The reflection report is written to demonstrate our experience as a group working together. It is a group report to help outline and further your understanding of our journey on the E-Planter project.
Question:
How did we start from our original idea to the present one?
Answer:
Our journey started when we looked around us to see people suffering from depression, anxiety, and severe stress. This trend has been around for sometime now, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic has started. So we did some digging, and found that the current theories about human-plant interaction & horticultural therapy is a potential gateway for innovation.
With this, we walked into the scholarship only to find ourselves entangled in the jungle of information. Not much of human-plant interaction was explored. Although there were some present projects, most focused on the aspect of education or plant care. What we want to target was really different.
Finding no way out from the research, we decided to conduct our own study. We began by walking around our neighborhood to conduct interviews with children and teenagers. The main questions were relating to their perception of plant therapy. We also conducted in-depth interviews with psychologists and psychology students to have some feedback from their end.
These processes helped us immensely with brainstorming and developing functions of the E-Planter. This is when we are able to program different functions into our Arduino Opla kit. We developed the interface, system, and data collection mechanism. We also started to focus on the gamification aspect.
Now that we have the interface, we started to imagine how the E-Planter should look like. With sketches and designs, we started to see how the E-Planter can be friendly to both developer and users. Ofcourse, in these processes, we went back and forth with interviewees, testors, surveys to confirm we are on our right path.
The last arc consist of us reflecting our project with industrial partners, business venture capitalists, and academics. They helped us refine and expand on our functions to be more engaging and interesting. With this, we finally developed our final version of the E-Planter.
Question:
What worked? What didn’t work?
Answer:
On our way, we tested multiple functions and theorized several possibilities to be included. One of the things we theorized is for the E-Planter to be more engaging by physically turning to greet the user. This might have worked otherwise, but it is not the most important component of the project. Therefore, we did not pursue this possibility, as it would take up a lot of manpower.
Another idea that we have is to substantiate human-plant direct interaction. This means for the human to be directly engaged with the plant, to touch its leaves, soils, and broken twigs, for example. This sounded very intriguing, yet it would require a whole other set of skills. We really looked into how we could make the plant emanate light and act as a night lamp. The person would be able to power on by touching some of the leaves. However, there is so much that can go wrong in this proposition. After brief testing, we abandoned the thought… for now.
On the technical aspect, a lot of things were improved. For instance, the initial Opla plant interactive system was upgraded to include gamification. This worked really well for us as it helps us enhance our target audience’s experience with the product. Another thing that worked well is the general design of the product look. While it seems easy, it didn’t initially go according to what we think. We redesigned and repetitively printed several times until it finally look presentable and usable
Question:
How did you make your decisions on the design of your prototype?
Answer:
The prototype mainly consist of the 3D printed model of the E-Planter and the Arduino Opla interactive device. We also have the Cloud and App interface (UI). We can demonstrate our decision making with the 3D models components.
While doing the 3D modelling, we imagined what should have been on the pot itself. We would then leave space to allow several components to connect together and for the components to fit into the space. However, this requires several rounds of prototyping.
For instance, Carmen’s 3D models and prints need to be tested with Will’s interactive device first. Often, some areas do not fit very well. Either it shows that it is not easy to assemble or it is not very friendly and usable for the users. In these circumstances, we would discuss as a team what elements need to be adjusted. Afterwards, Carmen would model the next version of the design and show the team to make sure if it works according to how we all imagined it to be. This is then printed to be assembled again.
Although this sound quite daunting, it really made us realize a lot of things should be changed for the user to enjoy better user experience.
Question:
What are some of your learning points?
Answer:
Together, we learned a lot from various people, the process of developing, and the challenges we encountered along the way. In this case, we will discuss some of the most valuable experience!
First is our development of the E-Planter 3D model. At the start, Carmen did not know how it would look like, so the first version of the model is very generic. She learned and refered to the Youtube tutorials. But after she properly understood the process of modelling and identified the shortcomings of the imported model, she was able to develop her own unique model. This shows that a lot of times, we can start where someone had developed some idea already. But it is really up to us to really take it to the next level.
Next, is the people we met along the way. Be it children and youth that gave us valuable feedback or the professors… We realized that sharing knowledge and ideas are the best way for us to grow. Sometimes, we might feel lack of confidence or scared of negative feedback. But it is those things that really allow us to improve from our initial stage. It is because of all the feedback, good and bad, that made us realize our shortcomings in our design. We are really thankful that many gave us some suggestions to help us understand what is lacking.
We are also extremely thankful for the professors that gave us feedback throughout the way. It is them that kept us on track. Overall, the environment allowed us to find the point where we can push through and become a new form of our former selves!