So I have a few ideas and ways to tackle this assignment.
1st idea
There's the idea of making a "Video Game World". So instead of the usual surrondings in a building, you have all these things that you constantly interact with. As an example, a regular hallway could be enhanced by projecting gold coins or rings like thoes from a video game. and every time someone walks through the projection, a noise would sound which would evoke some satisfaction from the user. Video game enemies could also be projected, and they could fall or roll around while someone walks through the hallway. the projections would be simple like thoes of a classic video game. It could be projected onto the face of the wall so every time someone walks past to cover the projection, the noise or whatever would be made. Technology wise all that is needed is a focused motion sensor, a projector and a speaker. If you wanted to go one step further, you could even have a virtual basketball type game, where a basketball and hoop are projected onto a wall and the user pretends to shoot the ball into the hoop. If there was a kinect type system there the user's movements could be tracked and if the user made the right speed and hand directions the ball, the projected ball could be shot into the projected hoop.
I had the idea of putting "hypercolour" paint onto coffee cups so that baristas could tell how hot a cup of coffee or tea was. Hyper colour is a type of paint that changes its colour according to temperature. It is used on mood rings and t-shirts. As I found out it is also used on coffee cups. So this ideas is a no go.
3rd Idea
Tennis is my hobby. I play a lot of it. I have taken an interest in tennis racquet design. Seeing as im an industrial designer, the tennis racquet as a product interests me a lot. Studying tennis racquets is my guilty pleasure. Its such a nerdy thing to do and the fact that i could tell you the specs of any "player" racquet is pretty nerdy. I dont like the fact that i know so much about racquets. I dont want to be the guy that tells you how your racquet feels even though i am not the owner of one. So when someone shows me a new racquet I play dumb and act all surprised even though I know everything about it. I really don't say things like this but I am an expert on racquets. I probably know more about racquets then some of the manufacturers know. So for this idea I was thinking of putting some sort of accelerometer and segmented wire sensors onto a racquet as a caching tool. This would go hand in hand with a computer program or app. The theory is that the user places this accelerometer and sensors on there racquet and readings are recorded and sent to a computer. If readings show there is alot of vibration read when the user hits the ball, then a heavier racquet is needed. If there shots arent going in then more topspin should be imparted on the ball. The accelerometer would be able to sense the swing path so this would be ideal for tennis. Also between shots, movement would be accessed. I guess the main thing is the swing path.if it could tell you to hit more in front of you or to hit with a more upwards motion then it would be quite useful to help people with their strokes.
I was thinking this wold be a good one for me to take up because i play tennis about 3 -5 times a week so all sorts of practical studies could be undertaken.
4th Idea
A kinect hooked upto a very small and power efficient computer that could detect when devices are being used and control power to these devices. gestures could be used and room lights as well as tv's and all devices could be controlled centrally.
