Our in-progress prototypes were the subject of a public engagement event taking place in association with Robert Gordon University, with stations set up in a local community health centre and one of the university’s own buildings, gathering feedback and fostering discussion around how our systems were perceived and whether there was specific feedback that could help to improve these systems.

We spoke to a number of staff, students, and members of the public, and offered many the chance to pet Gravel the exercise dog to lure them into the rest of the prototype conversation. Not only did we learn a lot about how to effectively run a public engagement session, we learned some things about our technology.

Our prototypes were well received but faltered in their own ways. The pet-the-puppy exercise was a strong draw of interest, but some people didn’t feel it would easily fit into their home environment. On the other hand, our Pose Challenge system would easily become part of the natural routine but there were concerns around how effective the exercises would be and how long they would hold interest.

After a few hours of speaking to interested passers-by and many more hours of making our way back to South Wales, we brought back a number of good insights that will help to refine what we’ve built ahead of our upcoming feasibility studies.