Category Archives: Assignments

Breath Final Project (Journey Map + Redesigns)

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Phase 2: Journey Map (Final project DIY)

Mission: Breath is all around us. The one commonality among all humans is are ability to breath without effort by using our autonomic nervous system. Breath is automatic, this intrinsically pulls our attention away from it. But what if we had total breath awareness? What if we had a device that gave us visual feedback through out our day to tell us weather our breath was healthy or not? What if we had this during stressful situations, workouts, situations where would need to focus?

In my project, I am interested in the duality of the communication between breath and self-health. Breath has a bi-relational impact on exercise, stress, and disease—by that I mean… breath affectsà exercise efficiency, stress levels, and disease. And stress levels, exercise efficiency and disease affectà breath. If we were able to constantly monitor our breath pattern and rate by getting simplistic feedback we could control these parameters of our lives better and be healthier.

Diagram of duality:

The other piece of the project is to give the user the top-level goal of increasing your breath awareness. If you had a device that gave you constant breath feedback you would have no choice to continually see if your breath pattern and rate was in unhealthy. You could monitor your stress levels, your resting rates during exercise, increase your focus, and visualize if you are beginning to get sick in real time.

The Device: My device will consist of two components a small sensor, which is placed on the upper chest and a feedback bracelet. The two components will be connected to each other via Bluetooth. There will be two measurements collected by the chest sensor– breath rate and breath pattern. Inside the chest piece will be the following:

Chest Piece: 

-Flex/Stethoscope sensor: There is a medical device it calculates the measures rise and fall of the chest as well as the auditory patterns of your breath, which are converted, into sound waves.

-RF Transmitter: that automatically sends sensor data to bracelet. 

Bracelet:

-Bluetooth communication device: that automatically syncs with your sensor affixed on the chest; as data comes in from the sensor it is retrieved by a…

-RF receiver: This receives and analyzes data give by the chest sensor to tell the bracelet the breath pattern and rate readings given the preset parameters.

-L wire:  The final components are three L-wires inside of the bracelet that are lit in different colors depending on the data coming from the sensor via the RF receiver.

Other forms of feedback: There will be vocal cues and visualization of breath feedback available on your smart phones, tablets, and iPods. The device with also sync with your computer to give you feedback on your breath health over time. This would be a key feature in detecting illness and stress in long temporal patterns.

Diagram of system:

Bracelet design: 

I decided make 4 parameters for the breath bracelet. In my research of breath rate and pattern I found that the readings are contingent on two states: whether the person is in a passive or active state. The other two parameters of importance are if the breath is stable or unstable. I decided to go with two values as that in between readings of stablizations are confusing.

Steve mentioned that the design should be optimal and incorporate a visual representation of the desired state and current state. The easiest way to incorporate that in the design is to give the person a binary representation of their states.  If the red light is activated they have a unhealthy breath rate. If the blue light is activated their state is stable. There will also be a feature that lights the bracelet as you breath which give the user direct feed back on their inhalation and exhalation. The other lights represent the Active or Passive mode. The person will be able to hold down that light and the breath light senor will show the user a correct breath rate for the active state. Here is a description of each feedback:

Active State: This parameter is activated when the user is exercising or is in an active mode of any kind. The reason to map state change is because a healthy breath rate and pattern when someone is under differs from that of a person in a passive state.

Passive State: This parameter is activated when the user is resting, sleeping, or inactive.

Unstable Breath Meter: When breath is unstable the lights will be lit red.

Stable Breath Meter:  When the breath is stable the lights will be lit blue.

2 extra features of the Breath Bracelet:

1. Constant Breath visualization Feature: The line of lights will move up and down to your breath rate. So as you breath you are aware of the actual inhalation and exhalation. This allows you to monitor your breath visually as well as mentally.

2. Breath Sycronization Feature: The user can press on the active button light or passive button light (depending on which state they are in) which will cause the light to move up and down at the desired breath rate. The user can the look at the feedback and mimic the healthy breath rate.

Note: There is only one breath stabilization light on the bracelet. I just put the other one in to reflect the two readings it gives.

Top Level Goal: I Breath awareness by monitoring breath.  (breathe awareness)

First Order Feedback:

Sub-goals (included in the second order feedback loops):

- Increase exercise efficiency

- Relieving stress

- Becoming more aware and focused

Second Order Feedback Loops: 

Behaviors: There are two key behaviors:

1. Make user more aware of breath

2. Make user track breath through out the day.

Diagram of Motivation:

 

In terms of the Fogg Model we have a high ability  to be aware of our breath but low motivation. The reason our motivation is low is because breath is automatic to us, we have no reason to focus on it.

