24 Second Food + Fitness

What It Is

24 Second Food + Fitness is a way to maximize on the time wasted waiting for food to be ready. It provides a quick workout with each interaction, ensuring the user gets a little exercise in each day, and in a fun, engaging manner. For the purposes of this provocation, we focused on the two most used appliances in a college kitchen; the microwave and toaster. Once a toaster is loaded with bread, an energetic, motivational audio clip of a personal trainer giving out a quick work out plan is released. The idea is that while the bread is being toasted, the couple of minutes it takes for the toaster to work is utilized for fitness, via the work out exclaimed by the audio connected to the toaster. Once the toast is done, the work out is complete, and the user can go forth with more energy and less guilt about what they are about to devour. Similarly, the microwave prototype enlists a personal trainer of sorts during the waiting time to heat food, screening an quick exercise plan to the user until the food is ready. Our product was developed using an Arduino board connected to an external speaker to release prerecorded audio clips containing varied exercise routines, as well as to a photo-receptor for the microwave, and a click switch for the toaster. The target audience of this product is a busy, stressed college student, most of whom lack adequate time for sleep, let alone exercise. Through 24 Second Food + Fitness, users can alter their kitchen experience to slowly change their habits and incorporate a little physical activity into their daily routine. 

Kitchen Investigation

After visiting each of our kitchens and conducting a field study on site at a 12-person communal kitchen, our group identified some trends key to our development of our product. After noting how busy the kitchen was with various appliances for rice, bread, paninis, coffee, and much more, we realized that for college students, convenience is everything. Every person who used the kitchen utilized some appliance in a manner that allowed their food to be ready at a quicker pace than had a meal been made from scratch, or with a regular stove and pan. The students using the kitchen were often complete with faces of worry or stress, eyes constantly on the clock. While waiting for their food, most users either stared idly into space or played around with their phones.

Through this observation, we realized a few key points: college students are low on time and high on stress from studying, internships, extracurriculars and more. In addition, all of the kitchen users told us that they didn't work out as often as they wanted, mostly due to time restrictions. With this, we slowly began brainstorming ideas.

Our main focus was the fact that college students are constantly using these various appliances, as they offer speed, efficiency, and convenience. The lag time until the food was ready stood out to us, as it seemed a valuable opportunity to capitalize on for an audience strained for time. We decided we wanted something that worked with each appliance, from start of use until end, with an auditory component. First we considered whether the time could be utilized to sharpen the mind, with the appliances throwing out riddles and dispelling the answer once the food was ready. We then thought about having the appliances read off an audio book or a set of short stories to get a fluid interaction with each consecutive use. We then stumbled upon the idea of using the appliances as motivational devices, encouraging users to utilize their wait time for a quick work out. We decided it would be ideal if the use of each appliance could be tied with short work outs, and so 24 Second Food + Fitness was born. 

Kitchen Investigation Images

Design Process Images

Coding

/*
 Code for our 24 Second Food + Fitness toaster and microwave prototypes.
 
 This code was built off of a foundation of "Button", that is in the public domain.
 created 2005
 by DojoDave <http://www.0j0.org>
 modified 30 Aug 2011
 by Tom Igoe
 
 http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Button
 */
 //************SOUND COMPONENT ***********************//
#include <Wtv020sd16p.h>

int resetPin = 2;  // The pin number of the reset pin.
int clockPin = 3;  // The pin number of the clock pin.
int dataPin = 4;  // The pin number of the data pin.
int busyPin = 5;  // The pin number of the busy pin.

/*
Create an instance of the Wtv020sd16p class.
 1st parameter: Reset pin number.
 2nd parameter: Clock pin number.
 3rd parameter: Data pin number.
 4th parameter: Busy pin number.
 */
Wtv020sd16p wtv020sd16p(resetPin,clockPin,dataPin,busyPin);

//************SOUND COMPONENT ***********************//

//************ MICROWAVE STUFF ********************//
const int lightSensorPin = 0;
const int ledPin = 9;

int readingCount = 0;
unsigned int totalReading = 0;
int MAX_READINGS = 100;
int cutOff = 30; // needs to be tuned to environment, btw light/dark
int lightOn = 0;
//************ MICROWAVE STUFF *******************//


// constants won't change. They're used here to 
// set pin numbers:
const int buttonPin = 1;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int redLedPin =  13;      // the number of the red LED pin
const int yelLedPin = 12;     // the number of the yellow LED pin

// variables will change:
int buttonState = 0;         // variable for reading the pushbutton status
//unsigned long time;
int toasting = 0;  

int mode = 0; // 1 = microwave, 0 = toaster

void setup() {
  //Initializes the sound module.
  wtv020sd16p.reset();
  // initialize the LED pins as outputs:
  pinMode(redLedPin, OUTPUT); 
  pinMode(yelLedPin, OUTPUT);
  // initialize the pushbutton pin as an input:
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);  
  // start microsecond counter
  //Serial.begin(9600);  
}

void loop(){
  if (mode) {
    microwave_loop();
    delay(15);
  } else {
    toaster_loop();
  }
  
