To make sure that the robot was able to give the correct responses, an audio model using teachable machine was produced, to distinguish the different tones in peoples voices. The catagories consoted of Happy, Sad and Anger at first.
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An otter was chosen to be the form of the project as through user testing it was decided that it was both friendly and trustworthy.
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One concern was how the electronics would be mounted inside the otter, as there would be quite a few components needed to make sure that the otter performs its function. This meant that the inside of the otter had to be designed in order to incorporate these parts.
One of the problems that was realised was the possibility of young adults having small children in thier homes and interpret Tarka as a toy that they can play with, due to it looking like a cute animal. Because of this I had to make sure that the product was safe for children.
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.
An example of how induction charging works in a phone. Image Source
Induction charging would be the process that I use to charge the otter when it is placed on its charging base, because it allows for the users to easily take the otter on and off the base without having to worry about the dexterity aspect of putting a cable in.
An animation showing how the eyes light up when you are talking to the otter.
To show that the otter was listening to the users, the eyes light up when they talk to it, similarly to how an Alexa lights up with a blue ring and the google home displays three white dots.
