Animation showing the shifting of colours between battery levels.
To keep the user notified about how much charge the otter has, when you place the otter back on its charging base the large crack in the rock lights up to indicate how much charge is left. The technical problem that was solved here was how the lights would connect to the charging base itself.
Due to COVID-19 the resources to test this method physically was unavailable.
Diagram showing how the LED strip connects to the wall inside of the rock.
There would be an LED strip connected on the inside of the casing with holes drilled through so that the LEDs can peak through. The LED strip has a sticky side that faces up that means it can stick to the casing, as well as having clips that also stick to the casing in order to keep it even more secured.
A render of what the LEDs displaying the charge would look like.
The LEDs peek through the casing and provide a high enough intensity of light to shine the light upwards so that the user can see them clearly due to the big change in both contrast and brightness. It uses a colour scheme that is unambiguous to all users even including those that are colour blind in order to convey the amount of charge.
Why LED strips?
Advantages
- LED strips do not use much energy
- The LED are highly customisable and so could easily be changed to any colours required
- Easy installation
- Can be cut so that they are the exact right length
Disadvantages
- If single LED fails it can be difficult to replace
