Category: @ITP

Assignments Fall 2023

Lab Assignments

Technical material will be demonstrated in class. Each week your instructor will explain a given topic, and demonstrate it by building circuits, code or fabrication techniques in class. You’ll follow along, stopping to ask questions or clarify what’s happening as we go. Then you’ll go home and try it yourself.

Once you’ve done a lab, make a project with the new techniques you learned.  It doesn’t need to be large or complex, just something simple that shows what you learned and how it can be used in everyday life. We’ll look at a few of these in each class. You’ll be expected to show at least one finished lab project in the first half of the semester in class. Your instructor will pick the lab presenters at random each week. If you make something and aren’t called upon in class, write it up on your blog, with pictures and video as appropriate.

Midterm Project

The goal of this assignment is to show that you can make a simple interactive system with physical controls, and that you can keep a user engaged with your system. This will be due in week 7.

Work in pairs on this assignment. Your instructor will assign the pairs.

This year, since the midterm falls near Halloween, the midterm project can have a Halloween theme. You could make a media controller that controls spooky projections, or a music player that controls the sound in a haunted house, or a tangible interface for things that go bump in the night.  You could also make a musical instrument that makes spooky music like you’d hear in a horror film. If you have another idea, discuss it with your instructor to see if it’s appropriate.

You don’t have to have a halloween theme if you don’t want to. On a technical level, though, your project should show that you understand digital input and output, analog input and output, serial communication, and good physical interaction design principles. On a conceptual level, your project should help people to enjoy whatever setting it is designed for. If it is a Halloween party, it would have just enough surprises to make it fun, with no chance for injury or psychic trauma.

Consider the  behavior of the thing that the user will see, hear, or feel, and choose sensors that let you create that kind of behavior. For example, if your system featured a bouncing ball that moved with a “squishy” feeling, make sure the physical control has a similar feel. You might get this by embedding force sensors in foam, or attaching pressure sensors to a balloon. If your animation has a sharp feeling to it, you might need sensors that have a precise, sharp feel, such as pushbuttons with a good solid “click”.

If there is more than one parameter to be controlled, you will need to send data from multiple sensors to control each parameter. For example, if you’re controlling an object that moves in three dimensions on the screen, you’ll need sensors that give you control over all three dimensions. You might use a 3-axis accelerometer, or three photosensors, or some other combination.

If you or your partner on this exercise are waiving Intro to Computational Media, that means you’re good enough programmers to create this project in a desktop programming environment on your own. Good for you! You’ll be expected to show your ability to do this.

Your midterm can be art or design project, but it can also be a research project. Consider these options:

  • Remix project: observe an existing system, analyze the system, and create your own version of it with your own context. For example, have you seen the game show, Jeopardy? Watch this video about the buzzer in the show. How does it work? If you were to design a buzzer system for a game show, what would that be? Any other examples?
  • Research project: you’re very welcome to deeper “research” any of the things that you were introduced to in this class. For example, compare 3 different knobs/sensors/etc and review them (e.g., Knob Feel). Or, you could thoroughly research a particular sensor to learn how it works technically (e.g., FSR) and create your own version of a sensor. Any other examples?
  • Sensors for environmental research
  • Sensors for scientific or medical research (e.g. build a reaction timer with an LED and a pushbutton)
  • Sensors in civic infrastructure (stop lights, cross walks)
  • Assistive technology devices
  • Tools (air quality device, temp/humidity monitor for a garden, etc)

Final Assignment

The goal of this assignment is to show that you can make a more fully detailed interactive system with physical controls, and that you can keep a user engaged with your system.

This will be due in the final week of class, but you will show progress on the project in each week from week 11 onward. Work in groups or alone, though groups are highly recommended.

Your final project will depend on you already having learned the skills from the whole semester. It should also demonstrate some of the following skills:

  • Microcontroller-to-PC communication, through one of the following:
  • Physical interaction design principles
    • Is the interface understandable to the participant with minimal instruction? Do they know what to do by looking at, listening to, or touching the interface?
    • Can someone besides you use it?
    • Can it be started, stopped, and reset without your intervention
    • Make the interaction iterative. In other words, it’s not just one action by the participant, but they read the interface, take action, read the device’s response, and take another action, in a continued loop.
  • Construction principles
    • Does it have a housing so that the controls, not the electronics, are exposed?

You can improve on one of your previous projects for this project, or you can start a new project. Don’t make the project larger in scope than the midterm, though, as you won’t have time to complete it if it’s too large or complex a project.

Document your work thoroughly online as you go. Include details of all phases of the project. Include a project summary as well, explaining what the system you built is, what it does, and what purpose it’s intended to serve. Your summary should introduce the project.

Project Suggestions

Many students struggle with project ideas for midterm or final. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Combination Lock

A combination lock responds after the user performs a specific sequence of actions, like pressing buttons in a sequence, or turning a knob to a series of pre-determined positions in a sequence. For example, think about the typical hotel room safe. When it’s open, you close the door, enter a code, press the enter button, and the safe locks. When you enter the code a second time, the safe unlocks. Closing the door and entering a new code resets the lock. On some safes, you can simply press enter again to use the same code.

This is a good project for the midterm.

The simplest of combination locks typically use a sequence of four or five buttons. To make it work, you have to detect when the button changes its state from pressed to released, or vice versa.

Your combination lock doesn’t have to open a lock. It could turn on a light when the sequence is entered successfully, or play a tune on a speaker. It should be possible to reset the device once it’s done its task, however, like the example above. Your device doesn’t have to just use buttons, either. You can use any sequence of physical actions that you know know how to sense in order to activate your lock.

Musical Instrument (Tone)

Make a simple musical instrument. Your instrument should be able to control pitch and to start and stop a pitch. It does not have to control more than one pitch at a time.

This is a good project for the midterm.

Consider a few things in designing your instrument:

  • Do you want to play discrete notes (like a piano), or sliding pitches (like a theremin)? How do you program to achieve these effects?
  • Do you want to control the tempo and duration of a note?
  • Do you want the same physical action to set both the pitch and the velocity (volume) of a note?
  • Do you want to be able to play more than one note at a time (e.g. chords)?

All of these questions, and many more, will affect what sensors you use, how you read them, and how you design both the physical interface and the software.

Media Controller (Serial)

Make a music or video playback controller. Your controller should be able to start, stop, and pause the playback of a media file, to fast-forward, to rewind, and to control the volume.

You can make this controller and the media player in p5.js and control it using asynchronous serial communication, or you can control it using Keyboard and Mouse controls.

This is a good project to get comfortable with asynchronous serial communication.

Game Controller (Serial)

Make a game controller. The most minimal controllers have very few controls. Consider WASD controllers, for example, in which the keys W, A S, and D control 2-dimensional movement on a screen. Or joystick controllers, where a 2-axis joystick and a pushbutton support all the action onscreen. The fun of a good controller is when you can perform complex behaviors with a limited amount of control.

Make a game in p5.js. or use an existing game like Pong.

Your controls should be arranged so that the player can watch the screen, not concentrate on the controls.

Game Controller (USB HID)

Make a game controller. The most minimal controllers have very few controls. Consider WASD controllers, for example, in which the keys W, A S, and D control 2-dimensional movement on a screen. Or joystick controllers, where a 2-axis joystick and a pushbutton support all the action onscreen. The fun of a good controller is when you can perform complex behaviors with a limited amount of control.

You do not have to make the game. You can use any pre-existing game that can be controlled by Mouse or Keyboard, since your microcontroller (Nano 33 IoT) can be programmed to operate as a mouse or keyboard. Consider browser-based games, like Lunar Lander. Here’s a different version of Lunar Lander. Consider controlling Zoom.

Your controls should be arranged so that the player can watch the screen, not concentrate on the controls.

This project will most likely rely on USB HID communication using the Keyboard or Mouse libraries. Take a look at the USB HID labs for ways to do it.

Musical Instrument (MIDI)

Make a MIDI musical instrument. Your instrument should be able to control pitch and volume and to start and stop a pitch. It should also be able to play chords; that is, to play multiple notes at the same time.

This project requires some understanding of music, and MIDI. Take a look at the MIDI labs for ways to do it.

Sensor Datalogger and Visualizer (SPI, I2C SD Card)

Capture a time lapse with sensors and create a visualization or sonification that represents the changes over time.

There are many changes that are too slow for us to observe without lots of patience, but which give us good insights when we see their patterns played back in a time-lapse. For example, a graph of changes in the light in a space can tell us about the seasonal changes, or the human activity. Temperature changes can tell us how crowded a place is at different times of days. Air quality sensor readings over time can give us a picture of when production activities happen in a shop. Motion sensors graphed over time can show us traffic patterns of a space over the course of a day.

Pick a sensor that can measure changes in an environment and write a program that will take readings on a set interval and record them. Then find a way to present the readings in order to show the patterns of change over time. That might be as simple as a graph of the change over time generated by a spreadsheet, or it might be a sound program that converts the changes to pitches and plays the changes musically over time. Pick a way to represent the data that lets the viewer read and understand the changes that they can’t see in real-time.

You could capture the data by :

  • Sending sensor data from an Arduino to your laptop over a few hours, and leaving the laptop alone (but secured).
  • Sending the sensor data as USB keystrokes to your laptop over time and saving them to a file (command-S is also a keystroke)
  • Recording data to a file on an SD card from an Arduino, then reading that data in p5.js

This project is a good project to combine asynchronous serial communication and data visualization in p5.js. Alternatively, it can be a good way to learn about reading and writing from files on an Arduino and in p5.js.

Gesture Controller (Bluetooth LE)

Make a controller that is controlled by large physical gestures. Examples:

  • a media control device that responds to swiping your hand left and right.
  • a game controller that responds to swordplay movements of your arm.
  • a musical controller that responds to particular hand signals.

