Design workshops in the era of artificial intelligence
The 7-day "Artificial Intelligence Era Design Workshop" was successfully concluded on November 4, 2017, supported by the Information and Interaction Design Professional Committee of the China Industrial Design Association, co hosted by the China University Innovation Education Alliance and the China University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Research Center, and hosted by the Art and Technology Innovation Base of Tsinghua University's Qihang Base.
The speaker of this workshop, Brian Kane, has worked at the globally renowned design school RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) for 7 years and served as a professor in the Department of Industrial Design. In addition, Brian also has extremely rich work experience in innovative products and artistic creation. As Brian said, the current development of AI (artificial intelligence) technology is very rapid, and design, as an interdisciplinary field of technology, humanities, and business, is being influenced by the resurgence of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence has also provided us with convenient technical tools for design, so now is the best time for designers to conduct research on artificial intelligence design. The potential of artificial intelligence design is enormous.
During the 7-day learning process, Brian introduced his classmates to the cutting-edge design achievements in the field of AI, analyzed the origin and development of core concepts, explained the practical application of design thinking, demonstrated the use of basic tools, and then guided his classmates to group up for project practice. After intense group discussions, brainstorming, user analysis, model production, user testing, model demonstrations, and presentation speeches, students have gained many valuable gains in their future learning, work, and research.
"The smile of encountering strangers on the road can bring a good mood for a day." Taking inspiration from this, the students of the group explored how to use AI related technologies (machine learning, facial recognition, speech recognition, motion capture, computer graphics, etc.) to promote communication between people and make it interesting.
The students in this group envisioned an automatic beverage delivery robot applied in an office setting, which can connect to an APP through the network and apply technologies such as voice recognition, intelligent positioning, path planning, facial recognition, etc. It can automatically deliver drinks in the tea room according to user needs, saving a lot of trouble and adding some fun to dry and tired work hours.
Although we currently have various social apps such as Facebook, WeChat, QQ, etc., there are still some features that can have more room for imagination. For example, when we want to convey our emotions in real-time, we can only use virtual and patterned methods like emoji, or we can only choose video chatting. If there is a chat app that can simulate your real expression with a little monster (elf) and transmit it to the other person in real time, wouldn't it be more interesting? Based on this question, the students of the group designed a new chat software.
It is an interactive artificial intelligence mini game set in the storefront window. Users will see a prompt when passing by the storefront, pick up the given racket, be recognized by the camera, and start playing the game as a racket. It can be used for sparring among friends, as well as a single player mode where the artificial intelligence takes on another player. This project aims to liberate people from the life of the "bowing head tribe" and promote communication between people. Promoted to the commercial level, it can identify the logo of the product as a racket, thereby promoting brand dissemination and sales. Processing and max/msp techniques were used in the demo as a simple demonstration of two person operation.
Do you have this confusion: if you want to invite three or five friends to a gathering for dinner, going out is too vulgar, if you want to be loud and afraid of showing off your skills; I often buy a bunch of ingredients and go home, but I don't know how to truly achieve nutritional balance and meat and vegetable pairing; There are one or two leftover ingredients in the refrigerator, and if you don't want to waste them, you don't know how to use them... The AF team discussed cooking and food culture and designed an intelligent software that helps users cook better using computer vision, location tracking, deep learning, and other technologies.
This is a service robot based on WeChat official account, which can provide life services, daily information, travel and other services. It is also based on WeChat, which is easy to use and operate.
The group's focus is on the issue of "when we take the bus or subway, long journeys can make us feel awkward and bored." Therefore, the students plan to design a small game and install a display screen in an appropriate position (such as in the back seat of a bus or behind subway passengers); Install motion or gesture sensors around the passenger seat to collect passenger movements for gaming competitions. The team designed this game using the Arduino open-source electronic prototype platform, temperature sensors, micro switches, and other electronic components, and Visual Studio 2012 as the development environment.
In the presentation on November 4th, Brian was deeply impressed by the outstanding performance of each group, and admitted that it is difficult to believe that these works were only completed in a one week short-term course. After commenting, Brian presented graduation certificates and group photos to each group member.
Engineers and designers in the field of AI (artificial intelligence) have made some shocking progress, with large enterprises represented by Apple, Google, Facebook, AMAZON, Baidu, Tencent, etc. gradually withdrawing from various new intelligent products, and many new technologies and products are still in the laboratory research and development stage, waiting to be launched. Now is a great time for various art and design talents to join us, and we look forward to further exploring together in our subsequent courses.