Avani Palkhinala
d0uble t1me: a binary learning experience
The production of a large-scale physical interactive exhibit that displays the current time in binary and allows a user to manipulate an analog clock to learn how binary works.
www.playdoubletime.com
Double time is a large-scale physical interactive exhibit designed for children's learning centers and museums. Children can learn about the binary number system through object manipulation and simple adding.
The physical layout of the piece consists of two rows of large push lights, a control panel and a digital readout.
Double time has three modes, with each successive mode building upon what is learned in the previous mode. In the default WATCH mode, the exhibit will display the current time in binary. There are 2 rows of lights each representing a binary number; the top row denotes the hours and the bottom row the minutes. When a light is on (active), it represents a binary 1, if the light is off, it is a binary 0. Simply add up the values of the active lights to get your value. A digital readout embedded next to the lights will allow the user to make a correlation between the binary and decimal numbers.
In the CLOCK mode, the user can manipulate analog clock hands and view the corresponding changes to the binary interface and digital readout in real time.
In the PLAY mode, the user will be prompted by audio instructions to see the random time displayed on the digital readout. Then they will be prompted to tap out that time on the lights. The level of difficulty will be adjusted accordingly.
Tokyo Flash - A consumer and design goldmine of different ways to display time. http://www.tokyoflash.com/
LED clock - Telling time with lights instead of numbers.
The Design of Everyday Things
My primary audience consists elementary & middle school students. By 2nd grade, kids are familiar with analog clocks and at minimum can read the time to every quarter hour.
Ninety percent of the population are visual and kinesthetic learners. My project was built with those types of learning styles in mind.
The physical layout of the piece consists of two rows of large push lights and a control panel and a digital readout.
The physical interface is constructed from six painted plexiglass panels and tap lights. The control panel is also of plexiglass and will house an analog clock that the user will be able to manipulate. The programming is done via Arduino.
Even the simplest of ideas can be very complex to execute. Design is truly an iterative process, along the way I prototyped versions of my interface simultaneously in cardboard and in Flash to arrive at my final design.
The physical layout of the piece consists of two rows of large push lights, a control panel and a digital readout.
Double time has three modes, with each successive mode building upon what is learned in the previous mode. In the default WATCH mode, the exhibit will display the current time in binary. There are 2 rows of lights each representing a binary number; the top row denotes the hours and the bottom row the minutes. When a light is on (active), it represents a binary 1, if the light is off, it is a binary 0. Simply add up the values of the active lights to get your value. A digital readout embedded next to the lights will allow the user to make a correlation between the binary and decimal numbers.
In the CLOCK mode, the user can manipulate analog clock hands and view the corresponding changes to the binary interface and digital readout in real time.
In the PLAY mode, the user will be prompted by audio instructions to see the random time displayed on the digital readout. Then they will be prompted to tap out that time on the lights. The level of difficulty will be adjusted accordingly.
Tokyo Flash - A consumer and design goldmine of different ways to display time. http://www.tokyoflash.com/
LED clock - Telling time with lights instead of numbers.
The Design of Everyday Things
My primary audience consists elementary & middle school students. By 2nd grade, kids are familiar with analog clocks and at minimum can read the time to every quarter hour.
Ninety percent of the population are visual and kinesthetic learners. My project was built with those types of learning styles in mind.
The physical layout of the piece consists of two rows of large push lights and a control panel and a digital readout.
The physical interface is constructed from six painted plexiglass panels and tap lights. The control panel is also of plexiglass and will house an analog clock that the user will be able to manipulate. The programming is done via Arduino.
Even the simplest of ideas can be very complex to execute. Design is truly an iterative process, along the way I prototyped versions of my interface simultaneously in cardboard and in Flash to arrive at my final design.