Category Archives: Projects

Comm Lab: Networked Media, Lauren McCarthy, Lutfiadi Rahmanto, Projects

Top European Soccer Teams' Source of Talents

Lutfiadi Rahmanto

Visualizing top european soccer teams' source of talents, buying renowned players, under radar or nurturing their own.

http://ucl-team-composition.herokuapp.com/

Description

This data visualization shows where teams that play in UEFA Champions League (UCL) get their players from, whether from stronger or weaker team. Holding the most tweeted sport event in 2012, UCL is one of the most celebrated sport event in the world. To draw a comparison, UCL is to Europe as Super Bowl is to USA. (Further explanation http://ble.ac/1Aezofu)

The story behind this, is each football team have their own method to build their squad. Teams who are recently bought by ultra-billionaire tend to go on spending-spree luring well-established player from top teams. While there are teams who have scouts with keen eye to recruit talents under the radar. And there are teams who rely on their own academy, nurturing young talents. The order of strength of the teams is defined by UEFA Ranking (http://uefa.to/1jZYau4) that measures performance of teams who play in European continental competition.

The visualization will be depicted in 3D cylindrical coordinate, where each players are represented as spheres. The closer the sphere to the center means he comes from stronger team. There is also a circle on the plane to show the the difference in ranking between his current and previous team. The color of the sphere represents categorical variable (whether they come from stronger team, weaker team, or club's academy).

From this visualization, there are several stories that could be noticed. England clubs tend to buy players from strong teams. Top three teams (none are from England) trust their own academy and have several homegrown veterans in their squads.

Classes

Comm Lab: Networked Media

Arlene Ducao, Introduction to Physical Computing, Projects, Shaun Axani

Beatwalker

Shaun Axani

Beatwalker provides the soundtrack of your life through dynamically changing music that responds, in real time, to your movements.

http://shaunaxani.com/2014/12/03/beatwalker-updates/

Description

We fantasize about what the soundtrack of our lives would sound like: often times a beautifully crafted orchestra that reflects our daily activities not unlike a film’s musical score. Beatwalker realizes this aspiration for the fraction of the cost of hiring a composer and professional musicians. Through the use of a midi generating synth shield accompanied with the Arduino, a song is created in code with a series of variables that change based on input from the user. If a user speeds up, the song responds and speeds up as well. If they slow down, the song will respond. If a user changes direction, musical instruments will be added or subtracted. The result is a dynamic song that is written by someone walking to work, going for a casual jog, or getting lost and turning every which way on the busy streets of Manhattan. The song becomes personal to that user; that version will only ever be played once.

The final physical computing project is not due until December 11th, so the documentation is rough and the product itself is in refinement and improvement. But a working version of Beatwalker exists, and with more time and iterating it will only become more powerful and offer a wider range of musical accompaniment based on the user’s supplied input.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

Chanwook Min, Introduction to Physical Computing, Materials and Making Things by Hand, Peter Menderson, Projects, Tom Igoe

Droplet++

Chanwook Min

The work is interactive light installation. In order to make great movement of society, it need numerous people’s movement, not only a person’s movement.

http://chanwookmin.com/index.php/artworks/droplet/

Description

The work is interactive light installation. Social changes in the world are made by numerous people’s movement, not a person movement. For example, On December 12, 2014, protest police violence in NYC, 2008 candle protest in South Korea and ETC. Likewise people try to change their society. In order to make great movement of society, it need numerous people’s movement, not only a person’s movement. So this project’s subject is “Making great movement gathered small voice.” To be specific, as gathered small droplet can make big drop, this project create by people’s voice.
The work interact between sound and light. so there are two parts, sound and light. Firstly, people can hear real dropping sound and see changing brightness of light according to the volume of sound. Secondly, people can record a drop of water sound using their voice, such as “ddong” or “ddock” or something like that(There is time limitation to record). Brightness of light will change by the volume. Thirdly, people can hear all recorded voice at the same time and see also changing brightness of light.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing, Materials and Making Things by Hand

Edson Soares, Introduction to Physical Computing, Jeffrey Feddersen, Projects

Discontrol

Edson Soares

A disco-ball controlled by the heartbeat and clapping hands.

http://www.hiedson.com/discontrol

Description

Imagined to inspire people to dance, the Discotech is a retro artifact with a touch of physical interaction. Its main parts include a suspended Disco Ball connected via bluetooth with a glove. The glove captures the pulse of the user making the brightness vary according to the heartbeat. Also, If the user claps the hands, the color of the lights change. It can be one solid color, a combination of different colors or a full rainbow. It’s kitsch! It’s fun! It's about staying alive.

The color change happens on a LED strip that floats around the Disco Ball (think of Saturn covered of mirror tiles). The glove also receives a few LEDs so the user has a closer feedback of the effect that is being produced without the need of looking up to the ball all the time. After all, the user needs to be free to dance!

