In the shirt prototype they used a secondary battery as a storage device that constantly recharged using body heat.
In previous prototypes they used a super capacitor, which worked well.
"Prototyping tools are great to play with and explain ideas, but it's super hard to retain users by being a prototyping tool – because they use the tool to prototype and then that's it," he explains.
For example, automotive engineers use computer-aided engineering (CAE) software together with virtual reality systems to design and test new models as electronic prototypes for fuel efficiency, handling, and passenger protection before producing physical prototypes, and later they use CAE in the design and analysis of physical tests.
Next we went over to the rapid prototyping workshop, where they use a fabrication machine to create whatever mockups they needed or make, say, a stand to hold a webcam while testing it.
It focuses on usability tests (whether or not they use paper prototypes), preference for one design alternative (as sometimes there are different ways to provide a function), and issues outside the user interface (paper prototypes can reveal some issues that are considered outside the scope of the user interface, for example, the credibility of the company).
The original prototype they built worked using proximity, but the team found that users didn't like that their Mac unlocked just because they were near it.
Dr. Aarestrup said they used prototypes of a small tag that released at a specified date, popping to the surface and transmitting data to a satellite.
In the meantime, they used the prototype at Caltech and a facility in Germany to develop ever more sensitive mirror, laser, and seismic-isolation technology.
Following a demonstration from the session facilitator, participants were asked to 'think aloud' as they used the prototype to search or browse for the answer to queries such as the one given above [ 46].
