A: I wasn't very impressed by them
A: and they didn't seem to re
A: uh nothing I saw seemed to meet the sorts of design specifications that we're going for today .
A: Um so
A: what I ra
A: rather than looking at other remotes , uh ra oomp be better to simply look at the human hand .
A: Um and try and f um and try and figure out a way of laying out the elements we've already decided on ,
A: um so that if r a if so that the finger is e each finger or thumb is wherever it needs to be already .
A: Um so uh
A: next slide , if you please .
A: Um and what we've basically decided on was the the um the joy uh the joystick , two function buttons and the L_C_D_ ,
A: just keep it paired down to the absolute minimum .
A: I don't actually think we need the um the numeric keypad
A: because if you m
A: because one of the menus that we could have available um v via via the L_C_D_ is one where you scroll through channels ,
A: so if there's something f A: and be bear in mind since this isn't meant to work for um
C: digital .
D: Ah , okay .
A: f f f for di for digital or um or for or for cable , whatever ,
A: you're basically looking at four or five terrestrial channels , and then um your V_C_ uh and then the channel through your V_C_R_ and or D_V_D_ player . And or um box .
A: So it's not A: I'm not really excessively concerned about that .
A: You must have two two modes ,
A: basic mode , where um the joystick's uh left right left right for channels , up down for volume ,
A: um and the uh uh and the menu mode for uh further functions .
A: Um now the reason I was particularly interested in using rubber for this is that if we're going to have a highly ergonomic design , um it needs to be ergonomic for left or right handed people .
A: Um , so you
B: Can I just jump in slightly there ?
A: Mm-hmm .
B: That would suggest the double curved design's probably going to be most appropriate , then .
A: Yes , absolutely .
B: okay .
A: Um , basi basically what I basically what the what be having um , I would say , the the whole thing articulated at two points ,
A: so that if you if you're handing it from a lef uh left or right handed user you can adjust it
A: so that the um the L_C_ the L_C_D_ and the uh A: The joystick would be in the right place .
A: And also this is a rather nicer de uh design gimmick that the the um you know the whole thing you know it should have sort of organic feel to it
B: Mm .
A: that it should be , you know , soft to touch
A: and
A: can be moved around all nice .
A: Um okay
B: Okay .
B: Um , yeah .
A: on to on to the next uh to the next slide .
B: Just to let you know we'll probably be quite tight for time as well ,
A: Okay .
B: because I think you've probably got a lot you'd like to say , I guess .
A: Yeah ,
A: 'kay basically um  A: I can add pretty pictures to this .
A: The um A: Assuming the hand the hand to be in about sort of this position , um hol uh holding the remote ,
A: the um the joystick unit should rest over the uh the joint of the f of the uh four finger
A: so that it's directly accessible for the thumb .
A: Um and it would need t there would need to be a it would need to be articulated just below that
A: so that it could be switched around for uh left or right handed users .
A: So .
A: You then have a grip section
A: that can be more or less the same irrespective of handedness .
A: You just have big two big buttons
A: that cover most of the area so it can in the upper part , one for the four finger , one for the middle finger .
A: Um , and that C: Is this the joystick ?
A: Th this part here is the joystick .
A: This would be the actual grip .
A: Probably where you'd want to have the battery as well .
C: Okay .
A: That would be probably the bulkiest part .
A: And you then have , at the uh at the bottom , the L_C_D_ ,
A: and this would need to be articulated as well .
A: And basically I'd want this to rest here , right at the base of the wrist .
A: So it would fit just nicely in the hand .
A: And again , this part could be
A: rotated ,
A: so it can  So so so that it can be adjusted to either left or right handed user .
A: Um So
A: the t uh the top function button in basic mode would be the on off switch
A: and menu mode would be the enter button .
A: And then the bottom function buttons switches between between modes .
A: Um now
A: programming it A: actually thi this is one thing I've found with um the replacement remote control .
A: Programming them can be a right pain .
A: So I thought th the simplest way around that would be to have um a cable to connect it to the computer
A: some some fair iv fairly fairly simple software on the computer just so that you on your computer
A: just so that you could um pr program it at a rather in a rather more comfortable interface .
A: And you could download programs for it from uh for uh T_V_s from all sort of main manufacturers .
