The ITP phys-comp gitHub repository contains all the code examples and images from this site. If you’re looking for code or images, it’s all there. Any time we update stuff here, we’ll update it there too, but if you catch anything out of sync, or any errors, please report it, or submit an issue, if you’re a git fan.
Category: Resources
Related Books and Articles
The following books are useful physical computing resources:
Electronics
Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers, Dan O’Sullivan and Tom Igoe ©2004, Thomson Course Technology PTR; ISBN: 159200346X
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
Includes all the stuff covered in class and lots of advanced examples as well. This book was developed from this course. The code examples in the book are not written for Arduino, but the concepts for each exercise apply to Arduino as well as the microcontrollers described in the book.
Make: Learn Electronics with Arduino: An Illustrated Beginner’s Guide to Physical Computing Jody Culkin and Eric Hagan ©2017,Maker Media; ISBN 978-1680453744
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
This book is perfectly paced to cover the electronics in this class. It introduces the basics of electronics, microcontrollers, and Arduino programming with many graphic illustrations and helpful pointers. The authors are both ITP alums and teachers (Jody now teaches at the Borough of Manhattan Community College) and their approach is very much in line with this course.
Making Things Talk 3rd Edition Tom Igoe ©O’Reilly Media/Make, 2017
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
A lot of what I know about how to connect devices to networks. This is the third edition, available as of August 2017. Introduction to communication between computers, including serial communications, wireless, networking, RFID, and more. Though some of the material is beyond the scope of this class, much of it may be useful in understanding computer communications.
Getting Started with Arduino, 2nd edition, Massimo Banzi ©2011, O’Reilly Media ISBN 10: 0-596-15551-4 | ISBN 13: 9780596155513
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
A straightforward beginners’ guide to most of the beginning exercises in this class.
The booklet from the Arduino Starter Kit is also an excellent reference. Scott Fitzgerald, a frequent teacher of this class, was the main author. Starter kit PDF
Make: Electronics, Charles Platt, © 2009 Maker Media Inc, Sebastapol, CA; 1st edition ISBN: 0596153740.
NYU Permalink Here
Here An excellent intro to electronics. Practical, readable, and enjoyable. Start here.
Make: More Electronics, Charles Platt, © 2009 Maker Media Inc, Sebastapol, CA; 1st edition ISBN: 0596153740. A follow-up to the first book
Encyclopedia of Electronic Components Volume 1: Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors, Switches, Encoders, Relays, Transistors, Charles Platt, ©2012 Maker Media, Inc, Sebastapol, CA; 1st edition ASIN B00COVJULI.
NYU Permalink Here
A useful reference for all kinds of electronics components.
Getting Started in Electronics, Forrest M. Mims III, ©1983, Forrest M. Mims III
NYU Permalink Here
A very basic introduction to electricity and electronics, written in notebook style. Includes descriptions of the basic components and what they do, and how they relate to each other.
There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings, Ken Amdahl ©1991, Clearwater Publishing; ISBN-10: 0962781592
NYU Permalink Here
A light-hearted introduction to electrical concepts in laypersons’ terms.
Practical Electronics for Inventors. Paul Scherz, ©2016, McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing; ISBN: 9781259587542
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
A more in-depth treatment of electronics, with many practical examples and illustrations. An excellent reference for those comfortable with the basic topics. The use of plumbing systems as examples to demonstrate electric principles makes for some very clear illustrations of how different components work. Good chapters on sound electronics and motors as well.
Mechanics
Making Things Move, Dustyn Roberts ©2010,McGraw-Hill/TAB ISBN-10: 0071741674 | ISBN-13: 978-0071741675
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
Dustyn’s book is an invaluable guide to construction of mechanical things. Whether you’re making a simple motor project or a Mars rover, it’s a good place to get started.
Design
The Design of Everyday Things, Donald A. Norman ©1990 Doubleday Books; ISBN: 0385267746
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
If you design at all, or work with people who do, read this. A lucid approach to the psychology of everyday interaction and how the objects we deal with could be better designed to match the strengths and weaknesses of the way we think. His predictions about physical interaction design and information design, some accurate and some not, are interesting history lessons eleven years after the first edition.
