Outlining the Functionality of the Device:

As we developed an overview of how our device would function, we used the D-Io T: Open Source Alternatives worksheet to analyze our idea and determine the implementation plan that would achieve our goal. Initially, we were aiming to replace the couch seats so that a person could nap on them.

We believed that by placing a pressure plate under each seat, we would be able to activate a servo to close the blinds once all the pressure plates are activated simultaneously. However, once we shared our idea and collected user feedback, we realized that a potential issue that we could encounter is triggering the servo and closing the blinds if three people were sitting on the couch as opposed to lying down. To account for this potential issue, we found scientific evidence that suggests that a person’s upper and middle body are 80% of a person’s weight while their lower body accounts for 20% of the overall weight. Accordingly, we decided to use three pressure plates and use relative and proportional pressure to turn down the blinds. However, we realized that the concepts of proportionality and relativity were difficult to implement. As a result, we decided to divide the couch into three sections that would each be filled with a pressure plate. Once 2 consecutive pressure plates are activated, the system would sense that a person is napping and would turn the blinds down.

The document below shows the implementation plan that we had.