A: Um though you i it would be necessary to have uh have a m uh have a ha have a mode for programming it without the computer ,
A: uh just in case there are there are still people left out there who don't have them yet .
C: Mm .
A: Um . But uh . Yeah .
B: Okay .
A: That's that's my idea .
B: Excellent ,
B: right . Um uh .
C: Mm . 'Kay .
B: File open .
C: We go .
B: Trend watching .
C: Okay .
C: So uh
C: to gather my research , two basic methods .
C: We compared uh whether people want the remote control to do a lot of stuff or they want it to look cool .
C: And then we we research uh fashion trends in Europe ,
C: what's what's the new black ,
C: you know ,
B: Okay .
C: as it goes . C: Next slide please .
C: Uh we found , in order of importance , people want the remote control to look cool more than they want it to to be cool .
C: As in they want it to do a lot of good s
C: they want it to look like it does a lot ,
C: and if it does do a lot that's a bonus ,
C: but they don't care so much ,
C: you know . C: They want it to be C: that's sounds a bit like a contradiction .
C: Technology technical technologically innovative . People want it to be that ,
C: but s still they care more about the way it looks than what it does .
C: So
C: like the interface is really important .
C: And easy to use ,
C: it it just so happens that uh from the second point to the third point is twice as important I mean the second point is twice as important as the third point .
C: People want it I is
C: it has to be cooler than easy to use ,
C: you know ,
C: if it has the newest features , even if it's difficult to use , prefer it to have the newest features .
C: And if it's easy to use that's a bonus .
C: The fashion , now this is seems a bit odd to me ,
C: but fruit and veg is the new is the new black for furniture , for clothes , for shoes .
C: How that relates to a remote control I don't know .
B: C: But I I see C: I come on to that in the next in the next slide .
C: Spongy .
C: I've als I've been saying everything's the new black .
C: Well
C: spongy's the new black as well .
C: So
C: we have the choice between rubber and plastic .
C: If it's the type of rubber that you can squeeze , you know , it's spongy , then can I skip the rest ?
D: Oh yeah ,
D: I forgot to mention that .
D: The uh rubber material is the type of stress ball material , not just normal rubber .
C: Okay . Okay ,
D: Forgot to say that .
C: so
C: kinda spongy material .
C: So um so
B: Okay .
C: my personal opinion ?
C: Um we want something fancy and techni technologically innovative , obviously .
C: But what we what we need is something that looks like it's from the future
C: that looks cool ,
C: that's that's different ,
C: you know ,
C: that's C: everyone has a white remote control , black remote control ,
C: you need something cool .
C: Like , titanium is cool
C: but it's expensive .
C: And maybe it's a bit of overkill for a remote control .
C: Um now the fruit and veg options , either we we go in that direction
C: or we stay totally away from it .
C: Um I mean the research did come up with fruit and veg ,
C: so maybe it is important
C: for C: it's the up to the interface guy .
C: So
C: if we stay away from it , s you know stay away from it ,
C: but if we're gonna go along with it then it doesn't necessarily have to be like an apple or something like that , or a kiwi fruit .
C: It could be something like , I say potato peeler
C: but I'm sure you guys have a have a much cooler idea than I do .
C: So
C: I think cool is the key .
C: Few questions about a spongy remote control .
C: I've never seen one before .
C: I've seen plastic remote controls .
C: I think maybe they were C: I don't know ,
C: back in the day when they first came up with remote controls , they had a reason for it being
B: Mm-hmm .
C: sturdy , you know . For being strong and sturdy .
C: So um
C: if we want something strong and sturdy , I say stay with plastic or titanium ,
C: but if we go with spongy , we can stress that you can drop this as many times as you want ,
C: it doesn't matter ,
C: it's spongy material ,
C: it's not gonna break ,
C: you know .
C: I just don't know how the L_E_D_ and the lights are gonna fit into a spongy material
C: because it's not gonna be completely squeezable .
C: So
C: how do things fit it ?
C: And if we are gonna use spongy , we can say it's long lasting ,
C: you know
C: it's damage resistant and stuff like that ,
C: so . So
C: just to summarise ,
C: people want stuff that's cool ,
C: that's that looks like it's cool ,
C: and if it is cool then that's a bonus C: doesn't have to be um
C: people like fruit and veg .