The Art of Interactive Design, Chris Crawford, ©2002 No Starch Press; ISBN: 1886411840
NYU E-Book Here
NYU Permalink Here
Written in a very casual style, this book nevertheless is an excellent and concise summary of what interaction design is, why it is important, and what problems it brings with it. Anyone seriously interested in interaction design, physical or not, should read this book.
Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things Donald A. Norman. Basic books, ©2005. ISBN: 0465051367.
NYU Permalink Here
In this book, Norman counters some of the points he makes in his first book, The Design of Everyday Things, by pointing out that we do make decisions about design based on emotional reasoning, and that design affects us emotionally. He describes Human reaction to design on three levels: the visceral, or how it appears; the behavioral, or how it acts; and reflective, or how it makes us think and feel about ourselves through our association with it.
The Design of Implicit Interactions. Wendy Ju. Morgan and Claypool Publishers, 2015. ISBN-13: 978-1627052672 – https://getit.library.nyu.edu/go/9462334
Bill Verplank’s interaction design sketchbook, a useful introduction to what is interaction design.
Bill Moggridge’s Designing Interactions book and website. A monster of a work with tons of interviews and case studies about interactive works. A great resource.
The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size, Tor Nørretranders ©1998 Viking Press; ISBN: 0670875791
NYU Permalink Here
Makes the case that much of our experience of the world does not come to us through our consciousness; in fact, the majority of it dealt with pre-consciously.
Don Norman on the Paradox of Wearable Technologies, specifically heads-up displays like Google Glass.
Anil Dash on why There Is No “Technology Industry”
Bret Victor on Doug Engelbart and why Engelbart matters. A lovely tribute.
Ben Rubin’s redesign of the sounds in the NYC subway, circa 1998. In these, Ben looked at the sounds that are used to cue users of the subway and noted their limitations, then redesigned them to make them more understandable and useful. Video 1 and video 2 show the whole interaction. Thanks to Alden Jones for finding them again.
Brenda Laurel’s Computers as Theatre, 2nd edition (NYU Library permalink). First released in 1993, this book gave a thorough, yet well explained, introduction to what computer interaction is all about, using theatre practice as an metaphor to explain it. Laurel stresses how it’s the action that is key to what we make, and the physical devices, controls, etc. set the stage for that. The 2nd edition, released in 2014, is a great update to a classic. Her writing is appropriately scholarly in its reference to the thinking of others in the field, yet very conversational, making it clearer than most theoretical writing.
Wearable Technologies
Fashioning Technology: a DIY Intro to Smart Crafting Syuzi Pakhchyan. Make books, ©2008. ISBN: 0596514379.
NYU Permalink Here
This book includes a nice introduction to basic electronics and a number of construction projects for simple electronic crafts. The construction techniques are aimed primarily at wearables and soft circuit projects, but they’reuseful for a number of other projects as well.
Resources
This section contains resources that are useful for physical computing in general, like reading material, suppliers, links to other useful sites, recommended tools and parts to get started, and more.
Parts & Tools Guide – What’s in your kit, and what other parts and tools will you use frequently.
In-Person Help
- Physical computing help sessions
- Fall 2023: Mondays at 4:00pm-5:30pm or Thursdays 2:00pm-3:30pm EST (First session Thursday 9/7/23)
- ITP/IMA Shop Site
- Shop checkout items (login with your netID and password, filter for “Physical Computing”)
- Part numbers for parts that are normally stocked in the components bins
- ITP/IMA Help Site
Local Retailers
If you’re looking to buy components in NYC, here are your options:
- Tinkersphere. They do order-online-and-pickup, though their storefront is still not open for customers to browse.
- MicroCenter has a number of Arduino-compatible components, and is about half an hour away by train/bus. Search “Arduino+” sensor, motor, etc. to see if they have what you need before you go.
Books and Articles (Print and Web)
Other ITP sites
- Alumni Physical Computing Blogs
- Journals & Documentation
- ITP Fabrication All the fabrication classes at ITP will be linked here.