Your controller should be able to start and stop a particular output repeatably and reliably. For example, if you’re making the media controller mentioned above, it should be able to play, pause, fast forward, rewind, and stop with distinct gestures.

Since you’re using large physical gestures, this project is most likely best done using Bluetooth LE communication to the personal computer, to avoid wires.

This is a more advanced version of the media controller or musical instrument projects, in that it requires you to read sensor data, understand the patterns of the changes in that data, and write a program to send control messages when those patterns are detected.

Syllabus Fall 2024

Introduction

All computing is physical. We work with computational systems by taking action with our bodies, on devices. The construction of computing devices, and their use, consumes raw materials and energy as well. In short, computing, even that which we call virtual, always has physical consequences.

This course is about how to design those devices for our bodies. Physical Computing is an approach to learning how humans communicate through computers that starts by considering how humans express themselves physically. In this course, we take the human body as a given, and attempt to design computing applications within the limits of its expression.

To realize this goal, you’ll learn how a computer converts the changes in energy given off by our bodies (in the form of sound, light, motion, and other forms) into changing electronic signals that it can read and interpret. You’ll learn about the sensors that do this, and about simple computers called microcontrollers that read sensors and convert their output into data. Finally, you’ll learn how microcontrollers communicate with other computers.

To learn this, you’ll watch people and build devices. You will spend a lot of time building circuits, soldering, writing programs, building structures to hold sensors and controls, and figuring out how best to make all of these things relate to a person’s body.

Safety Requirement: If you plan to use the shop at 370 Jay, attend a tool safety session in the shop! Even if you are an experienced fabricator, everyone is required to take a safety session if planning to use or be in the shop.

Class Structure

Class meetings will be mainly discussions of work you’ve tried and shared demonstrations or experiments, not lectures. Any “lecture material” is on this site in video or written form, and assigned for the weeks where we will discuss it. Your instructor will review the week’s material, answer any questions you have, and reinforce elements of that week’s labs through demonstration. Use class time to get clarification on things you didn’t understand from the assigned material. Feel free to bring your own components and build alongside the instructor if you find it helpful.

Each week, you should put in adequate time to digest and then attempt to try the exercises covered. Outside of class, read or view the assigned material and do the assigned exercises. In class, engage in the class discussion, turn in the assignments on time, and offer support to your classmates through advice and critique. These are the keys to your success in this class.

A typical class would be:

  • 60-90 minutes discussion,  questions from the assigned readings and labs, demonstration of techniques you attempted, and presentation of any works in progress.
  • 10 minutes break
  • 45-60 minutes discussion of applications of the techniques covered, project ideas and approaches, and discussion of reading material.
  • Individual instructors will modify this structure as they go, depending on each class’ need.

Class Expectations

The assignments in this class consist of weekly lab assignments throughout the semester; readings, discussion, and class participation; and two project assignments in which you’ll build interactive devices. 

Grading

  • 50%   Project assignments (midterm and final)
  • 30%   Lab work and in-class participation
  • 20%   Blog & documentation

Participation & Attendance

The class meetings will be held in person at the scheduled class times. Students should plan to attend class sessions in person unless previously discussed and agreed upon with your instructor. If you’re going to be late or absent, please email your instructor in advance. If you have an emergency, please let your instructor know as soon as you can.

Please arrive to each class prepared to actively participate in the class discussion and exercises, with questions, stories of setbacks or successes you encountered in the lab, and interesting material related to the course that you’ve found. If you need special accommodations to participate in class, please discuss those needs with your instructor. You may want to consult the Moses Center for Student Accessibility as well.

It’s okay if you couldn’t get a lab exercise or a project to work. When that happens, try to debug it, explain what you did in your blog, and come to class prepared to talk about the details and ask specific questions. You will benefit more if you come to class with questions about what didn’t work than if you come with nothing. Pay attention to your classmates’ work and their questions; quite often, they’ll be asking the same thing as you.

When possible, work with your peers, whether in person or online. It’s useful to work with people tackling the same topics. Ask questions of second-years, residents, and full-time faculty as well. Our time together each week, and your access to each other, is what distinguishes studying physical computing at ITP from just reading about it on the internet.

Lab Assignments

There are lab assignments for most weeks of the semester. These are practical exercises that will help you to learn the technical material of the class. Each week you should review the topic notes or videos explaining that week’s materials, then do the labs, and write about your progress, your failures, and your questions. Class time most weeks will start with your questions and progress from the labs.

Project Assignments

You’ll complete two project assignments: a midterm and a final. The briefs for these are on the assignments page. The material in the labs will provide the techniques you need, and the class discussion will help you to come up with the ideas for the midterm and final. You’ll these assignments in class in weeks 7 and 14. You will be expected to document your projects on your blog as well.

Documentation

Document your progress in the class online in a regular blog as you go. At a minimum, you should summarize any insights and questions you have from each week’s lab assignments, and document your production projects and technical research thoroughly. You can find guidelines for good documentation, and several examples, on the Journals & Documentation page.

Readings

Topic notes to be covered each week are linked on that week’s class page.  There are videos that demonstrate the  material as well. The videos cover the same material as the written notes, so you can learn from whichever form you find most useful. Read each week’s material before class, do the labs, and prepare questions.

You’ll also be assigned some short readings to generate discussion about physical interaction design, application ideas, and other topics. These provide context and background inspiration. There is no specific assignment for these, but they will likely come up as references in the class discussion.

A longer list of both technical and conceptual source material can be found on the Related Books and Articles page.

Commenting on each others’ work

Supporting your classmates through feedback on their work is an important part of the class, and an important part of your participation grade. When watching your classmates present their work in class, we’ll make some time for verbal comments, but you should take written notes on their presentations as well. Offer suggestions on what they did well and should continue doing, what they should stop doing, and what they could add to their work and/or their presentation to make it better. Share your notes with your classmates at the end of class. You’ll be getting the same notes from your classmates, so write in the same voice in which you’d like to hear feedback on your own work.

David Rios has some excellent presentation feedback guidelines that work well in this class.

Week-by-Week Class Schedule

Below is the week to week schedule for the semester. The class pages, linked by each week, detail the topics to be covered that week, and the assignments for the following week. A fuller description of each week with links to lessons, labs and videos, can be found on the week-to-week activity page.

NOTE: On Tuesday Oct. 15, Tuesday classes will not meet due to Fall Break on Mon. Oct. 14. On that Oct. 15, Monday classes will meet instead. See the ITP help site for class dates and times.

ClassTopic listAssignment DuePost-Class Work
Week 1:
Tues, 3-Sep		Introduction
Fantasy Device		basic parts and tools
blog
Electricity: The Basics
Understanding DC Power Supplies
Labs
Week 2:
Tues, 10-Sep		ElectricityElectricity and components labsElectronics review questions
Microcontroller Digital Input and Output
Analog Input
Sensor Change Detection
Week 3:
Tues, 17-Sep		Microcontrollers, Digital I/O, Analog Input Digital I/O labs
Analog in lab		Digital I/O review Questions
Analog Output
Tone output
Servo motor control
Week 4:
Tues, 24-Sep		Analog OutputAnalog out labsSensors and Datasheets
Midterm project concept
Week 5:
Tues, 1-Oct		Review & Reading DatasheetsDatasheet reviewControlling High-Current Loads
DC Motors: The Basics
Transistor and relay lab
Controlling a DC Motor with an H-Bridge
Week 6:
Tues, 8-Oct		Controlling High-current loads; motors & lightsHIgh current labs
Should have shown at least one lab in class by now		Finish your midterm
Tues, 15-OctLegislative Monday. Classes meet according to a Monday schedule, so no class this week.
Week 7:
Tues, 22-Oct		midtermmidterm projectIntro to Asynchronous Serial Communications
Serial Input to P5.js using WebSerial
Serial Output From P5.js using WebSerial
Week 8:
Tues 29-Oct		Asynchronous Serial 1Intro to Asynchronous serial labsTwo-way (Duplex) Serial Communication using an Arduino and P5.js using WebSerial
Serial Review Questions
Week 9:
Tues, 5-Nov

Asynchronous Serial 2Final project conceptFinal project concept
Week 10:
Tues, 12-Nov		Final project planningSPI and I2C Labs
Final project system diagram, description, and BOM		I2C and SPI
Final project plan
Week 11:
Tues, 19-Nov		Serial 3: I2C and SPICome up with a playtest of your final
Week 12:
Tues, 26-Nov		Playtestingplaytest to run in classCome up with a final user test of your final
Week 13:
Tues, 3-Dec		User testinguser test to run in classFInish your final
Week 14:
Tues, 10-Dec		Final presentationfinal project

Parts and Materials Used in Class

You’ll be building a lot of projects in this class, both electronic and mechanical devices. All of your projects will be rough drafts of the interaction you imagine. The electronic exercises will be demonstrated with Arduino microcontrollers and a variety of sensors and actuators. The details of what parts you need can be found on the Parts and tools guide page. The ITP shop and equipment room stock parts for you to “try before you buy.” They’re there for you to get to know a sensor or part to see if it will do what you need. Please don’t hoard parts from the shop, so that others can use them as well. Take only what you need for a particular project or lab.

Personal Device Use

The quality of the class depends in large part on the quality of your attention and active participation. Please refrain from checking email, social media and extracurricular activities. This is especially important during student presentations, feedback sessions and class discussions. Please silence any devices that you’re not actively using, and turn off notifications that might disrupt the discussion. If you have an emergency that might require you to leave during class, please tell your instructor ahead of time.

Use of AI

Since understanding basic techniques and concepts in physical computing is an important goal of this class, you are not encouraged to use AI programming assistants in your assignments unless otherwise instructed by your instructor. If you use AI tools for any reason, document your step-by-step process thoroughly on how you used the tool. Cite which part of your work is from an AI tool, and what modifications you made. Be prepared to demonstrate your own understanding of the code in class discussion. Anything less thorough in terms of documentation could constitute plagiarism. Read this page for more.

ITP Code of Conduct

As with all activities at ITP and IMA, we’ll be following the ITP/IMA code of conduct. Please consider it as a guide for projects you might make or see in this class, and how we behave with respect to each other in class.

Statement of Academic Integrity

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as though it were your own. More specifically, plagiarism is to present as your own: A sequence of words or programming code or images quoted without quotation marks from another writer or a paraphrased passage from another writer’s work or facts, ideas or images composed by someone else.

Statement of Principle

The core of the educational experience at the Tisch School of the Arts is the creation of original academic and artistic work by students for the critical review of faculty members. It is therefore of the utmost importance that students at all times provide their instructors with an accurate sense of their current abilities and knowledge in order to receive appropriate constructive criticism and advice. Any attempt to evade that essential, transparent transaction between instructor and student through plagiarism or cheating is educationally self-defeating and a grave violation of Tisch School of the Arts community standards. For all the details on plagiarism, please refer to page 10 of the Tisch School of the Arts, Policies and Procedures Handbook.

Statement on Accessibility

Please feel free to make suggestions to your instructor about ways in which this class could become more accessible to you. Academic accommodations are available for students with documented disabilities. Please contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at 212 998-4980 for further information.

Statement on Counseling and Wellness

Your health and safety are a priority at NYU. If you experience any health or mental health issues during this course, we encourage you to utilize the support services of the 24/7 NYU Wellness Exchange 212-443-9999. Also, all students who may require an academic accommodation due to a qualified disability, physical or mental, please register with the Moses Center 212-998-4980. Please let your instructor know if you need help connecting to these resources.

Pedro Oliveira Fall 2024

Pedro Oliveira
pedro.itp(at)nyu.edu
Office hours
NYU ITP, Fall 2024
TUE 3:20-5:50pm

Arduino NANO 33 IoT Diagram

How to Use the Website

The ITP Pcomp website has a wealth of information that is organized in 3 ways:

  1. The Week-to-Week gives a chronological run down of all the subject matter that will be covered as we move through the semester, as well as assignments and labs that you must do on your own.
  2. The Lessons, Videos, and Labs pages covers a lot of the same information, but organized by subject matter and in different formats.
  3. The Resources section contains information that are useful for physical computing in general, like suppliers, links to other useful sites, recommended tools and parts to get started, and more.

Documentation

Document your progress in the class online in a regular blog as you go. At a minimum, you should summarize any insights and questions you have from each week’s lab assignments, and document your production projects and technical research thoroughly. You can find guidelines for good documentation, and several examples, on the Journals & Documentation page.

Setup your blog and add the link to this spreadsheet, please. (You will need to log in with your NYU account).

Class Notes

(Here is where you will find the class Notes)

Class 01

Formula:

INPUT -> COMPUTATION -> OUTPUT

Class 03

Digital Input and Digital Output

// OUTPUT / INPUT
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
pinMode(2, INPUT);

// Write / Read
digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
digitalRead(2);

Digital IO Examples:

Class 04

Analog Input and “Analog Output” (PWM)

// You do not need to call pinMode() to set the pin as an Analog Input or Analog Output(PWM).

// Write / Read
analogWrite(9, 150);  // ~PWM Pin  (Output)
analogRead(A0);       // Analog Pin (Input)

Analog IO Examples:

Tone Example:

Class 05
  • Soldering by Adafruit: Link
  • Connectors by Sparkfun: Link
  • Connectors & Enclosures by David Rios: Link
Class 06

Examples:

Class 07

For week 8:

  1. Document your Midterm project and update on your blog
  2. Upload the feedback to this [link]
Class 08

Serial Communication

// Sets the data rate in bits per second (baud) for serial data transmission. For communicating with Serial Monitor, make sure to use one of the baud rates listed in the menu at the bottom right corner of its screen. You can, however, specify other rates - for example, to communicate over pins 0 and 1 with a component that requires a particular baudrate.

Serial.begin(9600); 

// Writes binary data to the serial port. This data is sent as a byte or series of bytes; to send the characters representing the digits of a number use the print() function instead.

Serial.write(45);

// Prints data to the serial port as human-readable ASCII text. This command can take many forms. Numbers are printed using an ASCII character for each digit. Floats are similarly printed as ASCII digits, defaulting to two decimal places. Bytes are sent as a single character. Characters and strings are sent as is

Serial.print('A');

// Prints data to the serial port as human-readable ASCII text followed by a carriage return character (ASCII 13, or '\r') and a newline character (ASCII 10, or '\n'). This command takes the same forms as Serial.print().

Serial.println("Hello");

// Reads incoming serial data.

Serial.read();

Serial Communication Examples:

Class 09

Serial Communication

Arduino NANO RX TX Diagram
// UART is the communication protocol we use to communicate the PC to the board through the USB cable. In some older boards, TX and RX pins are used for communication with the computer, which means connecting anything to these pins can interfere with that communication, including causing failed uploads to the board. This is not the case for the Nano or MKR families, since these ones have two separate channels, using Serial for the communication with the computer and Serial1 for the communication with any other device through UART.

// Serial through the USB cable
Serial.begin(9600);

// Serial through the pins RX and TX (Nano 33 IOT)
Serial1.begin(9600);
Class 10

Final Proposals [link]

Class 11

USB – HID

A note from Tom: “All Arduinos appear to your personal computer’s operating system as an asynchronous serial port, sometimes called a COM port or Universal Asyncronous Receiver-Trasmitter (UART). This is its USB profile, and when you plug it into your computer, the operating system notes that profile and adds it to the list of USB devices. When you program an Arduino to behave as an HID device, you’re giving it an additional USB profile.

When you include the Keyboard library in a sketch, your board’s serial port number will change. For example, on MacOS, if the port number is /dev/cu.usbmodem14101, then adding the Keyboard library will change it to /dev/cu.usbmodem14102. Versions of the Arduino IDE from 1.8.13 and higher will automatically adjust the serial port selected when you do this, but earlier versions won’t, and other applications using the serial port won’t, so you might need to make the adjustment yourself.”

ITP/IMA Physical Computing Workshops

Fall 2022

Finally picked up your PComp kit but have no idea what the parts do?

Confused about this whole Ohm’s Law nonsense?

Did you accidentally blow up all your Arduinos and class hasn’t even started yet?

ITP/IMA PComp Workshops are here to help!

PComp Workshops // Help Sessions are every Monday and Thursday at 3:30pm-5:00pm EST – starting this Thursday the 8th. All ITP and IMA students are welcome!

These sessions are a place for you to work on projects, ask any questions, get feedback, concept development, and do anything else PhysComp related. It’s also a great place to see what your peers are working on.

Haven’t done this week’s lab/homework yet? Do it at the workshop & get your questions answered at the same time 🙌

Location: Shop

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/VHNgNAGrkVqhfSAz7

These times don’t work for you? Let us know! Or book our office hours. (You can also try coding lab 😉)

Your PComp Residents,

Elias, Dave, Phil, Yony & Tora  

Week-to-Week Activity

This page provides a week-to-week breakdown of the class, with links to all related lessons, labs, and readings.

Week 1

In-Class Activity

Fantasy Device – As a class, we’ll make a list of fantasy devices; things that don’t exist, but that we wish did. For today, we’ll ignore technical feasibility and concentrate on how you’d operate these devices if they did exist. You’ll be divided into groups of 3. Pick a fantasy device from the list. Design a control interface for this device and demonstrate it in­ class.

Think about what a person has to see, hear, touch, etc. while operating the device. Think about what cues they need to understand the interface. Think about what parts of their body they need to have free, what gestures are best for triggering the device’s behaviors, and so forth. Build a mock­up of the controls from anything you can find nearby. At the end of class, one or two of you will act out the use of the device using your mock­up while the third person narrates.

Assignments for next class

You’ll get your parts kit in class today. Gather the other basic parts and tools for this week’s labs from the shop, and familiarize yourself with the tools.

Set up your Physical Computing Comp blog and e-mail the URL to your instructor.

Lab Activities

Read or view the following material and try the labs below as soon as you have parts. Come to next class with questions:

Related Videos. These cover the same material as the notes above:

Readings

The following readings provide some context for thinking about physical interaction design. You won’t be quizzed on whether you’ve read these, but your instructor may refer to these ideas in future class discussions.

Week 2

In-Class Activity

Since last week, you’ve built built some simple circuits and learned some of the terminology of electronics. We’ll discuss how it went for you, and answer any questions that came up.

We’ll also talk about documenting:

  • System diagrams (block diagrams of components in the system)
  • Circuit Drawings (Fritzing, circuits.io, Eagle, SVG, etc.)
  • Schematics (Fritzing, circuits.io, Eagle, SVG, etc.)

Assignments for next class

Go over the Electronics review questions. This self-graded quiz covers the material you’ve done so far. You should be able to answer all the questions in it by now. If there are any you’re not sure of, set up office hours with your instructor to discuss your understanding the electronics concepts.

Lab Activities

Read or view the following material and do the labs below. Come to next class with questions:

Related Videos. These cover the same material as the notes above:

Readings

The following readings provide some context for thinking about physical interaction design. You won’t be quizzed on whether you’ve read these, but your instructor may refer to these ideas in future class discussions.

Week 3

In-Class Activity

Since last week, you’ve built your first microcontroller circuits and you’ve written programs to sense the physical world. We’ll discuss how it went for you, and answer any questions that came up.

Assignments for next class

  • Go over the Digital I/O review questions. This self-graded quiz covers the material you’ve done so far. You should be able to answer all the questions in it by now. If there are any you’re not sure of, set up office hours with your instructor to discuss your understanding the electronics concepts.

Lab Activities

Read or view the following material and come to next class with questions:

  • Analog Output: Pulse width modulation vs. frequency modulation

Related Videos. These cover the same material as the notes above:

Readings

The following readings provide some context for thinking about physical interaction design. You won’t be quizzed on whether you’ve read these, but your instructor may refer to these ideas in future class discussions.

Week 4

In-Class Activity

Since last week, you’ve experimented with output from a microcontroller, in light, sound, and movement. We’ll discuss how it went for you, and answer any questions that came up.

Assignments for Next Class

Go over the Analog In and Out review questions. This self-graded quiz covers the material you’ve done so far. You should be able to answer all the questions in it by now. If there are any you’re not sure of, set up office hours with your instructor to discuss your understanding the electronics concepts.

There are no labs for next week. We’ll review any questions you’ve had so far, and talk about how to read technical data sheets. In preparation, read or view the following material and come to next class with questions:

Readings

The following readings provide some context for thinking about physical interaction design. You won’t be quizzed on whether you’ve read these, but your instructor may refer to these ideas in future class discussions.

Midterm

Come up with a concept for your midterm project. It’s due in week 7.

Week 5

In-Class Activity

Since last week, you’ve taken a look at a few electronic component data sheets and documentation. We’ll discuss, and answer any questions that came up. We’ll also talk some more about project planning and documents that are useful in making a project:

  • Project descriptions: how to describe your project for execution. How this differs from describing it conceptually
  • Drawings for project planning:
    • system diagrams
    • floor plans
    • elevations
  • Timelines
  • Bills of materials

Assignments for next class

Midterm

Start planning your midterm project. It’s due in week 7.

Lab Activities

Read or view the following material and come to next class with questions:

Related Videos. These cover the same material as the notes above:

  • DC Motors (multiple videos)
  • The following videos cover additional material on stepper motors that we’ll cover next week, time permitting:
  • Stepper Motors (multiple videos)

Readings

  • Making Things Move, Dustyn Roberts.  Chapter 2, “Materials: How to Choose and Where to Find Them.”  NYU Permalink Here
  • Making Things Move, Dustyn Roberts.  Chapter 9, “Making Things and Getting Things Made”.  NYU Permalink Here

Week 6

In-Class Activity

Since last week, you’ve learned about motors and high current loads. We’ll discuss the following, and answer any questions that came up.

Assignments For Next Class

Finish your midterm project. You will present it next week.

Week 7

Project Presentation: Midterm assignments

Present your midterm project. This will take the whole class period this week.

Assignments for next class

Lab Activities

Read or view the following material and come to next class with questions:

Related Videos. These cover the same material as the notes above:

Readings

The following readings provide some context for thinking about physical interaction design. You won’t be quizzed on whether you’ve read these, but your instructor may refer to these ideas in future class discussions.

Sarah Hendren, All Technology is assistive 
Shelly Zalis on Designing Prosthetics That Give Female Veterans Confidence

Week 8

In-Class Activity

Since last week, you’ve learned about asynchronous serial communication between computers and microcontrollers. We’ll discuss, and answer any questions that came up.

Assignments for next class

Read or view the following material and come to next class with questions:

Lab Activities

Serial Review Questions – This self-graded quiz covers the material discussed in today’s class. If you’d like further review, take this quiz, then set up office hours with your instructor.

Week 9

In-Class Activity

Since last week, you’ve learned more about asynchronous serial communication between computers and microcontrollers. We’ll discuss, and answer any questions that came up.

Assignments for next class

  • If you haven’t already, go over the Serial Review Questions. This self-graded quiz covers the material you’ve done so far. You should be able to answer all the questions in it by now. If there are any you’re not sure of, set up office hours with your instructor to discuss your understanding the electronics concepts.

Final Project

Come up with a concept for your final project.

Week 10

In-Class Activity

We’ll talk through everyone’s final project idea.

Lab Activities

Read or view the following material and come to next class with questions:

  • Synchronous serial labs – Try one of the SPI and one of the I2C labs
  • Sensor labs (optional) – By now you’re ready to explore a wider range of sensors, many of which have I2C or SPI interfaces. The sensor labs section of this site offers more examples and information on how to use sensors. Read through them, and if you’re interested, see what sensors the shop has available to check out. Additionally, check out the sensor lesson notes.

Related Videos. These cover the same material as the notes above:

Final Project

Continue working on your final project. Come up with a system diagram and a bill of materials.

Week 11

Since last week, you’ve learned about synchronous serial communication between computers and sensors and other electronic components. We’ll discuss, and answer any questions that came up.

Assignments for next class

Final Project

Prepare a playtest of your final project.

Week 12

In-Class Activity

In-class playtesting of final projects.

Assignments for next class

Final Project

Prepare an initial version of your final project.

Week 13

In-Class Activity

In-class final user testing of final projects.

Week 14

In-Class Activity

Final Presentations

You’ll present your final prototype in class, report on your test with participants, and if possible, and give some of your classmates the chance to interact with it. How long you have to present will depend on how many projects there are. We’ll divide the available class time such that each project gets equal time. In addition to the class critique, take written notes and hand them to your classmates after they present as well.

Parts And Tools Guide

You’ll use various tools, electronic components, and construction materials in Intro to Physical Computing. This guide will to how to shop for them.

You will need a modern laptop (4 years old or younger is a good rule of thumb).  Limited numbers are available for checkout from the department.  The primary software needed for class, namely the Arduino IDE, is freely downloadable. You are encouraged to download NYU’s free Adobe license as well: https://www.nyu.edu/life/information-technology/computing-support/software/software/adobe.html

Parts Available At ITP

Students in Intro to Physical Computing and IMA Creative Computing will receive a kit of parts the following parts in class from their instructors:

  • Arduino Nano 33 IoT
  • 830-point solderless breadboard
  • Jumper wire kit
  • USB micro cable
  • Force sensing resistors (FSRs), Qty. 3
  • 4-paks of multicolor buttons (tactile switches), Qty. 2
  • 10 -kilohm potentiometers, Qty. 3
  • Rotary encoders, Qty. 2
  • phototransistors, Qty. 6
  • RC servo motor and mounting components
  • right angle gear motor
  • TB6612FNG motor driver board
  • 3″ diameter speaker, 4 ohm, 3W
  • VL53L0X time of flight distance sensor

The parts in the kit are your major components for the lab exercises in class. You will also need some components which you can find in the shop’s component stock, including resistors, LEDs, transistors, voltage regulators, capacitors, wire, and more. You can also find tools in the shop which you can use on the floor.

When you begin to work on your larger projects, such as the midterm and final, you will likely need to buy parts for yourself, depending on what you decide to build.

Shop Component Stock

The ITP/IMA shop stocks a number of consumable electronics components. This includes potentiometers, pushbuttons, phototransistors, resistors, capacitors, voltage regulators. These are kept in the bin racks in the shop, and are available for students to take as needed. Please take only what you need for a given class exercise, as stock re-supply is not fast, and we want to make sure everyone has the parts they need. Please inform shop staff if a given part is out of stock. It is possible to do all of the lab exercises in the intro classes with parts we have in in your kit, in shop stock, or in checkout.

Beyond this, students are expected to supply electronics parts for their projects. It’s not possible to anticipate every possible component that every project might need. However, we try to stock items to help you try things before you buy. Always consult with your instructors, shop staff, and research residents on how to choose the most appropriate and economical parts for your projects.

Check-out Components

The shop also has parts available for check-out with an NYU ID, just like the equipment room. These include microcontrollers, advanced sensors, and items which may be specific to various advanced classes. These must be returned after use, just like equipment room stock. You can check out components for up to two weeks at a time.

For other parts, talk to your instructors and the resident researchers. If you’re considering a part for your project, they can advise whether it’s the right part for the job, and if there’s one available for loan on the floor, they can procure it.

When You’re Done with Components

Many students at ITP/IMA don’t continue with electronics beyond the intro classes. If you have components in good condition that you’re no longer going to use, feel free to give them to shop staff or your instructors. We’ll do our best to keep components in use and out of landfills.

Shopping for Electronic Components

The intro kits and shop component stock can supply what you will need to complete the assigned lab exercises. For your project assignments, however, you may need a wider range of sensors and/or actuators.

Learning to shop for parts is a useful electronics skill, so we’ve assembled a number of Bills of Materials on Octopart to get you started. Octopart is a site that collects part data from multiple distributors around the world. They list several vendors from our suppliers list for each part. You may find this video about online electronics vendors and this video on how to use Octopart helpful as well.

We realize students will be shopping in many different regions of the world, and Octopart lists alternative vendors that supply as many regions as possible. Mouser, Digikey, and Arrow, all on Octopart, all have outlets in China, for example; Newark, Farnell all cover Europe and the Americas well; RS Components covers the Americas, Europe, and multiple countries in Africa. We have also put together a list of similar parts on Taobao as well. With these lists, you should be able to assemble the parts you need for the labs at the best price possible. Check each vendor to see what they charge to ship to where they are. If you know of a local vendor, feel free to use them instead.

There are a few lists on Octopart that you should pay attention to. The basic parts list and the tool list will get you through most of the labs in the class. For the last two labs in the semester, and probably for your last two project assignments, you’ll need to pick from the Sensor list and the Motor or Lighting lists.

  • ITP Pcomp Basic Parts – includes the parts you’ll need for the labs in most of the semester, including the breadboard and processor and components available in the shop component stock. This list is generally 100% in stock on Digikey, one of our most used vendors, as well.
  • ITP Tool List 2020 – The shop has hand tools available for students’ use, but if you want your own tools, this list includes basic hand tools you’ll need if you don’t already have them. Lists several options for each.

Advanced lists for later in the semester:

  • ITP Pcomp Sensor List – includes more advanced sensors. These are the kinds of sensors covered in the synchronous serial labs. This list will also be handy in later project assignments, when you’re looking for sensors specific to your project’s needs.
  • ITP Pcomp Motor List – includes parts for motor and mechanical projects, used in the motors and high current lab later in the semester. May be useful in some of your project assignments as well.
  • ITP Pcomp Lighting List – includes parts for LED lighting control, used in the motors and high current lab later in the semester. May be useful in some of your project assignments as well.

Can I Get a Starter Kit?

There are many Arduino starter kits on the market, but at the moment, none of them contain all the parts we recommend for this class. In particular, there is no kit for the Nano 33 IoT microcontroller yet. You can get a kit if you prefer, but you will likely have to shop for additional parts as well.

Components in Detail

The various types of parts you’ll find in the lists, and that you’ll need for the class, are detailed below.

Microcontroller

Used in most every week’s lab.

Photo of an Arduino Nano 33 IoT module. The USB connector is at the top of the image, and the physical pins are numbered in a U-shape from top left to bottom left, then from bottom right to top right.
Figure 1. Arduino Nano 33 IoT

We’ll be working with the Arduino microcontroller platform. Recently we have switched to the Nano 33 IoT as our standard model. Most of the lab exercises are also compatible with the Arduino Uno, but the Nano 33 IoT offers some useful features that the Uno lacks, such as:

We have a guide to picking a microcontroller that may be helpful for more information. You can use any Arduino-compatible variant that you choose, and we’ll do our best to support you, but we can’t promise to know every variant on the market, there are several of dubious quality.

USB Cable

Used in most every week’s lab.

You’ll need a USB cable to connect your computer to your microcontroller as well. You can probably use one that you already have. The Nano 33 IoT has a USB Micro-B connector.

Resistors

Used in most every week’s lab.

Resistors. Shown here are 220-ohm resistors. You can tell this because they have two red and one brown band, followed by a gold band.
Resistors. Shown here are Figure 2. 220-ohm resistors. You can tell this because they have two red and one brown band, followed by a gold band.
Photo of a handful of 1-kilohm resistors.
Figuree 3. 1-kilohm resistors. These ones are 4-band resistors
Photo of a handful of 10-kilohm resistors
Figure 4. 10-kilohm resistors. These ones are 5-band resistors

You’ll use resistors for many projects. The most common type you’ll need are 1/4 watt through-hole resistors in the values 220 ohm, 1 kilohm, and 10 kilohm. Occasionally, you might need other values as well, but most projects in this class can be done with combinations of those values. Resistors are usually bought in bulk, but there are also some handy resistor kits that contain samples of many different resistance values. A kit like this one from Sparkfun can last for a couple years of projects for the average electronics hobbyist

Breadboards

Used in most every week’s lab.

Photo of a solderless breadboard
Figure 5. a solderless breadboard.

Most of your projects will be built on a solderless breadboard. There’s a lab to get you familiar with how they work. There are a few different models of these. The most common for this class are 16 x 54mm with 830 tie points and two vertical bus rows on either side. The smaller 84 x 54mm version with 400 tie points is also popular.

There are well-made breadboards, and there are cheap ones. Cheap ones seem like a good deal, but they can be difficult to use and easy to break components on. This chart compares different models of breadboards. Our favorites are from Jameco ValuePro, Twin Industries, and Bud Industries.

Breadboards can be reused for each lab, but sometimes it’s handy to have a spare.

For more permanent projects, you can use a printed circuit board to hold your components together. This requires you to solder each wire and component to the board, and cannot be disassembled, so it’s really only used for finished devices. There are some perma-proto boards with the same layout as a standard solderless breadboard that make transferring your circuit easy.

Wires

Used in most every week’s lab.

Photo of flexible jumper wires. These wires are quick for breadboard prototyping, but can get messy when you have lots of them on a board.
Figure 6. Flexible jumper wires.
Photo of a pre-cut jumper wire kit.
Figure 7. Pre-cut jumper wires. These ones are solid-core wires. They’re good for breadboards, but too stiff for general use
Photo of breakaway header pins. There are 20 pins in one row. The pins are all 0.5 inch (1.3cm) long, and separated by 0.1 inch (2.5mm) plastic spacers. The plastic is scored so that the pins can be broken off one at a time.
Figure 8. Breakaway header pins

You’ll use a lot of wires to connect components on your breadboards. The breadboards support 22 AWG thickness wires. Some people prefer pre-cut solid core jumper wires, because they can lay flat on the breadboard and they insert into the board firmly. Others prefer flexible jumper wires because they’re easier to add and remove, so you can be spontaneous, but they make for a messier project, and are easy to accidentally pull out.

Another option is to order rolls of 22AWG solid core wire and custom cut your own jumper wires for each project. This is more time-consuming, but makes for a tidy and manageable board. Sometimes you can find multi-pack rolls of this wire in different colors like this one or this one. Here’s a wire options comparison list.

You might need some header pins as well, to solder on to wires and components. These are metal pins, spaced 0.1″ (2.54mm) apart, held together with plastic spacers.

Basic Input And Output Components

Used in most every week’s lab.

Photo of two potentiometers
Figure 9. Potentiometer
Photo of a rotary encoder
Figure 10. Rotary encoder
Photo of a handful of Phototransistors.
Figure 11. Phototransistors. The short leg goes to voltage, and the long leg goes to the input pin of a microcontroller.
Photo of a thermistor
Figure 12. Thermistor
Photo of a Force Sensing Resistor (FSR)
Figure 13. Force Sensing Resistor (FSR)
Photo of a handful of LEDs
Figure 14. LEDs. The long leg goes to voltage and the short leg goes to ground
Photo of an 8 ohm speaker
Figure 14. 4- to 8-ohm speaker

For most of the labs and many projects, you’ll use pushbuttons, switches, variable resistors called potentiometers, light emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers and/or piezo buzzers, and perhaps some variable resistors like force-sensing resistors (FSRs) or force-sensing potentiometers (FSPs). These are common and inexpensive components available from most electronic vendors. Make sure that the parts you get can be inserted into a solderless breadboard, or you will have to solder wires onto them.

Advanced Sensors

Used in labs around mid-semester; probably in later projects as well. Check shop check-out components for a variety of sensors.

A TMP007 Temperature sensor module. There are 6 pins along the bottom, labeled GND, SDA, SCL, Alert, AD1, and AD0 (left to right)
Figure 16. TMP007 infrared temperature sensor
an APDS-9960 color and gesture sensor breakout board.
Figure 17. APDS-9960 color, gesture, and light sensor
Photo of breakaway header pins. There are 20 pins in one row. The pins are all 0.5 inch (1.3cm) long, and separated by 0.1 inch (2.5mm) plastic spacers. The plastic is scored so that the pins can be broken off one at a time.
Figure 18. Breakaway header pins. You’ll need these to attach breakout boards to your breadboard.

There are many advanced sensors that are very useful in this class. The Nano 33 IoT has one built-in, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that can measure tilt and rotation. There are light sensors, distance sensors, rotation sensors, environmental sensors, air pressure sensors, and many more. Most of these are sold on breakout boards that have holes for pins that can be fitted to a solderless breadboard. You’ll need to solder on header pins for most of them, and you’ll need to learn their communications protocols. You’ll learn about these in labs in the middle of the semester. There’s an Octopart Bill of Materials that lists several of these. You’ll need to pick one for the synchronous serial lab and by then you’ll have an idea which one might also work well for you in a project. Hold off on getting these until mid-semester.

Motors and Motor Accessories

Used in labs later in semester; possibly in later projects as well.

Photo of a DC Gearmotor
Figure 19. DC Gearmotor
Photo of RC Servomotor
Figure 20. RC Servomotor
Photo of a Motor Driver (H-bridge), model TB6612FNG
Figure 21. TB6612FNG Motor driver module.

There are labs on controlling servomotors, DC motors, and stepper motors in this class, and the parts BOM lists a few we recommend. However, there is not a mechanics module to this class and the motor lab is later in the semester, so if you’re not interested in mechanical motion, you may not need motor parts. Hold off on getting these until mid-semester.

Power Supply and Regulation

Used in many projects. Regulators and jacks available in the shop component stock.

3.3-volt regulator, model LD111733V. This component has three legs and a tab at the top with a hole in it. If you hold the component with the tab at the top and the bulging side of the component facing you, the legs will be arranged, from left to right, ground, voltage output, and voltage input. The back tab is attached to the voltage output pin.
Figure 22. 3.3V voltage regulator. 5V regulators and many transistors you’ll use in this class look just like this, so read the label!
A DC power jack. It pairs with a plug with a 2.1mm inside diameter, 5.5mm outside diameter plug, and has screw terminals on the back so that you can attach wires to it.
Figure 23. A DC Power Jack. There are also DC power plugs that pair with this model.
Photo of a DC power supply. A rectangular block approximately 2 inches by 3 inches with plugs to plug into the wall. A wire extends from the plug to connect with your circuit.

Figure 24. DC Power Supply. You may have one of these at home already. Check the supply of any discarded devices you have.

Though you can power most Arduino sensor projects from the USB port of your computer, you may want to make a project that doesn’t attach to your computer. For this you’ll need a power supply. You may have one at home already. If you don’t have one, you can wait until you are working on a project that needs it. You probably won’t need one in the first couple of weeks of the semester.

If your device can run on less than 500 milliamps and 5 or 3.3 volts, you can power it from a USB cable via your Arduino, and a USB AC to DC power adapter like the ones that you use to charge your phone can run the project .

For some projects, you may need more than a v-volt supply. A 12-Volt AC to DC converter that can supply 1000 or more milliamps is a good general supply. Many will already have a 2.1mm x 5.5mm DC barrel jack connector. There are DC barrel jack and plug adapters in the parts BOM that can connect to this type of connector.