For a successful outcome, the piece needs to be placed in a dark space, allowing the lights to be reflected on the walls. This is also important for acoustic isolation, as music would work as a background effect while people interact with the ball. It doesn’t need to be placed in a big space, but some black curtains could be useful for the isolation if placed in a shared room.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

Luisa Pereira, Projects, The Code of Music, Yiyang Liang

Journey to Nowhere

Yiyang Liang

A musical journal from somewhere to nowhere.

http://yiyang-liang.com/web/music/last

Description

Journey to nowhere is an immersive music/sound experience where player wandering, traveling, and exploring in different virtual and surreal worlds. Each world, players use simple but natural movements to interact with the surroundings, building roads and journeys of their own. Based on WebGL and stereo sound effects, the whole space is echoing players’ movements, creating meditative and unique stories for different players.

Classes

The Code of Music

Benedetta Piantella Simeonidis, Dalit Shalom, Introduction to Physical Computing, Louis Minsky, Projects

Silophon

Dalit Shalom, Louis Minsky

Silophon is an assistive instrument/toy designed to create a positive experience of sound, specifically for children with autism. Silophon is designed to look like the classic xylophone, crafted with felt, allowing the user to play by hitting the keys with their hands or soft mallets, and also allowing the user to control the level of volume.

http://silophon.com

Description

It is well known that some people on the spectrum of Autism are hypersensitive to sound. The characteristic of wanting full control can be very frustrating when it comes to situations with sound where often there is usually no control. Traumatic experiences with sounds as a child could evidently lead to not wanting to engage with music and sound as an adult. We believe that by creating an instrument/toy that will allow the child to control sound, combined with an engaging level of user experience may help break the potential friction between hypersensitive children with Autism and sound.

During the building of our prototype we met with professionals in the field of Occupational Therapy who specialize in working with children who have Austism. One of the most important things we learned were the key elements to successful design for autism: predictability, control and choice

As for fabrication, we experimented with a bunch of materials. Felt seemed to be a good material to work with for two primary reasons:

1. Felt is a relatively soft material, hopefully encouraging children with autism to engage with it.

2. Felt has a sound-proofing attribute, since it absorbs sound.

The sound played on each key is a xylophone sound, only digital with the ability to control the volume.

The felt pieces are mounted on wooden notes/keys.

For further information, description and photos please see: http://www.onmydiskette.com/category/fall-2014/p-com/

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

Automata: Telling Stories with Machines, Daniel Rozin, Designing for Digital Fabrication, Despina Papadopoulos, Dimelsa Medina, Nick Yulman, Project Development Studio, Projects

Mechanical Puppet

Dimelsa Medina

WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS?<br />
<br />
Create an interactive animatronic that reflects the interaction between the humans and the machines.

http://www.dimelsamedina.com/ITPBlog/project-development-studio-mechanical-puppet/

Description

I have always been captivated by the conversion of motion and power that takes place within a machine and the way all the autonomous mechanisms form a whole and work together. By using a Kinect, a webcam, and a series of motors, I would like to give “life” to a puppet, and study the interaction of the audience/user with this object.

Classes

Automata: Telling Stories with Machines, Designing for Digital Fabrication, Project Development Studio

Ben Light, Intro to Fabrication, Materials and Making Things by Hand, Peter Menderson, Projects, Tan Ma

Rotation Wooden Cubes

Tan Ma

Use motors to restore the wood grain

http://mamatantan.com/?p=591

Description

The pattern of wood itself is so beautiful, But when trees are cut down and cut into pieces, we can't see their full pattern again. I want to let people see the magic and beauty of the wood grain. Cubes can always bring you surprise, I plan to use some cubes to restore the grains of wood. Through rotation, the original random pattern will be changed and then form a tree' grain. The rotation can be controlled by buttons or sensors.

Classes

Intro to Fabrication, Materials and Making Things by Hand

Daniel Shiffman, Introduction to Computational Media, Minju Kim, Projects

Swans

Minju Kim

Ballet Performance using Leap Motion by Processing

https://vimeo.com/113468064

Description

Swans is a digital ballet performance. A Ballerina is supposed to perform as a white swan but a dark swan, in her inside, tries to come out. This performance is performed by hands using Leap Motion and Processing. Leap Motion detects hands' movement and Processing uses the information to perform the show.

Classes

Introduction to Computational Media

Introduction to Physical Computing, Jeffrey Feddersen, Projects, Teresa Lamb

Pet

Teresa Lamb

I constructed a fur sensor able to detect how it's being petted.

Description

Pet is a furry multi-directional pressure sensor. I constructed her from conductive and resistive fabrics, foam, and fur. While experimenting with different textiles, I observed that fur invited a few specific interactions. I attempted to create a sensor able to differentiate and react to users petting it.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing