Interactive
Table
Knockout drops
Year
2023
3rd Semester
Tools
Figma
Arduino
Team
Anna Kreuz
The invisible danger
We have decided to look at "knockout drops" as it is an extremely important and topical issue that affects a wide range of people. Knockout drops, also known as narcotics, are often secretly mixed into drinks to render victims unconscious and facilitate sexual assault or theft. This criminal practice has become more prevalent worldwide in recent years and affects people of all ages, genders and social backgrounds. We want to sensitise our participants to the risks and dangers of these substances and want to help them recognise the signs of K.O. drops use, take preventative measures and act appropriately in the event of suspicion. We also want to raise awareness of the issue of sexual assault and the protection of personal safety.
Concept
Our focus is on a total of four different types of knockout drops (ketamine, rohypnol, tilidin and GBL/GHB), whose effects, risks and prevention we want to explain in more detail. In addition, we have assigned a colour to each type of knockout drops to distinguish them from one another and to evoke the atmosphere of a party scene.
We have utilised the light of the projection and selected a suitable exhibit object for each type of knockout drop. This is illuminated in such a way that only the object in the respective knockout drop colour lights up. The four objects only light up when you are in the respective K.O. drop type and are intended to create a connection or a better understanding between the subject and the viewer.
Ketamine
We have selected the items according to the areas in which these substances are normally obtained. For ketamine, we opted for a syringe, as this is usually used as an anaesthetic in the medical field.
Rohypnol
Rohypnol as a medication in a pill packaging for the treatment of sleep disorders and anxiety. However, it is abused as a "rape drug" due to its sedative and amnesic effects.
Tilidine
Tilidine in a vial, which is used in medicine as a prescription drug for moderate pain, including in cancer patients, after hip or knee operations and for rheumatic complaints.
GBL/GHB
GHB/GBL as a sponge, as it is available as a clear, colourless liquid used as a solvent and cleaning product, e.g. for nail polish and graffiti removal.
Prevention
An additional object is also illuminated at the bottom left during prevention. A rubber band that you can stretch over your drink, which serves as protection against knockout drops.
We wanted to create proximity and an association with the topic and also explain how you can protect yourself with an example that you can touch, look at and take away.
Technonolgy
We had a bare conductive touchboard and the Arduino programme at our disposal for the technical implementation. The board has 12 pins, i.e. 12 links, which we were able to set or programme ourselves using Arduino.
Each pin was then connected to a cable and a copper foil was attached to the other end to make the cabling conductive. After that we attached the copper foil to the desired positions on the tabletop.
By touching the copper foil and our pre-linked or numbered foils in Figma, you could now navigate through our screens. It was important to ensure that each pin had the correct link or name. To ensure that the copper foil stuck in the right place, we had to make sure that the projection was perfectly positioned on the table.
The project presented us with various challenges. The short planning and implementation time, broken cables and programme bugs did not exactly make it easy for us. Patience in dealing with the programmes proved to be a decisive factor in overcoming difficulties and gaining new knowledge and experience in this area of technology. The testing phase on such an interface was particularly interesting, as we were able to optimise font sizes, colours and button sizes to suit the user. The design of the project gave us the opportunity to give free rein to our creativity and at the same time raise awareness for an important topic.
Contact
Currently, I'm looking for an internship starting in September. Feel free to reach out to me at any time!
I look forward to meeting you or receiving your feedback.
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