Diagram of Behavior Grid:


We can also represent breath awareness in the Fogg behavior grid. Breath awareness begins on a Green Path because the behavior to think about one’s breath is new. We then continue on a purple path asking the person to increase that behavior one time per day. We continue down the same purple path asking the person to increase that behavior for a period of time. Eventually we end at a blue path behavior asking the person to maintain that behavior now on…

Hot triggers:

The bracelet: Gives user immediate feedback of breath health through out the day via colors.

Vocal/push notification reminder on smart phones and iPods: gives the user real time vocal feedback if headphones are on of current breath state. The user will  also receive push notifications from their phone giving them breath state feedback.

Smart phone/tablet data visualization: gives the user graphs of breath health over exercise, time, and resting states (such as sleep, after a workout, etc.)

Computer feedback: gives the user breath health over time. Allows them to see what diseases they are at risk of getting given their current patters. They get to see trends in stress, exercise activity, etc.

—All of these are hot triggers that are inserted in the users daily activities. If they are listening to music, on the phone, on their computer, on their tablet they get a breath reminder. The other key factor is the bracelet, which is a constant hot trigger for them to monitor the health of their breath. In this design the top-level goal is consistently realized because the user is constantly being informed about their breath—as they are informed awareness increases.—

Involving others/self: I currently have Paul keeping a log of his breath rate and pattern during his exercise. I am going to ask Suvi to log her breath rate in terms of stress in twice a day. I am keeping a log of my breath rate and pattern during my exercise. There will hopefully be three logs by the end of this so I can make a data visualization.

Examples in Breath in Life:

-Birds

-Ocean

-People walking in and out of buildings/subways

-volcanoes

-tsunami

-trees in the wind

-the cycle of the seasons changing (example leaves going into the ground, then falling again)

Final concept of ‘Synchronize beats and sounds of breathe’

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According to a book, ‘Perfect Breath’, my final idea comes from a reliable source that synchronize breathe sounds and beat helps both people’s physical and psychological matters. The book says specifically about the profound effects breathing are of depression, anxiety, and hypertension. These are very similar and support my final concept: ‘Synchronizing my breath rate and breathe sound.’ I would like to develop this concept to more high order goal; to reduce anxiety, and stress.

The final project I will design a system ( with an actual physical object ) synchronizes human heartbeat & breathe sounds
the background I thought this would be the primary & efficacious goal
to listen your sounds of a body and control them to keep your
health(physical) or moderate humans generality, I mean that of generality is relevant to insight of the human nature (in terms of the human
psychological health matter).

the 1st order to design is controlling your breathing rate and breathing sounds:focusing on ‘breath-work’ more and more as time goes on.
the 2nd order to design is to reduce anxiety and stress: stress reduction sensing by myself like the capacity of performance, and emotional feeling : breathe retraining reduces sympathetic nervous system over arousal and increases para-sympathetic nervous system activity- the relax, recuperate, regenerate system which calms me down.

the method/action, and sensing from : synchronize your sounds of breathing or heartbeats

how : recording your sounds of breathe ( when you are very happy or excited )by self monitoring
play back at the moment you got anxious, stress, or something on uncomfortable sensational state.

Additionally, I can get a sample of the best sounds to help people moderate their stress level, or mind control
: based on various medical theories, or from somehow meditate methods

structure design : I would like to design a device to help people to moderate their anxiety and stress level
the design mental model : spiral structure generates a natural wave sounds like a conch does + existing tool ‘stethoscope’
-> plug in my product and listen the sounds from it that helps people to synchronize their breathing sounds ;

expectation : better condition – > better performance -> better relationships -> better life -> life extension

Final Project Draft

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Imagine that your exercise routine is a musical improv band – you jam with it.  As you exercise, the band plays improvised music on the fly by reacting to the signals it receives from your exercise data. You react back, varying how you are exercising based on what you hear from the band and how you feel. The flow between you and the band causes you to lose track of time and enjoy exercise in a new way.  At the end of the workout, you have a unique piece of music to share with and inspire your friends. You can’t wait to see what the next workout will bring.

For my final project, I’m expanding upon the explorations of Team Xanadu.  The general idea is to use real-time exercise data to create generative music with the goal of increasing frequency and enjoyment of exercise.

A basic example is a mobile app that builds upon pedometer data to generate beats, create melodies, and vary volume levels in real-time. As you walk, the pedometer collects data that is used to compose music on the fly.  Since the music created is influenced by your real-time exercise data, it will seem somewhat familiar but the generative aspects will ensure that it will never be exactly the same. The idea is that having generative music react to you as you exercise will encourage experimentation and induce a flow state that increases enjoyment of exercise.  The main target behavior in the basic example is an increase in the weekly number of steps taken as measured by the pedometer.

At the end of each workout, you have will have created a fun and unique piece of music – an abstract representation of your exercise routine that day. Therefore, another key behavior to target is the sharing of the music that was created.  Your friends would probably be more likely to listen to a piece of music than to read your exercise log. The hope is that sharing “exercise improv songs” becomes as common as sharing other music, and that will in turn drive discussion around how they were created and motivate everyone else to increase their activity.

