POST DINNER HAPPY HOUR
A Series of Speakers for Square Dancing
Partner: Keyi Fu
2023 | 03/30 - 05/04
Introduction
In this project, we are asked to research, design, and develop an Interactive Device for a specific group or community by up-cycling an old android Google pixel 3.
There are a few constraints:
Establish 2 constraints for the final device (waterproof, solar-powered, 100% recyclable, wearable, kinetic, ...)
Choose a minimal of 5 limitations.
The final device should not indicate the presence of the original phone.
The device cannot use bluetooth or BLE.
The idea is to make a device for the elderly, especially the ones who dance a lot — square dancing, which is one of the most popular activities for the elderly in China. Since the late 2000s, square dancing has become one the most popular daily social events for a large number of elderly people in China, especially the ones who have retired. They spend time dancing, chatting, and enjoying their after dinner time.
Research & Interview
Square dancing is an exercise routine performed to music in squares, plazas or parks of the nation's cities. It is popular with middle-aged and retired women who have been referred to as "dancing grannies" in the English-language media. Due to its low cost and ease of participation, it has been estimated to have over 100 million practitioners, according to CCTV, the country's official television network.
We interviewed some relatives who do square dancing often — they enjoy dancing, making new friends, chatting before and after the activity. It is one of their must-dos in daily life. Unlike the late 2000s when square dancing just started, when the groups were much smaller and they could simply play music from some old cassette players, the square dancing groups nowadays normally have a lot of people — sometimes they occupy the whole plaza. The old cassette players can no longer serve the amount of the dancers on the square. Therefore, one or two “leaders” from the groups have to bring some very big speakers to the plaza everyday. The speakers have wheels on them, but they are still heavy and bulky. Also, during festivals (for example, Lunar New Year) when they want to play the same music and dance together in different locations simultaneously, it always seems impossible because they cannot play the music at the same exact time.
Ideation
Based on the research and interview, we decided to redesign the speakers for the elderly who do square dancing — the speakers which are not heavy, big, or bulky, and are able to synchronize the music at the same time in different locations. We started the project by disassembling what does a properly working speaker need:
speaker(s)
amplifier
power
control
enclosure
audio source
Above are some essentials that a decent speaker needs, physically. In order to let more speakers synchronize music, we need the internet — and here is where we introduce Google Pixel 3. Basically, each set of speakers is connected to a Pixel 3 which is connected to the internet. The phones are all connected to the same server so they can share the same data simultaneously. A simple music player was created in p5.js with the functions of play/pause, next track, previous track, repeat, and reset. The controls should be simple and straightforward given the users’ familiarity of using electronic devices. There are some physical buttons on the lid of the speakers to control the phone underneath. The buttons are all raw brass because they are conductive — in that way users can simply control the music player on p5.js sketch from the screen.
We decided to make the speakers small enough so they can be portable — this is also one of the constraints we chose — the other one is materiality. In terms of limitation, we are only using the phones’ connector, touchscreen, wifi, cpu and memory.
Speakers
Ideally there will be a network of speakers, as long as the server is running, the number of the speakers do not matter — the more, the better. Two sets of speakers were made to show our idea. One is mainly made from concrete, the other one is purely acrylic panels.
The reason why concrete was chosen is because of its longevity and durability. If accidentally dropped, the concrete enclosure can be patched. It also provides some nostalgic texture and feelings, because the user group are mainly from the era when concrete and metal are being mass produced in China. As concrete ages, it develops some unique patterns, and we hope this move can make the speaker more personalized and attached to its user.
The acrylic version is lighter in weight and easier to make. The main part which consists of 6 white translucent acrylic pieces has no glue in it at all, because we customized some corner and side brackets and have them screwed on the white panels. The brackets act like the structure and they hold the whole speaker together. This version lets the users be able to customize the color of the speaker and it is relatively easier to maintain as well — if accidentally dropped, one can easily disassemble the enclosure and replace with the new parts.
Power source stays inside both enclosures so the outside looks clean. The concrete model uses 3” speaker and 12V battery; the acrylic one uses 2” speakers and 5V battery.
