2015: A Year of Two Halves

I know, I know: every year has two halves. But the 29th of June 2015 was a turning point in a year of two very contrasting halves. You can see that in the pattern of posts on this blog. Six in the first six months, and 17 in the latter. I was ill almost continuously between Christmas 2014 and the middle of May. So the first six months were more or less a write off. The second half, however paid off nicely: it’s nice to be able to end the year on a high note.

   I was going to review the year against the goals I set out in January, but looking back, I see that I never got round to setting any. That’s the kind of start to the year I had! So I’ll just look back at the main headlines of the year:

FATKAT: This was a big year for FATKAT, when we actually used it in anger for the first time, and it progressed from a couple of manipulandums to a full suite of software that can capture, calibrate and filter data. Naturally, everything about it had to be refined: software was rewritten from scratch, hardware changed as components proved unsatisfactory or redundant. We got it running with QualiSys There’s still a lot more to do. The original 3D printed prototypes are wearing out, and a more robust build is needed. The amplifier circuitry needs a box. The accelerometers may need upgrading, though this is part of the pressing need for a more modular design. So, lots to do, but largely because we’ve learned a lot.

WHISPER: The year closed out with a new project funded by the Department for Transport in conjunction with Bryan Matthews (of the Institute for Transport Studies and the Centre for Disabilities) and Brian Henson (also of iDRO), where we’ll be looking at wearable haptic navigation aids for visually impaired pedestrians. It’s a small grant for a short project (December to March), but it’ll allow us to do some important groundwork on investigating user needs and haptic communication to underpin bigger grants in future. It’s also given me a welcome excuse to dust off my Arduino and get making! It’ll be a good one!
Commercialisation: A classic problem with academic blogging (which I’m sure hits company blogs to boot) is that you don’t want to show your hand too soon, for fear that competitors will steal a march on you. That means cryptic references until work is published. Still, there’s been some exciting progress on the postural sway work we’ve been doing which is bearing fruit.

Prehension: This is my main passion, and I’ve been really pleased with the progress we’ve made. I’ve been developing a model of reach-to-grasp movements with Rachel Coats and Mark Mon-Williams over in Psychology. Again, I’m reluctant to say a lot till we’ve got papers out about it, but we’ve had a paper accepted for the CWUAAT 2016 conference that gives the big picture.

Stepping Down as Product Design Programme Manager: Probably the biggest change this year was stepping down as Programme Manager for Product Design after 8 years at the helm. I didn’t do quite everything I wanted (accreditation!), but I made some real changes to the course, saw it through some tricky times (Cuts! Fees! Staff changes! Changes to the whole way the course is run! Changes in entry standard and course space – to name a few!), and we topped the Guardian League Table for Product Design. The last one is down to the fantastic Product Design team we have – and I think I’ve left the programme in a stronger and more stable position than when I took over.

Other than that, I’ve tripled my number of invitations to act as an external PhD examiner. Admittedly, that takes my number to three (one of which will take place next year), but still. I’ve also been added to  the CWUAAT programme committee, taking the place of the much-missed Bipin Bhakta.

My only real disappointment is that when I went off sick, the impetus was lost on the collaboration with Calderdale Council following on from the 2014 Hack the Home event in Halifax. Which is a shame: the team delivered some really good concepts. In fact, overall this year has been heavy on the science and light on the inclusive design and assistive technology side. One for the future, I think: it's part of the reason I'm so excited about WHISPER.

Outside work, I’ve made a point of tinkering more. I’ve joined Leeds Hackspace (which is excellent), and had various Kickstarters pay-off: Codebug, Flotilla and Onion Omega. I’ve got my Raspberry Pi rig pretty much up and running with touchscreen and Pi Cam. I don’t have much to show for this playing around, but it’s certainly expanded my knowledge of different hardware and software libraries, which is good.

And what of the blog? Two and a half years in, it’s not perfect, but I think the move towards weekly (or nearly weekly!)  updates was a good one. There isn’t always much to say, but I think short regular updates are better than several months’ gap. I’d like to make some more changes next year – but that’s for the next post. I’ll start next year with a post year.
So, a good year in the end, despite the shaky start. Here’s to 2016!

Deck the Halls and Clear the Desk...

Well, that's me done for 2015. The University has shut up shop, and I have spent the day doing my best to clear my To Do list. I was going to say clear my desk, but given my natural tendency towards piling, that would be rather ironic. I didn't clear everything, anyway: eventually some things had to be put off till 2016, but I'll be coming back to a clean enough slate.

Anyway, I wanted to take a look back at this year, both personally and from the perspective of this blog - but I'll leave that for next week. I'm off to put my feet up: have a good one!

The End of the End. Of term.

And so, term ends. Not teaching, though: marking still remains to be done, and project students are still around. Still, it is much reduced. The temptation is to drop it all,  head back to research: get on with developing new ideas - but that's unwise. This is a funny time, with Christmas not far off, and only 8 working days left. It's a better time for drawing a line,  finishing tasks off, rather than starting afresh.

Of course, it's not like research hasn't been going on. We've just had a proposal to the DfT funded to do research on wearable haptic aids for navigation. It's only a small grant, but it'll let us lay the groundwork for larger grants by exploring user needs. We've also got two journal  papers nearly in: one on interceptive movents in children, and one on reach-to-grasp movements. None of which I can expand on here until they're accepted, but with a bit of luck, I'll be able to outline or thinking once it's all under peer review.

There's plenty to do over the next two weeks, but it's all bits and pieces. I'll try to get up a Year in Review post before Christmas. Until then: have fun!