Electronics Tool Kit

Used every week.

The shop stocks a full set of electronics tools which you can use. If you plan to do more electronics on your own, there are a few tools you should pick up for yourself, so you’ve always got a reliable set handy. These are common tools, and you can find them at any electronics retailer or hardware store. The ITP Tool List 2020 includes basic hand tools you’ll need if you don’t already have them. It lists several options for each, for comparison.

The electrical tools and hand tools below are ones you’ll use most every week and every project. You probably won’t need a soldering iron and soldering hardware right away, but you’ll use it frequently, from about week 2 or 3. The rest of the tools are less critical, or optional.

Related video: Basic Tools

Electrical Tools

Used every week. Available for use in the shop.

Photo of a non-autoranging multimeter.
Figure 25 A non-autoranging multimeter. Each property has multiple possible range settings.
Photo of an autoranging multimeter.
Figure 26. An autoranging multimeter. It has only one setting for each function and the meter automatically detects the range.
Photo of alligator clips
Figure 27. Alligator clips. These are wire leads with metal clips on either end, useful for quick and temporary connections in a circuit. They come in various lengths.
  • Digital Multimeter – You don’t need a fancy multimeter. One that measures voltage, current, continuity, and resistance will do the job.
  • Alligator Test Leads – these are wires with clips on the end, handy for when you’ve got components to test that can’t fit in a breadboard and that you don’t want to solder yet.

Hand Tools

Used every week. Available for use in the shop.

Wire strippers. The jaws of this wire stripper have multiple hole sizes so that it can strip wires of variable sizes.
Figure 28. Wire stripper tool
Needle-nosed pliers
Figure 29. Needle-nosed pliers
handheld diagonal cutter tool.
Figure 30. Diagonal cutters
A mini screwdriver. This model has a reversible shaft, so it can operate on both slotted and Phillips screws
Figure 31. Mini screwdriver
Photo of a h obby knife. Photo from Sparkfun.
Figure 32. Hobby knife. Photo from Sparkfun.

You’ll use hand tools frequently in this class. You may have some of these already.

  • Wire Strippers, 20-30AWG – These allow you to strip the insulation from wires. The most common wire you’ll use is 22AWG thickness, so use a stripper that can strip wires in that range.
  • Needle Nose Pliers – These are essential, you’ll use them a lot for pulling wires, bending wires, and picking up components.
  • Diagonal cutters – These are used for cutting wires and small bits of metal.
  • Mini Screwdriver – Get a mini screwdriver that has both flat and Philips heads. Many devices have small screws that you need to take out.
  • Hobby knife -Many people have something like this at home already, but if not, consider getting one. They are effective for cutting cardboard, mat board, and other soft materials.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Used occasionally. Available for use in the shop.

  • Safety Glasses – You should wear safety glasses when soldering or working with power tools.
  • Fume Extractor – for soldering, it’s a good idea to get a fume extractor, which is a fan and a charcoal filter that pulls the solder smoke away so you don’t breathe it in. They can be expensive, however. The one in the BOM is less expensive and aimed at hobbyists.

Soldering Hardware

Used occasionally. Available for use in the shop.

If you don’t have access to the shop, you might need a set of soldering tools., mostly for soldering header pins on breakout boards.

Photo of a soldering iron
Figure 33. Soldering iron. This one has an adjustable temperature setting and an on-off switch on the cord. Photo from Sparkfun.
Photo of third hand soldering tool
Figure 34. Third hand soldering tool. Used to hold parts to be soldered together. This one has a stand for your soldering iron too. Photo from Sparkfun.
Photo of a roll of solder
Figure 35. Lead-free solder, 0.031″ guage. Don’t get solder that’s much thicker than this. Photo from Sparkfun
Photo of a brass sponge
Figure 36. Brass sponge, used to clean the tip of a soldering iron. Better than a wet sponge for this job. Photo from Sparkfun.
  • Soldering Iron – The most common soldering you’ll do is breakout boards and some connectors. You don’t need a fancy iron, but a relatively fine tip is useful.
  • Extra soldering tip – make sure you get one that matches your iron
  • Solder – 18-22 AWG lead-free is the recommended choice for this class.
  • Third Hand – You’ll need something to hold the parts that you want to solder while you’re soldering, and this is the most basic tool for the job.
  • Solder Wick. – braided copper that you can use to wick solder away when you make a mistake. Solder and solder wick are expendable, you can only use them once, so you may need more if you solder frequently.
  • Solder Vacuum or Desoldering tool – A desoldering tool is another way to remove solder. You probably don’t need both this and solder wick as a beginner. Nice to have, but not essential.
  • Insulated Silicone Soldering Mat – This keeps your tabletop clean, and it’s also a good insulation so you avoid static discharge on the parts you’re working with. Nice to have, but not essential.
  • Brass Sponge – A tool for cleaning the tip of the iron. Don’t use a wet sponge, as it can rust your tip. Nice to have, but not essential.

Expendables

Optional

These are some materials you might find convenient in some projects.

  • Heat shrink tube – Shrinks down on a wire to make an insulator. Useful to tidy up projects.
  • Electrical tape – a quick insulating material
  • Copper tape – can be handy for making your own switches

Construction Materials

You’ll go through a lot of construction materials in this class. To save money and save the environment, consider reusing materials. Cardboard boxes and used plastic food containers can make great housings for electronic prototypes.  Paper mat board and cardboard can make great housings and control surfaces as well. You will save yourself some money in the process if you do this.  You’re not expected to make polished, production-ready devices in this class, so don’t waste time and money on high-end plastics and metals when you don’t have to.

For more information on parts, see the Suppliers page.

Alumni Physical Computing Blogs

Looking for inspiration for your PComp final? Want to see how previous students documented their projects? If you’re an alum and want your blog removed, let us know and we’ll take it off. If so, have a look at the below links to the Physical Computing blogs of ITP alumni. If you find a dead link please let us know about it.

2019

Jeff FeddersenTom IgoeYeseul SongDavid RiosDanny Rozin
Abby Lee
Ben Moll
Christina Dacanay
Chun Song
Daniel Otero Sendas
Lizzy (Elizabeth) Chiappini
Elizabeth Perez
Hanyi Zhang
Julian Mathews
Melissa Powers
Rae (Ruilin) Huang
Sam Krystal
Schuyler DeVos
Shannel Doshi
Simone Salvo
Tianxu Zhou
Caren (Wenqing) Ye
Yiting Liu		Abigail Faelnar
Cezar Mocan
Dan Qi Qian
Erkin Salmorbekov
Gil Sperling
Hanwen Zhang
Jiaxin Xu
Ji Park
Keunjung Bae
Mark Matamoros
Nakamol Jangkamolkulchai
Ruixuan Li
Roi Ye
Samuel Sords
Sylvan Zheng
Youngmin Choi		Noah Kernis
Kevin Lee
Cy Statham
Yongkun Li
Fanyi Pan
Douglas Goldstein
Cy Kim
Sarah Liriano
Ashwita Palekar
Hyunseo Lee
Helen Zegarra
Pippa Kelmenson
Sohaila Mosbeh
Russell Ladson		Filmon Abraham
Karen Benben Fan
Nicole Ginelli
Nick Grant
Zachariah Kobrinsky
Alvaro Lacouture
Martin
Sydney Meyers
Rita Tavares
Monni Xinyue Qian
Tito Rachman
Paulami Roychoudhary
Erik Van Zummeren
Patrick Warren
Mingxi Xu
Emily Zhao
Kuan-Wen Chen
Nailah Davis
Zoe Ziyu Gao
Elena Glazkova
Emma Grimm
KJ Ha
Dina Khalil
Zack Lee
Julie Lizardo
Lu Lyu
Beste Saylar
Jake Sherwood
Stacy Yuan
Siyuan Zan
Lanni Zhou		Bomani,Neta
Cabalquinto,Nicole D
Catto,Fernando Gregório
Chen,Na
Chestnut Vanessa
Fowler,Aidan L
Fries,Daniel W
Jain,Aditya
Kang,Wei
Kumar,Nikhil
Li,Zeyao
Liu,Xiaoyun
Ouyang,Leo
Politan,Will
Wang,Tianjun 
Costas,Rachel C
Donsrichan,Suphitcha (Jan)
Garcia Cadiz,Themis A
Han,Katie
Heinrich,Suzanne (Tundi)
Jattuporn,Atchareeya (Name)
Roh,Sue
Rungsawang,Tina
Sheng,Zhoujian
Sinkowski,Dawn M
Sun,Pei Yu (Michelle)
Truxillo,Marcel Oliver-Rose
Wang,Haoyu (Henry)
Shirley Wu
Zhang,Tingyu
Zhou,Jingyi (Rebecca) 