C: We can either go down that alley
C: or stay totally away from it .
C: People like spongy material .
C: If we're gonna use spongy material we have to think of how practical it is ,
C: and how we can further promote that idea .
C: And also , this was this year .
C: So ,
C: things change all the time , every year
C: you know
C: they they always talk about this year , this is the new black .
C: Well
C: next year something else is gonna be the new black
B: Mm-hmm .
C: and we're stuck with last year's fruit and veg type stuff .
C: 'Kay .
B: Okay .
C: That's me .
B: Well , um
B: I would say that the most you could probably hope for is gaining a year's lead on most people anyway .
B: You always have to bring out new designs ,
B: so if we can get next year then that's possibly a good place to start anyway . Um .
A: Mm-hmm .
B: Seems like a a lot of the components could be off the shelf ,
B: so
B: I don't exactly what cost would be incurred .
B: Um I can see your point about the number keypad ,
B: but I've B: I would say that we can probably incorporate it into the menu system if you need to do traversal of a large number of channels .
D: Yeah .
A: Mm-hmm .
D: B: My feeling would be that even if at a later date this was to be taking control of um boxes as well
B: um having the use of the L_C_D_ and the joystick would probably allow you to manipulate enough channel numbers
B: for you to be A: Yeah , actually
A: if you've got a lot of channels , the number keypad can be quite annoying as well ,
A: becau  it's
A: you know
A: if you're trying to remember what uh , you know , what number's the discovery channel or whatever . It's just irritating .
C: That's a good point .
C: You can incorporate names into the menu .
B: Mm-hmm .
A: But if you h but but but if you have a me but if you have a menu structure , then you can sub-group them .
C: Okay .
A: So you  C: Even news , music . Like they do on uh sky digital kinda .
B: Okay .
A: Yeah .
C: Yeah .
B: So
B: what it looks like to me is we'll use a large number of standard components , um ,
B: say something like um lithium ion battery ,
B: the kind that you find in most um small hand held devices now . Um B: Looks like we going for a double curved design .
B: Um I don't know what cost implications there are in that .
B: Um , looks like we're pretty much decided on some kind of flexible rubber .
B: Though I'd have to say depending on how flexible it is , we might need to have some kind of inner frame .
A: Yeah ,
A: I I would say definitely ,
A: I mean I mean I mean
A: the the idea of having it sort of articulated i th
A: there would be basically two points of articulation . W um one below and one above the m the uh the main sort of grip .
B: Do you think there's any way we could maybe remove the articulation ?
A: So B: I can see why it looks appealing ,
B: but it could be a weak point in um the structure , do you think ?
B: That would be a worry of mine .
A: Mm .
D: If you're going with the fruit and veg thing , looks like a banana .
A:  I d I don't thi I don't think that it would be a a structural weakness ,
D: F if you wanna design it that way . C: . C: A: I mean if you have a firm s sub-structure , you can then incorporate articulation into that .
A: If you then have a sort of outer skin of mm flexible , spongy rubber then you have something that is you know very much you know
A: organic ,
A: and I think would look rather co I mean mi rather cool .
A: I mean my drawing there doesn't doesn't do it justice ,
B: A: it makes it makes it look more a little bit more like a vibrator than a than a uh than a remote control ,
A: but uh .
B: Yeah ,
B: we won't add that functionality .
D: C: Okay . Course not .
A: B: However , one interesting point is ,
B: I don't know how serious you were there ,
B: but we B: if we take some of the ideas why don't we make the damn thing yellow to incorporate the des the colour of the logo ?
D: Yeah .
C: Sure , yeah .
D: Okay .
B: I dunno .
B: It's an certainly a different colour from your average um A: Mm-hmm .
A: Make it harder to lose , as well .
D: Yeah .
B: That's true . C: Sure .
B: Was there anything in your research C: The noise for when you lose the banana , um f yeah , for when you lose the remote control , it could be like a a monkey noise or something like that , rather than a standard beep beep .
D: B: C: Y you know ,
C: you lose the monkey the banana ,
D:  monkey .
B: C: y you lose the banana ,
C: you press a button ,
C: and you hear like monkey screams or something like that to direct you towards the banana .
