Presentation time! - Week 11&12

During the last two lectures of this trimester we all had to present our project ideas to the class - as scary as it sounds I found this experience extremely useful as it provided an outside insight into my project.

Module Brief

To Re-design an existing piece of digital media or design a speculative piece of digital media

My Idea

I aim to redesign Joseph Weizenbaum's Eliza chatbot therapist, which we have discussed earlier in this module. In my redesign, I will give Eliza a physical appearance and add new functions such as check-in notifications, one on one talk sessions and, most importantly, a cuddle feature (which I am very excited about).

During my research on therapy I came across something I have never heard of - Cuddle Therapy. I found this niche very interesting, hence why, I have decided to include it within my project. In the future, I wish to research cuddle therapy more deeply in order to understand how exactly it works and how I can artificially recreate it.

My Presentation

Whilst creating my presentation, I have decided to share my ideas in an informal way in order to lighten up the mood and hopefully make people laugh. This helped me massively in building up my confidence and allowed me to speak more freely.

Suggestions from my classmates

• heating function

• charging station (doubles as a "afk" spot for the robot)

• Either inflatable (a great opton for transport) or made out of a really soft, plush-like material (however this would be impractical)

• warranty

• subscription-like payment option