Blog neglect strikes again but I have a legitimate reason this time. DON-8r has been receiving a lot of online media attention since my last blog post so I have found myself flitting between various other blogs, websites and comments sections just to see what people have been making of DON-8r. Other than being a complete productivity vampire, this has allowed some of the issues surrounding DON-8r to be highlighted based on a mix of balanced criticism and misunderstanding slander (all of which is helpful to an extent!).
So without further ado here’s some FAQ’s and my responses:
Q: So what is stopping people from stealing it?
A: This is the most recurring comment. Usually followed with some derivation of “I would totally steal this” or “this wouldn’t last 5 minutes in <insert home town here>”. There is no inbuilt GPS or other high tech tracking system as some have presumed. There is, however, always someone watching over DON-8r, whether there are one or more robots. This is similar to the way that self service checkouts work, one member of staff monitoring the stations should they need assistance. Someone will always be on standby if DON-8r gets stuck; if someone has a query regarding DON-8r / the affiliated charity; or if someone should attempt to steal it.
What I can say to this is that DON-8r is a project designed to highlight the goodness of people. It stemmed from Kacie Kinzer’s Tweenbots project which, through human reliant robots, really emphasised how willing people are to interact with a playful cause – and interact with each other in the process. It’s great seeing how people will curiously approach DON-8r, realise its purpose and then donate to it. This is often followed by a conversation with the stranger next to them about DON-8r. I know I have had quite a few interesting chats with a diverse mix of people as they have spotted me watching over DON-8r during its outings! It would be naive to assume that no-one would consider stealing it but I believe these people are very much in the minority compared to the majority of people who show playful support towards DON-8r and its affiliated charity.
Q: How much money has it raised? / How much money can it hold?
A: In the space of around 3 days when DON-8r was officially out fund-raising for Dundee Science Centre, it clocked up around 9 hours of work and raised £25.86. Not bad considering that the bulk of this was made up of coins no larger than a 20p! With regards to how much it can hold, it has the capacity to hold a large number of coins however, as individual donations, each coin does not take up much space so it would take a very long time, or a very generous event, for it to fill up completely. DON-8r would probably struggle under the weight before it was full anyway which is another reason a minder is required to empty it out and lighten the load.
Q: Has it broken yet? How much does it cost to run/repair?
A: Yes it has broken plenty of times but this has been a lesser occurrence as the model design has progressed based on testing and tweaking. My approach to the design of DON-8r has been primarily based on resourcefulness and as a result it is pretty cheap to fix – a bit of glue and a lick of paint! It runs on batteries and is not the most energy efficient so will chew up a set of 4 AA batteries after around 2 hours of movement however this allows for a further 2-3 hours of standby when DON-8r is calling “hello”. Currently I have managed to find a local supermarket that is selling decent batteries at a pretty cheap rate which have been working well. I have chosen not to go down the rechargeable battery route as this would have been more expensive than the batteries I have been purcahsing. Though it would be cheaper in the long term I would like to adapt the power system so that It can be charged from the mains via a plug of some sort. This brings me neatly to my final question here which has been brought up by friends and family more than web comments:
Q: What’s next for you / DON-8r?
A: I will be graduating on the 23rd June, I have my final hand-in on the 3rd of May and I will be exhibiting at the Dundee Degree Show which runs 21th to 29th May and also New Designers, in London, which runs from 6th to 9th July!
I would love to progress DON-8r to the next stage though. This would effectively involve getting either the plastic panels or the moulds for the panels manufactured through CNC milling of rapid prototyping allowing me to produce more than one model. This all cost money though so first things first, would be great to score some funding or free manufacture! I would also like to work alongside someone that’s hot with robotics so I can get DON-8r scooting about with a bit less terrain hindrance and produce an electronics interface that is a bit more user friendly, so people other than me can use it.
But before then, I need to get DON-8r looking smart for my final University hand-in.
For future reference, here is a list (in no particular order) of all the key places I have managed to get DON-8r onto on the web, on top of those mentioned in the last post. Big thanks to engadget who brought a whole load of traffic to my user testing video (22k hits in one day!).
Design Spotter
Fast Company
open-output
Plastic Pals
NOTCOT
Trend Hunter
membrana (russian)
Coolest Gadgets
Rounded Off
cnet
Materialicious
Gev
Super Punch