Reflection

Rose

We were able to leverage the Media Lab to increase immersion in our environment, using both the overhead multi-colored lights and the surround sound available. These both added to our project in a way the Kinect was not able to. Additionally, the flowers growing toward the user was able to capture the reliance of a garden on the gardener -- it was clear and intuitive to understand.

Bud

Bringing more senses into our environment would have exponentially impacted our project. For example, we debated bringing plants to the Media Lab so that the user felt like our project extended beyond the projector. A reviewer also suggested bringing in bags of dirt so the smell would be present every time the user knelt to plant a seed in the soil.

Thorn

The Kinect is a difficult to beast to reign in, and our project was no different. There were glitches in our software, and its capabilities were limited. For example, our software couldn't handle more than one person in the frame at a time.

Future

If we were to go further with this project, our first order of business would be to place some responsibility on the user. For example, some of the plants may die without the care of the gardener. We would also implement functionality where plants would fight for attention; overcrowding would become an issue, and the user would have to manage their garden accordingly.