There are countless possibilities beyond the basic system.  We could add sensors like heart rate monitors or anything else that collects real-time data related to exercise.  We could add more aspects to the generative music – perhaps using recorded sounds from their environment, samples from their playlists, text-to-speech engines, or anything else that has sound.  We could also add learning and adaption aspects to the system, so that over time, the system can remember which types of musical elements inspire you to exercise the most and begin to favor the use of those elements when creating the music.

I envision this system being used when people run or walk outside, where the sounds of their environment influences the music created. It could also be used in the gym, where people could jam together and maybe broadcast their music in real-time.  The system will have succeeded if people who use it enjoy exercise more and do it more often than they used to.

Final Project Draft: Making Time (When There Is No Time)

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For a while now, I’ve wanted to incorporate meditation into my daily routine.  I’d like to feel calmer in all aspects of my life and I’ve thought for a while that meditation will help.  The problem is, I just don’t do it.  Even though I think it would be good for me, I can’t seem to get myself to meditate.  Often, I feel I’m too busy and don’t have the time for it.  But even when I do have the time, I just don’t do it.  In the moment, it feels like a waste of time. I’m curious if I can devise a system to get myself to meditate.  Can I perform this behavior consistently over an extended period of time?  And on a larger scale, what effect will the act of meditation will have on me.

So, what can I do to get myself to meditate and monitor its effects. One possibility is to wake up 20 minutes early every day and meditate first thing in the morning. I know this will never work. I’ll sleep as long as I possibly can in the morning. I’ve tried waking up early to do a variety of tasks in the past and have failed miserably at maintaining any sort of discipline and consistency. I could set a specific time, midday or evening, to meditate everyday. The problem here is that my schedule fluctuates from day to day and there’s no reliability that meditation will be possible at any particulate time any day.

Another thought is to attach or couple the activity to an existing behavior. Something I do on a regular basis is exercise. I enjoy exercising. I want to exercise. Whether it’s running outdoors, biking at the gym, or just walking to and from home, exercise is a part of my everyday routine.  What about pairing meditation with some form of exercise each day? At the end of my run, or bike, or walk home, I could take some time to meditate, framing it in the context of a “cooldown session.”

Starting this past Friday, I decided to see if I could implement an initial system into my daily life. I tried to meditate for 5 minutes once a day as soon as I got home right after some form of exercise. I downloaded a couple meditation apps to use and I also set an alarm on my phone for 6:15pm to remind me to meditate in case I hadn’t already done it that day. The goal would be to meditate for 5 mins for at least 4 of 7 days the first week, then increase to 10 minute sessions during week 2, 20 minute sessions during week 3, and hopefully meditate without a coupled exercise behavior by week 4. I would track the following data points: date, day, exercise activity, meditate y? or n?, how long, time of day, meditation app used, and how I felt afterwards.  Below is a breakdown of my approach:

This is all very preliminary and I hope/plan to adapt it as well as possibly incorporating some form of tech, not sure yet. FWIW, I’ve successfully meditated for 5 minutes 2 out of the past 3 days, both immediately after going for a run.  The notion of taking 5 extra minutes to sit and breathe after exercise seems very doable and unobtrusive.  My concern is being able to meditate when I haven’t performed any sort of rigorous exercise and my day is jam packed with work and other activities.

Final Project: Humor as a Working Title

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So that’s not what it’s really called, but I’m working on it still.

I’m interested in the use of humor and its effects on our health. Laughter, it is said, is our greatest coping mechanism, a stress reliever, as well as an immune system booster. There is an interesting transformation, however, that takes place as an observation is registered in our mind, processed and (potentially) reacted upon.

Some researchers believe humor, or a humorous reaction to an observed event, is triggered by aggression and can be linked to testosterone. It’s unclear from this line of thought what the true motivation is behind this compulsion to react to observations with humor, but I’d like to think that it is non-gender linked nor a malicious testosterone induced chest beating spasm. I believe there is a rapid evolution of thought that takes place after an observation and the result can be one of many things. Very abstractly, I believe it might look like this:

It’s obvious that this spectrum of humor bends to subjectivity, but it’s clear that aggression is possible here but not it’s not a driving motivator. What I’m particularly interested in here is focussing on removing the tepid joke (yellow) from my reactions to humorous observations – and certainly anything to its right. Let me tell you why.

I believe that humor is a powerful tool and I love it. As I’ve matured as a human, I’ve found myself ever more capable of increasingly sophisticated and higher orders of humor. While I believe I am capable I also believe that thoughts generally are evolutionary. By this I mean that they grow and change and die and are reborn only to die again. Coming across good ideas and jokes is a game of numbers. It’s just statistics. So while I have more sophisticated and mature thoughts now at thirty than when I was at, say twelve, I still have the legacy of unsophisticated humor rearing its ugly head every now and then.