}

void toaster_loop(){
  //Serial.println("TOASTER MODE");
  // read the state of the pushbutton value:
  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
  
  // # of microseconds since program started.
  //time = micros();

  // check if the pushbutton is pressed.
  // if it is, the buttonState is LOW:
  // when it is relased (the toaster is started)
  // the buttonState is HIGH
  if (buttonState == HIGH && toasting == 0) { 
    // indicate that we're in the toasting phase 
    toasting = 1;    
    // turn red LED on:    
    digitalWrite(redLedPin, HIGH);
    // PLAY TRACK
    wtv020sd16p.asyncPlayVoice(1);
    delay(500);
  } 
  if (buttonState == LOW && toasting == 1){
    // button is depressed, and we were just in toasting mode
    toasting = 0; // that means we're done toasting
    //start the "ready" sound
    //wtv020sd16p.asyncPlayVoice(1);
    
    // turn off the red LED:
    digitalWrite(redLedPin, LOW);
    //turn on the yellow pin:
    digitalWrite(yelLedPin, HIGH);
    wtv020sd16p.stopVoice();
    delay(500);
  }
    
  if (buttonState == LOW && toasting == 0){
    //button is depressed, and we're done toasting
    
    // start timer
    //Serial.begin(9600);
    // turn both LEDs off:
    digitalWrite(redLedPin, LOW); 
    digitalWrite(yelLedPin, LOW);
  }
}

void microwave_loop(){
  //  x = 7 % 5;   // x now contains 2
  int lightLevel = analogRead(lightSensorPin);
  totalReading = (lightLevel/10) + totalReading;
  readingCount = readingCount + 1;
  //Serial.println(lightLevel);
  if (readingCount > MAX_READINGS) {
    int averageVoltage = totalReading / readingCount;
    Serial.println(averageVoltage);
    readingCount = 0;
    totalReading = 0;
    if (averageVoltage > cutOff) {    //// Now we are in light open time
      if (lightOn == 0) {  /// Was off, incremenent to open
         Serial.println("Above Cutoff 0");
        lightOn = lightOn + 1;
      } else if (lightOn == 1) { /// Was open, is still open. Don't do anything
         Serial.println("Above Cutoff 1");
      } else if (lightOn == 2) { /// Was on and off twice. No it was started and the food
         Serial.println("Play track");
         Serial.println("Above Cutoff 2");
         /// Play track :)
         wtv020sd16p.asyncPlayVoice(0);
         lightOn = lightOn + 1;
      }else if (lightOn == 3) {  /// The microwave is running, dont have to do anything
         Serial.println("Above Cutoff 3");
      } else if (lightOn == 4) {  /// The food is done and the door is open
      
         lightOn = lightOn + 1;
         Serial.println("Above Cutoff 4");
      }else if (lightOn == 5) {  /// Door is open for microvave
         Serial.println("Above Cutoff 5");      
      }
    } else {  // below cutOff. Dark is off
    
       if (lightOn == 0) {  /// Was off, still off. Don't do anything
        Serial.println("Under Cutoff 0");  
      } else if (lightOn == 1) { /// Was open, but now it is closed. Increment to closed with food inside. 
        lightOn = lightOn + 1;
        Serial.println("Under Cutoff 1");  
      } else if (lightOn == 2) { /// Was off and is still off
        Serial.println("Under Cutoff 2");  
      }else if (lightOn == 3) { /// Has finished microwaving
        // Stop the track
        lightOn = lightOn + 1;
        Serial.println("Under Cutoff 3");  
        Serial.println("Stop Music"); 
        wtv020sd16p.stopVoice();
      }else if (lightOn == 4) {  /// Food is sitting in microwave
        Serial.println("Under Cutoff 4");  
      }else if (lightOn == 5) {  /// Door is closed and microwave is ready again
          Serial.println("Under Cutoff 5");  
          lightOn = 0;
      }
    }
  }

  delay(15); //just here to slow down the output for easier reading
    
}

Branding

User Interaction Images

Current Prototypes

Instructions

The following is the step by step process we used in the development and creation of 24 Second Food + Fitness:

