#projectidea

People with impaired vision have problems with determining how much liquid is in a cup. Without the help of any technology, they often put their fingers into their glass to determine when to stop pouring the liquid into the container or ask a caregiver to complete this task for them. (Source: 14 Unreal Things You Never Realized Blind People Have To Deal With)

Since drinking water is an essential task people perform multiple times every day, having a robot that pours liquid for them is helpful, especially when the liquid is hot. With the help of a robot, people will no longer need to wet their fingers each time they try to pour some liquid, or potentially get scalded. This will also save time for caregivers. Let’s think of the scenario when it is at the middle of the night, and a visually impaired person is thirsty, if he can manipulate a robot to pour liquid for him, he will no longer need to wake up a family member or mess up the counter. By completing this daily task on their own, visually impaired people can get a sense of independence.

We can use a Fetch robot to perform this task. In order to accurately determine when to stop pouring the liquid, we also need to make special containers (such as mugs for drinking water and bowls for breakfast cereals) to accompany various tasks. The robot also needs a peripheral to get the type of liquid and the amount to pour from the user. This can either be a speech recognition device or a button panel with Braille. Due to various sizes and weights of liquid containers, determining how to lift the container and pour out the liquid from a container is a challenging task for the robot.

There are some existing solutions to this problem such as liquid indicators and the Braun Bell Mug. A liquid indicator is a kind of device which after being attached to the glass, can vibrate or buzz when the liquid approaches the glass top.

(Image of a liquid indicator. Source: Liquid Level Indicators, Liquid Level Sensors)

The image below shows the instructions of Bell Mug. According to Andrew Liszewski, “Inside the mug are three sensors that can detect how far it’s been filled, and the user simply has to press one of three buttons on the handle to choose what level they’d like. When the desired amount of liquid in the mug has been reached, an audible alert will sound letting them know they can stop pouring.”

(How to use the Bell Mug. Source: Braun Bell Concept Mug For The Visually Impaired)

In both of these solutions, the user still has to perform the task of pouring the liquid on their own, so that they still might spill the liquid out if they fail to aim at the cup or over-tilt the container. Using a robot instead can make this job more pleasant, free the user from manual work, and prevent the user from getting scald by the hot liquid.

Project Idea

This screen cap is from the Instagram page of Norm Chan who is part of the YouTube channel tested. He is a photographer and a maker. Here is an example of the work he does. This is a storm trooper he photographed interacting in an environment he created. My idea is to attempt this with the figures I have collected and using my sculpture and digital skills to make the environments.  

With sites such as OnlyFans and Patreon, many women and men are able to sell adult content such as nude photographs and pornographic videos. Sites like these allow customers to pay for a monthly subscription to have access to content and to request photos and videos they would like to see. Although these sites aren't necessarily tailored for sex work, a large influx over the years has been seen with many people trying to make some money online. 

For this project, I want to look at the taboo around men talking about mental health and suicide. If we look at the statistics, which I have taken from https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-suicide, 

In the UK in 2018, there were 6,507 deaths by suicide (a rate of 11.2 deaths per 100,000 people).

Rates vary across the UK, with the highest rate in 2018 observed in Northern Ireland (18.6 deaths per 100,000), followed by Scotland (16.1 deaths per 100,000 people), then Wales (12.8 deaths per 100,000 people) and England (10.3 deaths per 100,000 people).

Overall, men accounted for three-quarters of UK deaths by suicide in 2018.

From what I see in the media and from my friends around me, it doesn’t seem as if there is a place for men to openly speak about their feelings or any mental health issues they may face due to the idea of seeming “weak”. 

Due to Covid-19, and the need to self isolate, access to uni and facilities has been closed. This means I have to change my idea to accommodate this change and with what I can do with the resources I have at home. 

For my images, I want to capture the essence of female sexuality and the sexualisation of the female form. I will use my own portrait as my subject, and push the boundaries of sexuality, ideal beauty standards and semi-nudity with the use of distorting realism and breaking norms. I plan to change my entire appearance by painting myself an unnatural lilac purple skin tone, breaking away from eurocentric beauty with the use of makeup and potentially using sex toys as props for my images. I want my images to resemble the likes of a cam girl/ erotic model as sex workers who use online platforms are using their bodies and its sexualisation to empower themselves and earn money.

My interest in this topic had sparked when looking at artists I love and find inspiration from. I have looked at the works of Juno Birch, Amber Carr, Theresa Baxter, Polly Nor and Juno Calypso. Other than being all female artists, each of these women look to break the boundaries of the ideal woman.