2018

Jeff FeddersenTom IgoeDavid RiosDanny Rozin
Aaron Ilai Sebastian Moreno Ayala
Cameron Partee
Chenhe Zhang
Chenshan Gao
Fenfen Chen
Hannah Tardie
Lillian Ritchie
Lydia Jessup
Marcela Mancino von der Osten
Nicholas Gregg
Qice Sun
Rui An
Sachiko Nakajima
Shijie Zhang
Winnie Yoe
Arnab Chakravarty
Atharva Patil
Bilal Sehgol
David Azar Serur
Gilad Dor
Jordan Rickman
Joseph Baker
Louise Lessel
Nuntinee Tan
Shu-Ju Lin
Su He
Suzanne Li
Tsimafei Lobiak
Tushar Goyal
Billy Bennett
Yuanyuan Wang		Idith Barak
Carol (Jingjie) Chen
Chunhan Chen
Jacky Chen
Sid Chou
Anna Gudnason
Clareese Hill
Ada Jiang
Mark Lam
Mingna Li
Emily Lin
Jackie Liu
Anna Oh
Noah Pivnick
Shivani Prasad
Chenyu Sun
Alizarin Waissberg
Raaziq Brown
Aditya Dahiya
Gabriella Garcia
Antonio Guimaraes
Muneesh Jain
Ashley Lewis
Xinyue Li
Rachel Lim
Ellie Lin
Abi Muñoz
Emma Norton
Mary Notari
Madison Rosner
Aileen Stanziola
Jingyi Wen
Yuguang Zhang		Bora Aydintug
Casey Conchinha
Dylan Dawkins
Jenny Woan-Chin Lin
Khensu-Ra Love El
Morgan Mueller
Cara Neel
Elvin Ou
Eva Philips
Yves Pokakunkanon
Maya Pruitt
Yunze Shi
Zhe Wang		Christopher Blair
Defne Onen
Joy Antwi
Karina Hyland Hernandez
Luming Hao
Ming Pu Shao
Olivia Kung
Rui Wang
Ryan Grippi
Stefan Skripak
Tanic Nakpresha
Tianyi Xie
Veronica Alfaro
Wenjing Liu
Shiyu Chen
Adrian Bautista
Brent Bailey
Dana Elkis
Hayk Mikayelyan
Jaekook Han
Jiwon Shin
Julia Rich
Matthew Ross
Nianqi Zhang
Rashida Kamal
Becca Moore
Son Luu
Sukanya Aneja
Tawania Reggler
Xiaotong Ma
Helen Tang

2017

Tom Igoe
Ayodamola OkunseindeJeff FeddersenDanny Rozin
Vidia Anindhita
Martin Calvino
Stephanie Chambers
Erin Cooney
Terrick Gutierrez
Sam Hains
Tong Li
Camilla Padgitt-Coles
Lauren Race
Jim Schmitz
Nick Wallace
Ahmad Arshad
Yen-An Chen
Beverly Chou
Alden Jones
Brandon Kader
April Liu
Ridwan Madon
Kellee Massey
Brandon Newberg
Wei-Luen (Alan) Peng
Oren Shoham
Jesse Simpson
Carrie Wang
Marco Wylie
Chengchao Zhu
Meicheng Jia
Vincent Kim
Phil Yoo
Jillian Zhong
Katya Rozanova
Yang Yang
Ellen Nickles
Elizabeth Ferguson
Jenna Xu
Dominick Paul Chang
Nicolas Sanin
Ilana Pecis Bonder		Anita Mbabazi
Anthony Bui
Arnav Wagh
Jiyao Zhang
Krizia Fernando
Marcha Johnson
Max Horwich
Michael Fuller
MH Rahmani
Andrew Lee
Asha Veeraswamy
Assel Dmitriyeva
Ayal Rosenberg
Chelsea Chen
Hadar Ben-Tzur
Itay Niv
Lu Wang
Rebecca Skurnik
Sofia Suazo
Shawn Ma
Ella Chung
Yu-Hao Ko		Dan Oved
Rumex Fanni Fazakas
Maria Hye Ryeong Shin
Jason Yung Katherine Wu
Luna Olavarria Gallegos
Mengzhen Xiao
Mohammad Rizqi Hafiyyandi
Xiran Yang Zahra Khosravi Alexandra Lopez-Duarte Danxiaomeng Huang
Gabriel Goncalves
Natier Fernandez
Rachel Huiyi Chen
Isabella Vento
James Huang
Kimberly Lin
Lucas Chung
Nicolás Peña-Escarpentier
Eva Yipeng Chen

2016

Tom Igoe
Benedetta PiantellaJeff FeddersenDanny Rozin
Alex Fast
Anne-Michelle Gallero
Jennifer Lim
Sharif Al-hadidi
Stephanie Koltun
Woraya Boonyapanachoti
Hayeon (Hayley) Hwang
Or Fleisher
Ran (Teresa) Tian
Roxanne Kim
Zach Coble
Dominic Barrett
Lindsey Daniels
Nanou Dimachki
Jasmine Soltani
Michael Kripchak
Rita Cheng
Dorothy Lam
Melissa Parker
Kar Rosen
Tuyliyev, Akmyrat Germanidis, Anastasios Melenciano, Ari
Guarino, Marco
Wakalkar, Nitish McCausland, Andrew
Qiu, Ping ‘Erenyx’
Kim, Dong Chan Gomez Ruiz, Maria Del Pilar
Neidecker, Oriana
Leonvendagar, Paula
Reitherman, Scott
Song, Yeseul
Lai, Yuan Ling, Li
Cantu De Alba, Regina
Lev, Roi
Lu, Ye
Lee, Younho Wang, Yueping

2015

Tom IgoeBenedetta PiantellaJeff FeddersenDanny Rozin
Angela Perrone
Dhruv Damle
Muqing (Sabrina) Niu
Osama Sehgol
Viniyata Pany
Chino Kim
Eve Weinberg
Jesse Horwitz
Jonathan Gallagher
Nicole He
Peiyu (Perry) Luo
Rebecca M Leopold
Dhruv Mehrotra
Jed Watson
Jarrett Slavin
Jamie Ruddy
Aaron Parsekian Gal Nissim
Ruta Kruliauskaite
Lisa Jamhoury
Ian Gibson
Paula Ceballos Delgado
Lindsey Johnson
Zoe Bachman
Renata De Carvalho Gaui
Michelle Alves
Jamie Charry
Wangshu Sun
Ella Dagan Peled
Doo Yon Kim
Naoki Ishizuka
Friedman, Jared D
Jess Scott-Dutcher
Ricks, Rebecca
Wang, Xinyao
Narula, Avika
Ordel, Corbin Y
Zhu, Fengyi
Zhu, Fengyuan
Takacs, Katherine A
Huggins, Nikita R Kennelly, William
Cai, Yuli

2014

Tom IgoeBenedetta PiantellaJeff FeddersenArlene Ducao
Yingjie Bei
Gladys Chan
Jerllin Cheng
Ross Goodwin
Matthew Kaney
Andrew LeVine
Chanwook Min
Songee Hahn
Dalit Shalom
David Belkin
Thea Rae
Sweta Mohapatra
Gabriel Andrade
Sisa Holguin
Cole Orloff
Jiashan Wu
Roy Livne
Ainsley O’Connell
Isabel Paez
Kathleen (Kat) Sullivan Danara Sarioglu
David Cihelna
Hubert Uy
Ava (I-Wen) Huang
Teresa Lamb
Diego Cruz
Catherine Rehwinkel
Hugo Lucena
Jaclyn Wickam
Natalia Cabrera
Caroline Chiu
Jordan Backhus

Assignments

Lab Assignments

Technical material will be demonstrated in class. Each week your instructor will explain a given topic, and demonstrate it by building circuits, code or fabrication techniques in class. You’ll follow along, stopping to ask questions or clarify what’s happening as we go. Then you’ll go home and try it yourself.

Once you’ve done a lab, make a project with the new techniques you learned.  It doesn’t need to be large or complex, just something simple that shows what you learned and how it can be used in everyday life. We’ll look at a few of these in each class. You’ll be expected to show at least one finished lab project in the first half of the semester in class. Your instructor will pick the lab presenters at random each week. If you make something and aren’t called upon in class, write it up on your blog, with pictures and video as appropriate.

Midterm Project

The goal of this assignment is to show that you can make a simple interactive system with physical controls, and that you can keep a user engaged with your system. This will be due in week 7.

This year, since the midterm falls near Halloween, the midterm project can have a Halloween theme. You could make a media controller that controls spooky projections, or a music player that controls the sound in a haunted house, or a tangible interface for things that go bump in the night.  You could also make a musical instrument that makes spooky music like you’d hear in a horror film. If you have another idea, discuss it with your instructor to see if it’s appropriate.

Work in pairs on this assignment. Your instructor will assign the pairs.

You don’t have to have a halloween theme if you don’t want to. On a technical level, though, your project should show that you understand digital input and output, analog input and output, serial communication, and good physical interaction design principles. On a conceptual level, your project should help people to enjoy whatever setting it is designed for. If it is a Halloween party, it would have just enough surprises to make it fun, with no chance for injury or psychic trauma.

Consider the  behavior of the thing that the user will see, hear, or feel, and choose sensors that let you create that kind of behavior. For example, if your system featured a bouncing ball that moved with a “squishy” feeling, make sure the physical control has a similar feel. You might get this by embedding force sensors in foam, or attaching pressure sensors to a balloon. If your animation has a sharp feeling to it, you might need sensors that have a precise, sharp feel, such as pushbuttons with a good solid “click”.

If there is more than one parameter to be controlled, you will need to send data from multiple sensors to control each parameter. For example, if you’re controlling an object that moves in three dimensions on the screen, you’ll need sensors that give you control over all three dimensions. You might use a 3-axis accelerometer, or three photosensors, or some other combination.

If you or your partner on this exercise are waiving Intro to Computational Media, that means you’re good enough programmers to create this project in a desktop programming environment on your own. Good for you! You’ll be expected to show your ability to do this.

Final Assignment

The goal of this assignment is to show that you can make a more fully detailed interactive system with physical controls, and that you can keep a user engaged with your system.

This will be due in the final week of class, but you will show progress on the project in each week from week 11 onward. Work in groups or alone, though groups are highly recommended.

Your final project will depend on you already having learned the skills from the whole semester. It should also demonstrate some of the following skills:

  • Microcontroller-to-PC communication, through one of the following:
  • Physical interaction design principles
    • Is the interface understandable to the participant with minimal instruction? Do they know what to do by looking at, listening to, or touching the interface?
    • Can someone besides you use it?
    • Can it be started, stopped, and reset without your intervention
    • Make the interaction iterative. In other words, it’s not just one action by the participant, but they read the interface, take action, read the device’s response, and take another action, in a continued loop.
  • Construction principles
    • Does it have a housing so that the controls, not the electronics, are exposed?