• Spend time in a kitchen observing what is present, what is used, what is not used, concerns, gaps, feelings elicited, activities conducted, attitudes displayed, demographics of users, etc.
• Study the usage patterns and habits of the kitchen, including users and their tendencies
• Identify any inefficiencies in the accepted kitchen culture, in this case it was time left underutilized
• Identify desires of users tied to the inefficiencies noted, in this case it was more exercise
• Brainstorm ideas on how to create a product that could alter the kitchen culture to rectify the inefficiency identified
• Settle on an idea
• Identify ways to get the desired user interaction
• Fine tune what the idea entails: the input, output, user interaction, benefits, disadvantages etc.
• Develop an action plan of things that need to be done to create the desired product
• Begin with input, and how to transmit this to an output
• Program an Arduino board to get the desired transition from input to output
• Integrate input system into device
• Integrate output system into device
• Tie everything together in an early prototype
• Test prototype
• Fix bugs and problems
• Test prototype again
• Design branding and aesthetics
• Finalize prototype
• Ideate future adaptations of product
• Test on live subjects to see if desired interaction was achieved

Design Process

Initially, we wanted to have a sound recognition device centered in the kitchen, that would recognize and distinguish between the different sounds and noises emitted from nearby appliances. After detecting a sound and recognizing the appliance it was emitted from, an audio recording of a short work out plan would be streamed out of an accompanying, wireless speaker centered in the kitchen. Our hopes were to make the speaker both wireless and Bluetooth connected, but after talking with Mark and Eric, we realized that this was far too ambitious of a plan for a two week assignment. In addition, we came to the revelation that developing and audio recognition device would be an almost insurmountable task, so we instead chose to use two other sensing systems.

First, we decided on the use of a click switch for the toaster. Since all toasters have handles that are pulled down and released upon completion, we realized a device that could sense this change in pressure would be useful. By using a click switch, the audio could be triggered once the lever was either pulled down or released, and would be deactivated upon the reverse movement of the lever.  We developed a circuit and programmed it to work with the click switch sensor, and then began work on the audio portion. We recorded various work out plans using Audacity and overlaid them upon motivational musical clips, producing a final stream to be released through a speaker once the toaster was in use. 

After developing all the separate parts for the prototype, we began working to incorporate them all together. Initially we chose to put the click switch sensor at the top of the toaster, but decided to put it on the bottom instead to avoid the possibility of extraneous sensing if the lever were to bounce on it after being released too quickly. We tested different locations under the lever, and super glued the sensor on the right side under it, with enough room to allow continued use of the toasters' built in settings, as well as for the sensor to work. 
Next, we began work on the second prototype, the microwave. We immediately wanted to use a different sensor, and decided upon a light sensor after noting that the microwave light goes on when in use, and off when not. We repeated the process used for the toaster, but instead of a click switch, utilized a photo-receptor to track the different phases of use and non use of the microwave. We initially had an LED in the circuit design, but the reflection onto the microwave was received by the photo-receptor, interrupting our feedback system. We thus removed the LED, and developed a PVC enclosure for the photo-receptor to block light from hitting it, outside of the light emitted from the inside of the microwave. This was attached to the front screen of the microwave, and we began testing. It was then that we realized that the programming we had of on off on off for both use and audio wouldn't work because the microwave light also went off when it was opened to retrieve the food inside. Thus we altered the programming to reflect this, and made it reflect an every other approach to noting the light as on to signal audio release. Once the light went off, the audio would cut, until another round of light dark occurred. 

After configuring both systems, we thought of incorporating a fitness related design enclosure for the speaker to further the idea of health and exercise. We instantly chose to design a casing to make the speaker look like a mini dumbbell, using sawed PVC and a similarly sized wooden disk. 

After deciding upon the product, we began brainstorming different ideas for the name. To sell a product, branding is everything. We wanted something original, but that would stick in the minds of the user while also revealing its functionality upfront. Our first thought was to connect the product to a famous gym, starting with Joe's  Gym and then Equinox. Nothing struck us, until we thought of 24 Hour Fitness. Since the time component of appliances is key to their usage, and 24 Hour Fitness includes a reference to time, we instantly were sold, choosing to alter hour to seconds, to reflect the quick nature of kitchen appliances in use. The name was altered to 24 Second Food + Fitness to reflect the food and fitness tie in of our product, and the quick nature of the work out and food provided. A logo was then created to illicit feelings of athleticism and health, as mimicked by the original 24 Hour Fitness logo, using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Lastly, we utilized the labs decal cutter to print out decals of the logo for appropriation to our appliances. 

Prototype Development

In Situ Demo: Toaster

Something's heating up in the kitchen, and it's not just that tasty wheat bread!

In Situ Demo : Microwave

Future Adaptations

Due to the time restraints of this project, our final prototype lacks many features and functionalities we believe would fluidly integrate with the context and use of our product. The following is a list of ideas for future adaptations of this device: 

• Wireless design connecting appliance to speaker
• Choice of different levels of difficulty for work out, for use by different users
• Possible holographic projection of trainer to accompany audio
• Social component to motivate communal participation
• Data collection to track exercise completed
• Post/pre shower mode
• Varied work out times
• Centralized speaker system
• Extension to other appliances, such as coffeemaker, Foreman Grill, oven, etc.