I want to curb my behavior of reacting to humerous observations when the reaction is anything less than a good joke, and I want to do this when I am in either an academic or professional setting (let’s be honest – I’m gonna tell a ton of bad jokes at home or with my friends – sorry guys).

But this task isn’t as simple as just NOT opening my big mouth. In addition to believing that telling aggressive or bad or even just plain old jokes all the time is counter productive in a professional or academic setting, I also believe that these kinds of (collectively and subjectively) poor reactions to observations are extremely hilarious to me personally. The older we get, the more intent we get on polishing (read: white-washing) our personalities for professional consumption, the less energized/powerful/free we feel. We die inside when we don’t get to tell bad jokes. I’m sorry, but we do.

There is tremendous benefit to staying in touch with the most ridiculous possible manifestation of yourself, and I’d like to do this by channeling these bad/aggressive/tepid jokes in a way that does not disrupt the current task (the funniest observations seem to always occur when you’ve got important things to do) but accurately records the moment to either be enjoyed at a later time or expressed in a way that satisfies the joke’s desire to be shared.

Here are two ways this recording process might take place:

come on - it's so easy
joke helmet

Yes, this one is inspired by Kelly Dobson. These are just ideas at the moment, so please stay tuned.

Breath (final project proposal)

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Draft for Final Project Proposal: Understanding our Breath in Self-Health

The Journey: After research, I decided to go with my original idea of monitoring breath in exercise. I came across a dissertation by Jason R. Karp; which explored how breath entrainment is connected to rhythm locomotion in long distance running. The paper is on how “legs and lungs” are connected. I also discovered several other videos, articles, and experiments pertaining to importance of monitoring breathe parameters in rest and exercise.

I came to this project idea because of my personal involvement with long distance running, swimming and biking and how it relates to breath. I realized that much of my efforts during my training for various marathons, Triathlons, and ultra distance events were tied to focusing on my breath. My breath was integral in controlling my heart rate, pace, and relaxation.

Approach: Runners train to control their breath to calm their sympathetic nervous system in strenuous exercise. Breath affects heart rate and stability and connects all of our major nervous systems. When you control breath rate and pattern it makes your resting heart rate lower at high activity and increases efficiency. The most common devices on the market today are ones that measure heart rate and caloric burn in training. There are little to no devices that focus on respiration except for devices used in hospitals. My goal is to build a device that measures breath rate and pattern.

 Concept Sketch: My original concept came from the brainstorming how breath relates to our life, besides the obvious of how it keep us a alive. One thing humans all have in common is our autonomic nervous system which automatically controls us to breath in and out.

The Device: My device will be a chest strap, which can be embedded in any shirt (as stated in my homework from a couple of weeks ago). There will be two measurements: breath rate and breath pattern. The chest strap will have three components inside of it (as previously stated):

 Sketches:

1. Flex sensor: It calculates the measures rise and fall of the chest.

2. Stethoscope sensor: It measures sound wave patterns of the breath output by converting the auditory wave input to an electrical output. It also measures the pulse pattern of the heart, giving the athlete a heart rate reading.

3. Bluetooth communication device: The strap automatically syncs with your computer to give you a data read out.

—The sensors allow us to monitor both the simplistic breath rate via raise and fall of chest (flex sensor) and the actual auditory pattern of the breath (stethoscope sensor). The runner will learn two things—(1) If their breath rate was consistent and stayed a good resting rate and (2) If their pattern of breath is healthy or obstructed. Data transfer is simple because the device has Bluetooth. –

I also hope this device can be extended to other realms in health such as stress management, lung disease prevention, and increased awareness. I decided to focus on the realm of exercise because it is the most accessible and measureable for me.

Context: The device is to be used during exercise. The target audience is athletes: runners, bikers, soccer players etc.

Top Level Goal: Improve Exercise efficiency by monitoring breath.

Sub-goals:

- Relieving stress

- Becoming more aware and focused

Behavior: -Track breath (rate and pattern) during exercise- 

The behavior requirement is simple: track breath. I have not figured out how I will implement the BJ Fogg model in terms of the motivation and ability and the pathway of the behavior; that will be determined in my journey map next week.

Test and Execution: I will be measuring my breath rate and pattern over the next 5 weeks and collecting data on its change during exercise. I will keep a personal log of my current perceived state, breath rate reading, and breath pattern reading. I will be making a log for my group members, one of which is an athlete and the other who works out regularly. I will ask them to test their breath rate and pattern during exercise.

One of the difficulties in executing the project will be building the strap monitor. So, instead I will be just doing manual testing of my breath rate with a stopwatch. I haven’t figured out the best way to determine breath rate but I am still researching.