You can improve on one of your previous projects for this project, or you can start a new project. Don’t make the project larger in scope than the midterm, though, as you won’t have time to complete it if it’s too large or complex a project.

Document your work thoroughly online as you go. Include details of all phases of the project. Include a project summary as well, explaining what the system you built is, what it does, and what purpose it’s intended to serve. Your summary should introduce the project.

Project Suggestions

Many students struggle with project ideas for midterm or final. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Combination Lock

A combination lock responds after the user performs a specific sequence of actions, like pressing buttons in a sequence, or turning a knob to a series of pre-determined positions in a sequence. For example, think about the typical hotel room safe. When it’s open, you close the door, enter a code, press the enter button, and the safe locks. When you enter the code a second time, the safe unlocks. Closing the door and entering a new code resets the lock. On some safes, you can simply press enter again to use the same code.

This is a good project for the midterm.

The simplest of combination locks typically use a sequence of four or five buttons. To make it work, you have to detect when the button changes its state from pressed to released, or vice versa.

Your combination lock doesn’t have to open a lock. It could turn on a light when the sequence is entered successfully, or play a tune on a speaker. It should be possible to reset the device once it’s done its task, however, like the example above. Your device doesn’t have to just use buttons, either. You can use any sequence of physical actions that you know know how to sense in order to activate your lock.

Musical Instrument (Tone)

Make a simple musical instrument. Your instrument should be able to control pitch and to start and stop a pitch. It does not have to control more than one pitch at a time.

This is a good project for the midterm.

Consider a few things in designing your instrument:

  • Do you want to play discrete notes (like a piano), or sliding pitches (like a theremin)? How do you program to achieve these effects?
  • Do you want to control the tempo and duration of a note?
  • Do you want the same physical action to set both the pitch and the velocity (volume) of a note?
  • Do you want to be able to play more than one note at a time (e.g. chords)?

All of these questions, and many more, will affect what sensors you use, how you read them, and how you design both the physical interface and the software.

Media Controller (Serial)

Make a music or video playback controller. Your controller should be able to start, stop, and pause the playback of a media file, to fast-forward, to rewind, and to control the volume.

You can make this controller and the media player in p5.js and control it using asynchronous serial communication, or you can control it using Keyboard and Mouse controls.

This is a good project to get comfortable with asynchronous serial communication.

Game Controller (Serial)

Make a game controller. The most minimal controllers have very few controls. Consider WASD controllers, for example, in which the keys W, A S, and D control 2-dimensional movement on a screen. Or joystick controllers, where a 2-axis joystick and a pushbutton support all the action onscreen. The fun of a good controller is when you can perform complex behaviors with a limited amount of control.

Make a game in p5.js. or use an existing game like Pong.

Your controls should be arranged so that the player can watch the screen, not concentrate on the controls.

Game Controller (USB HID)

Make a game controller. The most minimal controllers have very few controls. Consider WASD controllers, for example, in which the keys W, A S, and D control 2-dimensional movement on a screen. Or joystick controllers, where a 2-axis joystick and a pushbutton support all the action onscreen. The fun of a good controller is when you can perform complex behaviors with a limited amount of control.

You do not have to make the game. You can use any pre-existing game that can be controlled by Mouse or Keyboard, since your microcontroller (Nano 33 IoT) can be programmed to operate as a mouse or keyboard. Consider browser-based games, like Lunar Lander. Here’s a different version of Lunar Lander. Consider controlling Zoom.

Your controls should be arranged so that the player can watch the screen, not concentrate on the controls.

This project will most likely rely on USB HID communication using the Keyboard or Mouse libraries. Take a look at the USB HID labs for ways to do it.

Musical Instrument (MIDI)

Make a MIDI musical instrument. Your instrument should be able to control pitch and volume and to start and stop a pitch. It should also be able to play chords; that is, to play multiple notes at the same time.

This project requires some understanding of music, and MIDI. Take a look at the MIDI labs for ways to do it.

Sensor Datalogger and Visualizer (SPI, I2C SD Card)

Capture a time lapse with sensors and create a visualization or sonification that represents the changes over time.

There are many changes that are too slow for us to observe without lots of patience, but which give us good insights when we see their patterns played back in a time-lapse. For example, a graph of changes in the light in a space can tell us about the seasonal changes, or the human activity. Temperature changes can tell us how crowded a place is at different times of days. Air quality sensor readings over time can give us a picture of when production activities happen in a shop. Motion sensors graphed over time can show us traffic patterns of a space over the course of a day.

Pick a sensor that can measure changes in an environment and write a program that will take readings on a set interval and record them. Then find a way to present the readings in order to show the patterns of change over time. That might be as simple as a graph of the change over time generated by a spreadsheet, or it might be a sound program that converts the changes to pitches and plays the changes musically over time. Pick a way to represent the data that lets the viewer read and understand the changes that they can’t see in real-time.

You could capture the data by :

  • Sending sensor data from an Arduino to your laptop over a few hours, and leaving the laptop alone (but secured).
  • Sending the sensor data as USB keystrokes to your laptop over time and saving them to a file (command-S is also a keystroke)
  • Recording data to a file on an SD card from an Arduino, then reading that data in p5.js

This project is a good project to combine asynchronous serial communication and data visualization in p5.js. Alternatively, it can be a good way to learn about reading and writing from files on an Arduino and in p5.js.

Gesture Controller (Bluetooth LE)

Make a controller that is controlled by large physical gestures. Examples:

  • a media control device that responds to swiping your hand left and right.
  • a game controller that responds to swordplay movements of your arm.
  • a musical controller that responds to particular hand signals.

Your controller should be able to start and stop a particular output repeatably and reliably. For example, if you’re making the media controller mentioned above, it should be able to play, pause, fast forward, rewind, and stop with distinct gestures.

Since you’re using large physical gestures, this project is most likely best done using Bluetooth LE communication to the personal computer, to avoid wires.

This is a more advanced version of the media controller or musical instrument projects, in that it requires you to read sensor data, understand the patterns of the changes in that data, and write a program to send control messages when those patterns are detected.

Journals & Documentation

You are expected to keep an online journal of your progress.  Your instructors read your journals regularly to see how you are progressing, so you should update your journal regularly throughout the semester. At a minimum, we expect  you to summarize any insights you have in each week’s lab assignments, to discuss to the readings, and to document your production projects and technical research thoroughly.

Please make sure your blog assignments are online the night before class (by 8 PM EDT, GMT-4) so that your instructors and classmates can read them before class.

Good documentation habits

Document your projects thoroughly as you go; don’t put it off until the end.

Documentation Platform

You may document your major projects in a separate individual or group site if you choose, but you will be expected to link your site to the your class page on this site. Please avoid formats that are not text-searchable, as they won’t show up on search engines for others to use.

Blogs are great for documenting your process, as they’re usually organized in reverse chronological order. Once you’ve finished a project, however, set up a separate page or pages to summarize your projects when they’re done, so you can use this as a link in your portfolio.

Documenting Process

Good documentation should include a description and illustration of your project. Use pictures, drawings, and videos liberally to explain your work, although images alone usually don’t tell the whole story. Hence, you should include what it looks like, what it does, what the user or participant does in response. When it’s interactive, mention and show what the user does. Your explanation should give enough information that someone who’s never seen the project can  understand it.

You should also include a section describing how the project works, aimed at a more informed reader (your instructor, or next year’s classmates). Include a system diagram to make clear what the major components of the system are and how they communicate.

Another important part is to include what didn’t work and what you struggled with. Describe in words your questions and things you don’t understand so you can bring up during class meetings or office hours.

Documenting Code

Make sure any code that you post is well-commented, so you and others can understand what it does. Don’t overload your notes with code.  Code repositories like gitHub are best for sharing code, rather than blogs, so post your code to a repository and link to it from your blog.

If you are posting snippets of your code on your blog for quoting them in your post, refrain yourself rom adding screenshots of the IDE since it is not searchable and has a bad readability. Instead, cut and paste the code snippet or serial output on the IDE that you are referring to. Many blog platforms have features for posting code.

Documenting Circuits

Good documentation of circuits can help you communicate your circuit issues during class times and office hours efficiently. It’ll also become a useful reference for other classmates and yourself in the future. Uploading a picture of video of the breadboard itself does not guarantee a good readability of your circuits. Try drawing a diagram of your circuits either with your hands or on screen. The drawing process will help you understand your circuit better while producing a better documentation. You can also consider use circuit drawing software such as Fritzing.

Crediting Others

Make sure to cite sources from which you get your ideas, code, circuits, and construction techniques. When you base your work on someone else’s, cite the original author and link to their work, just as you would when quoting another author in a paper. If you only changed one part of an existing program, post only the part you changed, and link to the original. Copying code or techniques without attribution is plagiarism.  Few ideas come out of the blue, and your readers can learn a lot from the sources from which you learned and by which you were were inspired. So be generous in sharing your sources.

This also applies to AI tools such as Chat GPT. Read Use of AI Policy for this class.

Some good project summary sites

  • .tweenbots by Kacie Kinzer
  • fireLight By Tom Gerhardt. Simple project, doesn’t need a lot to introduce it.
  • Nice project materials in FRSK04 by Sam Lavigne and Fletcher Bach
  • Nuntinee Tansriraskul’s Shadow through Time foregrounds the project itself, describing and showing the final device first, and then summarizing the components and the process.
  • Matt Richardson’s  final project is documented nicely.

A few good journals on process

Previous Years’ Classes

Fall 2022

Fall 2021

Fall 2020

Fall 2019

Fall 2018

Fall 2017

Fall 2016

Fall 2015

Fall 2014