Week 18

We started this week with another user testing of our system combined with the new feedback system built with LED lights. The user testing took place at the IDC with students that were willing to help us out.

We decided it is time to take the prototype to our actual user – Shay, and test it out.

Three of us came to Shay’s house with the full protorype in our hands and excitement in our heart!

After a few minutes of preparation came the moment of truth! We activated the system and placed the camera in front of Shay’s sofa… And woops! We have a problem.

The system won’t recognize Shay’s face. The LED on our feedback system that supposed to give feedback on the recognition of face started to go crazy, going from *RECOGNIZED* to *FACE NOT FOUND* every few seconds. We had some problem with recognizing Shay’s specific face.

After a short burst of panic we started trying to solve this problem. At first we thought the problem is because of the light from the window behind Shay’s sofa, so we covered the window with a large blanket – it didn’t help.

Next, we tried putting a little pillow with contrast color behind Shay’s head – no help.

We tried moving the camera to some new positions – no help also!

After an hour or so of trying to solve the problem we decided to stop the user testing with Shay and come back to him after we solved this issue.

We got out of this user testing with a really bad feeling... How come a system that been checked with so many people does not work with 1 individual?

Here is our lesson to you – ALWAYS DO THE USER TESTING WITH YOUR ACTUAL USER!