DIY OMNI Kit
making OMNI even more accessible
DLX Design Lab, The University of Tokyo, 4 week project
About OMNI
DLX Design Lab’s OMNI (Ocean Monitoring Network Initiative) is a low cost, open source, mass deployable ocean monitoring device. With an increasing need to solve world issues such as climate change, the ocean may carry information that can help us, yet we probably know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the ocean. Therefore OMNI strives to gather diverse data about the ocean and make it available to all.
Challenge
Create a cheap and simple OMNI kit that can be used as a workshop kit or a take-home DIY kit and sketch a storyboard of how this kit can be used in these two scenarios.
Opportunity
One of OMNI’s core goals is to make ocean data widely available. However, the current OMNI is still difficult to produce, set up, deploy, and maintain. In this kit, we aim to make the OMNI experience more accessible and enjoyable for anyone to do. The DIY OMNI Kit is a customizable, deployable mini OMNI that allows the user to get a glimpse into the OMNI experience while also being extremely cheap and easy to make.
Ideation
Taking inspiration from the Paper OMNI Challenge, I came up with the idea to create an “OMNI in a box” that was made of paper and could be reused a couple times, but was not long-lasting. After brainstorming potential solutions, I decided on a design where the OMNI is connected by a string to make it easily deployable and retractable. On top of that, I decided to make a simple circuit with DIY sensors so the user could “experience” data gathering while using the OMNI kit.
Initial brainstorm ideas: OMNI in a box, simple electronic hardware inside
Additional paper waterproofing testing: shellac (left) versus kakishibu (right). Shellac dried faster and was a little more waterproof, so I decided to use that over kakishibu
Creation
The general idea was to create a DIY kit where the paper float of the OMNI was customizable. In the kit, there would be shellac and paper, and the box itself could also be used to create the float.
Initial ideas of what materials would be included in the kit
The main challenge was to create a simple circuit that gave the same type of readings as the original OMNI (temperature and salinity). To do so, I created a simple circuit with a thermoresistor and a DIY conductivity sensor made with header pins and hot glue. I created an Arduino code to store the data gathered on an SD card that could then be read on a computer after retrieving the OMNI from the water.
Electronic hardware: breadboard, jumper cables, resistors, alligator clips, SD card and reader, DIY temperature and conductivity sensors, 9V battery, Arduino Uno board
The DIY sensors were created with wire, header pins, hot glue, and heat shrink tubes
Results
After two weeks of ideating, testing, building, and coding, I created an example DIY take-home OMNI kit.
Example DIY OMNI Kit as it first comes in the box
Materials included in the DIY OMNI Kit: airtight container, electronic hardware (DIY temperature and conductivity sensors, 9V battery, resistors, alligator clips, SD card and reader, Arduino Uno, breadboard, jumper cables, USB cable), shellac, paper, cardboard box (not pictured)
I also created two storyboards: one for using the kit in a workshop setting, and one in a home setting.