- ITP Networks Information about networking is linked here.
- Connected Devices course – including resources on connectivity, screens, HTML and the DOM, and more (see the Resources menu on that site)
- Intangible Interactions course – including a guide to choosing a distance sensor
- Light & Interactivity course – including many light control resources (see the Resources menu on that site)
- Tangible Interaction course – including a set of sensor reports
External Sites
Construction
- Construction Templates
- Building with Cardboard – a guide to building solid structures with cardboard, from the Adaptive Design Association.
- The Art of Cardboard – another guide to cardboard construction
- Template Maker – need to make a custom-sized cardboard box? Here’s a tool to generate a template that you can cut with a knife.
- Videos on cardboard construction:
- CardBoard Basics Tutorial Guide Chip/Matte Board model making: modeling for Designers & Architects
- CardBoard Advanced Basics Tutorial guide for model making: modeling for Designers & Architects
- Cardboard Modeling: Exploring, Experiencing, and Communicating by Joep Frens, includes some very detailed models made in foam-core and cardboard, proof that it’s possible to to high-fidelity modeling in paper and cardboard.
- Cardboard Motor Mechanisms collection
- Linear actuation with cardboard by Yeseul Song
- Shape Haptics by Clement Zheng et al. A great toolbox for laser cutting custom tangible controls.
- Design and Fabrication of Kinetic Wire Characters a paper and video from Disney with useful approaches to creating particular movements.
Electronics References
- Calculators for many different physical properties from Digikey. Can’t remember how many picofarads in a microfarad? Not sure what the color bands on a resistor mean? Parallel vs serial what? This site is for you!
- LED current calculator
- Resistor color code calculator
- An SVG file of electronic schematic symbols
- Sensor reports from ITP Tangible Interaction class
- Microcontroller Pin Functions
- Breadboard Layouts
Mechanics References
- Dustyn Roberts’ Mechanisms & Things That Move site
- Rob Ives, formerly Flying Pig, a great site for simple mechanisms
- Notes from Kinetic Sculpture Club 2021-2022, run by resident researcher Lu Lyu. Includes notes on basic mechanical movements, and on a couple of useful stepper motor drivers, like the A4988 stepper driver or the TMC2209 stepper driver.
- Mekanizmalar.com – a great series of animations illustrating different mechanisms.
Software Tools
NYU Google App suite – you’ll need to know these for most of NYU interaction. You have access to the whole suite through your NYU account. Search for NYU Drive. We’ll use mail, calendar, docs, sheets, drive, and slides.
Zoom – Crucial during 2020, perhaps still useful in 2021 and beyond? Check out Zoom tutorials and resources by NYU.
Code Tools
- Arduino: As of Spring 2023, we use version 2.0.3 or later. Download is free.
- GitHub: gitHub is a code repository that we use in many classes at ITP. The code samples for this class are all in this gitHub repository, Accounts are free, and the GitHub Desktop app is free as well.
- glitch.com is a code sharing site that’s specific to web apps.It works well with p5.js and node.js sketches and applications p5.js sketches on Glitch can talk to Arduino using the p5.serialport library and p5.serialcontrol app. Accounts are free.
- Visual Studio Code as is a good programming editor outside of the Arduino IDE. It’s good for for HTML, JavaScript (including p5.js projects), node.js, and sometimes Arduino as well. You may not need it, but if you’re looking for a general purpose programming editor check it out. Downloads are free.
Drawing Tools
This course involves a lot of circuit and system drawings. You can use any drawing tool that you like.
- The circuit diagrams on this site are made in Fritzing, a circuit and schematic drawing program designed for electronics beginners. Downloads are about $9.oo USD. Alternately you can download the source and compile it yourself for free. You can export SVGs from it and work in any other drawing program as well.
- Inkscape is a free and open source vector drawing tool. Downloads are free.
- Sketch, Affinity Designer or Adobe Illustrator are also popular vector drawing tools, though they are not free.
- Circuit Diagram Editor – an online circuit schematic editor that can export most standard image formats. No registration needed, use is free.