unnamed robot with wings and a full head of hair that has a cushy stomach for hugging
Testing: Receiving feedback
Finishing the prototyping phase, the students were finally ready to share their designs with their peers. Six students from another Foss classroom entered the room to help test the designs. Despite being placed in a modified lockdown, each of the students welcomed feedback from their peers. The lockdown led students to critically think about the impacts of stress and how each robot might be able to reduce teen stress by keeping students safe at school.
Iteration: The next step!
Before the students share their designs with the public, they will be making changes to the designs based on the feedback they gained from their users. We are looking forward to seeing the final prototypes at the Design Challenge Showcase!
