Our team began the concept refinement phase by narrowing our focus within our previous "Under Attack!" Storyboard. We chose to focus on the development of a compelling challenge and experience surrounding the Hyperdrive. Below is our new and more focused user experience storyboard.
First, some vocabulary for clarity:
And now, a brief summary (see Chacha's page for more details!):
Users walk up to the octagonal table, 8* smaller cylinders extend dim and fully fixed. There is a large, central cylinder slowly pulsing grey/white light. Over the intercom, users are instructed that the hyperdrive is down and that they need to fix the circuits of the smaller cylinders to help jump start and super-charge the hyperdrive. Our "hyperdrive" product will require users to rotate 3* cylindrical components that make up a smaller cylinder (1 smaller cylinder per side of the table) to align correctly. Once properly aligned, the cylindrical components will light up a certain color. There will be 8 smaller cylinders that users will interact with, one for each side of the octagonal central table about which users are situated. There is also a large, central cylinder that will glow a constant color (subject to testing, but probably grey) and have vertical lines pulsing a color that corresponds with the color of a smaller, fully aligned, cylinder. When the color in the central cylinder matches the color of a smaller cylinder, the user then needs to insert their smaller cylinder into a portal on their side of the octagonal table. When it's inserted, the main cylinder will glow a constant, horizontal, wide band (up to 8 in total, one for each cylinder). When all 8 smaller cylinders are inserted, the main central cylinder will have 8 horizontal bands glowing and will be “fully charged.” At this point, the users will be instructed that the hyperdrive has been restored thanks to their work and directed to the next activity.
*If there are fewer than 8 players, the game can be adjusted to only eject cylinders up to the number of players in the game
In this image, the user is trying to solve the puzzle on the red cylinder. The central tower shows that 2 cylinders have been solved and pushed into their portals. It is requesting that a solved yellow cylinder (not shown) be pushed into its portal.
This is the body of a cylinder with glowing blue lines. The cylinder will be solved when all the blue channels are aligned. See Steven's page for more details.
Here we have designed the mechanical system by which the user will interact with our challenge. The puzzle cylinder is solved and inserted into the servo controlled housing when correctly oriented. The cylinder consists of three rotating components that when properly aligned, complete and electrical circuit and allow the user to fully insert the device into the center and complete a portion of the large central cylinder. For more information on the cylinder, visit Austin’s page!
The insertion mechanism allows for the cylinder to only enter when the correct orientation is achieved. The housing contains a servo controlled stopper mechanism to let the user know physically when they have completed the puzzle. For a detailed explanation of the insertion mechanism, visit Jessica’s page!
The assembly of the cylinder itself is seen in the above animation. Three casing elements rotate about a central axis. The interface between elements consists of matching sets of dimples to provide satisfying tactile feedback and electrical connections needed for the game systems.
The system block diagram pictured above describes how the electronics of the hyperdrive will communicate with each other. While only one sensor is pictured above for simplicity’s sake, the actual device will have two or three sensors integrated. This is because our reset and method to prolong the game, require that the cylinder be ejected and then twisted to make another connection. (The sensors are the physical contact made between the the twisting parts. There will be two or three possibilities though only one will be live at a time for the user to solve, which would then light up the small cylinder and eventually be inserted into the central table.)
For more information on the code architecture, electrical system design, and electrical part selection refer to Clay's page. For more information regarding the lighting design and part selection, refer to Chacha's page.