A: I th uh I mean if it A: I think that's something that could perhaps be programmable ,
A: though maybe have monkey as default . Um .
C: S
C: oh ,
C: I was gonna talk about the programmable remote control .
C: Now I think it'd be cool if you had one remote control that could work with all T_V_s ,
C: you know
C: you s you click a button
C: and it finds the frequency
C: that works with your particular television .
A: Mm-hmm .
C: But why you'd need to program it like as as a standard feature ,
C: I I don't know .
A: Well basi basically
A: the um for f for uh A: I mean
A: e each manufacturer will have a partic will have a particular command set that uh the T_V_ responds to .
B: Mm-hmm .
A: It's not simply a matter of frequency .
C: Yeah .
A: So um A: usually what's done is you have this big booklet full of different possi A: you'll have all of them sort of programmed in to the uh remote ,
A: and you'll have this little booklet of codes
C: Mm-hmm .
A: you then find your um ma uh find your manufacturer
A: and try the different codes
A: that
C: Mm-hmm .
A: come under that manufacturer's name
A: 'til you find the right one .
C: That's because televisions , they don't give the remote control any type of feedback when you send it .
A: Yeah , that's right .
C: Okay .
A: So
A: that's that's quite annoying
A: and we probably would still have to do that .
A: But if we had um some sort of hook-up to your computer as an option , then if you've got a computer you can avoid that rather irritating thing .
B: An interesting point is that if the person doesn't have the computer , we can still make the process easier
B: because instead of having to look up codes , maybe we can have it that one of the options they have is that they look up the name of the company on the L_C_D_
B: and then they maybe look up different names of um different actual units that have been produced .
A: Yeah .
A: Yeah .
B: Or we have the remote control just go through them until it's like does this do the correct function , and such .
C: Is it is it actually a book of names to digits , or is it like a few pages ?
A: Um booklet . Some pages .
C: I was just thinking , if we were to store this information , some type of mapping .
C: This person probably need to use this feature like once , you know , when you first buy the remote control , or whenever they buy a new television ,
C: so
C: once every s
A: Yeah .
B: Doesn't have to be used very often
B: that's right , yeah .
C: Yeah ,
A: Yeah .
C: and it's A: But it's a but it's a nuisance .
A: And it's a nuisance very close to the to um to actually purchasing it ,
C: Mm .
A: so it's something that you're likely to be thinking about .
A: If you if there's w i
A: if there's one in the shop that's that says it can avoid much of that nuisance , you might be favourably inclined towards it . Um mm .
C: Mm .
B: Okay ,
B: this  B: just to give us a rough idea of what we're meant to be doing for the next stage .
C: Mm .
B: I'm pretty sure that you got that anyway .
B: This is the conceptual one . Um .
B: I think we've come up B: I think we've covered everything we need to here .
B: Um I think we've decided on what , you know , decided on standard items for most of um rubber and such ,
B: so
B: we're now looking at the detailed design
B: and what we need to be doing for the next meeting .
B: Um So for example , um
B: I'll just start at the top ,
B: you've got yourself and the Industrial Designer gonna be working quite closely at this stage
B: 'cause it'll be hard not to , obviously . Um
B: looking from  prototyping of some des description using clay .
B: Um I suppose you'll be told a lot more about that as uh progress . Um B: The user interface design , They're kind of it looks they're the idea I've pushed forward so far is maybe more of a physical one there ,
B: whereas possibly be more interested in maybe how the L_C_D_'s going to incorporate , do you think ?
B: Or do you s perceive that most the design design decisions still need to be based on the physical layout ?
A: Mm .
A: Um well
A: I I think other than ge getting a sort of more aesthetically pleasing form for it ,
A: um mo most of the sort of layout design decisions are are made , I would say .
A: Um but then again , the um the menu structure to to a considerable extent that's gonna vary according to the model of television , and also any customisations that the user might wish to incorporate .
A: So um
A: and one of the nice things about having an L_C_D_ and a menu structure is that there is that flexibility to it .
B: Mm-hmm , that's very true .
B: Um . Okay . Um
B: got product evaluation as well . Um .
C: Yeah ,
C: you see I don't C: some of these things kinda logically follow the others .
C: How can t