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Animal World

Shaun Axani, Xi Liu

An interactive electronic board experience for children with disabilities to be exposed to all types of sensory feedback.

http://shaunaxani.com/2015/12/07/sensory-wall-updates-getting-close/

Description

For our assistive tech class, Xi Liu and I have worked with Strivright, a Brooklyn school for children ages 2-5 with hearing impairment. We have devised a sensory wall unlike any other. It's a large magnetic surface with an animation of the outdoors. There are many animals that are CNC routed out of wood, with graphics adhered to the front and magnets on the back. They can be placed anywhere on the magnetic surface, but when they're put in special places, they close circuits and there is an assortment of sensory feedback, including flashing lights, animal sounds, vibrations, and spinning tails and ears on stepper motors. We are getting all the printed designs back from the printers this week, and the custom circuit boards will be etched, so everything will start to look much more like the final product in the days ahead. I will update the video with more of the final content shortly.

Classes

Designing for Digital Fabrication, Developing Assistive Technologies, Homemade Hardware

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Dhish

Denny George

Dhish is a musical instrument that captures universal percussive gestures like<br />
snapping and clapping to create music.

http://notes.abrain.in/digi-fab-proposal/

Description

I wish to create a novel electronic musical instrument that seems accessible and intuitive to audience.
I am using clapping as my focus for musical gesture.
I feel it is a universally understood gesture with musical connotations in Eastern Music (especially qawalli where its expected for performers AND audiences to clap to keep rhythm) and Western music where people often clap at concerts in rhythm.

There has been a history of using a glove like form for experimental electronic instrument but I feel never addressing the clapping capability of the hand is a missed opportunity. My project aims to explore that.

Eventually I wish to write and perform oral storytelling pieces with my instrument and also be able to give it as a MIDI instrument to other talented musicians to see where they go with it.

[Special Request] I am working on a comedy performance using this musical instrument. I would appreciate if I can get a small room for the ITP show. I remember there was a project by Kaini in Shawn's room last show. I wish to conduct 5 minute shows for 5,6 people one after the other all through the day. I feel it will really help me showcase my project and idea in the contex that I want.

Classes

Designing for Digital Fabrication, Homemade Hardware, New Interfaces for Musical Expression

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Educational 3D Lamps

Marcelo Cespedes

The Educational 3D Lamp is a 3D amazing optical Illusion loaded with low energy technology, with a life expectancy of 13.7 years!

http://www.marcesp.com/?p=377

Description

The “Holographic” Lamp is a combination of 3D amazing optical Illusion and low energy technology. The idea was to trick the mind into thinking it’s looking at a 3D “floating” wire-frame globe using a 2D design.

The light is conducted through the engravings made with the láser on a quarter inch plexiglass.

This lamps was meant to be placed next to the bed. It started as a midterm project but i keep making improvements on the design and in order to provide more functionality, i’m working on adding a iphone holder (with charger) and a USB port to charge any other USB device.

The base of the lamp made from 3 pieces of wood cut with a cnc router and stick together with glue. Almost every part of the lamp (wood, wires,light switch) was recycled.

Loaded with low energy technology, this lamp has a expectancy of 13.7 years!

Classes

Designing for Digital Fabrication

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Poetic Journey

Nai-Chen Yang, Yan Zhao

An interactive installation using Tang Dynasty poetry to bring viewers traveling through the spiritual life of Ancient China.

http://www.ync616.com/2015/12/06/physical-computing-final-project/

Description

The Tang Dynasty is recognized as the Golden Age of Chinese poetry. Wen Ting-Yun’s poem “Setting Out Early from Mount Ding” exemplifies the Tang tradition in its 3rd and 4th sentences, only constiting of six nouns: 雞聲(rooster-crowing),茅店(thatched inn),月(moon), 人跡(track), 板橋(plank bridge), and 霜(frost). Even through these few words, Wen Ting-Yun vividly evokes a traveler’s mood via excellent inverted sentences and elegant parallel construction.

Our physical computing project is an installation showing the beauty of this Tang poem in an interactive way. It includes a screen, a scrolling mechanism (made by an RFID reader) and six stamps (made by RFID tags) with words. If the viewer stamps the words in order on the paper from the scrolling mechanism, they can rebuild the spot of the poem on the screen and witness the spiritual life of the Tang Dynasty. In the end, the viewer can keep the poem they recreate and take it away as a souvenir.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

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Modular Mancala

Louis Minsky

A mancala game that can be expanded for use by more than two players.

Description

Traditional mancala boards can only be used by two people at a time. Modular Mancala expands to allow any number of people to play together.

Classes

Designing for Digital Fabrication

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Singing Plant

Chelsea J Pfohl

It is a singing plant

http://www.chelseapfohl.nyc/2015/12/09/secret-life-of-plants-singing-plant/

Description

Using a custom capacitive touch sensor, Arduino and Processing, the Touché Shield for Arduino developed by Disney Research Labs, with just a single wire stuck in the dirt the plant turns in to a fully functional multi gestural singing theremin, inducing bond between human and flora. Meant to stimulate an interest and foster a scientific curiosity and love for all kinds of plants and our underlying connection to everything living and breathing on the planet, the Singing Plant is a simple device that can be applied to any type of plant in any type of soil or water.

Classes

Introduction to Computational Media, Introduction to Physical Computing

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The BearBooth

Dana Abrassart, Paula Ceballos Delgado

As mysterious as it seems, but more delightful than it sounds, The BearBooth invites users to peer inside, discover the unexpected, and take home a break from reality.

http://www.itp.paulaceballos.com/category/physcomp/

Description

This is The BearBooth.
It has mirrored walls, cheering sounds, colorful lights, and, of course, bears. It provides the user with a break from reality, in which they're invited to explore the unexpected and be transported away from life's daily concerns. The fun in the box lies in capturing that moment of discovery in the form of a photo, which they will be able to with them as a souvenir. Will they be confused, surprised, delighted?

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

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Superhero Cape

Eve J Weinberg, Karalyn C Lathrop

An interactive superhero cape that helps a user save Earth from destructing from an incoming astroid.

http://itpblog.evejweinberg.com/2015/12/02/mission-asteroid-week-5-presentation/

Description

The goal of this project is to empower children to feel like a superhero and unleash the child-like imaginations of adults. A superhero cape will allow a user to interact and navigate through an interactive web-based game. The user will use the cape to fly through space in order to save the planet from destruction.

Classes

Introduction to Computational Media, Introduction to Physical Computing

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Paint your flower

Kritchaya Twitchsri

An interactive lighting paper flower wallpaper/

http://www.ppaperplane.com/2015/12/03/icm-final-presentation/

Description

An interactive flower backdrop (22 x28″ canvas). Using neopixels that tied with serial communication where the user could pick their favorite colors on an interface on a laptop and that color will lit up on the wall.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing, Introduction to Computational Media

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Learn drums through light

David R Lockard

Training wheels for drums: Hook this machine onto your drum kit and learn new rhythms, step-by-step

http://www.davidlockard.net/physicalcomputation/pcomp-final-prototype-2/

Description

***PLEASE NOTE: I don't need ANY equipment to show this project. I couldn't figure out how to submit this application without marking one element for each category of equipment, so I marked random things. Please ignore everything in there, except for the things I marked in the space category, which are correct. Thanks! ****

For my Pcomp final, I built a small machine that teaches its user to play various beats on the drum kit.

The machine, tentatively named ‘drum-bot,’ is designed to be mounted onto a drum kit, and it is comprised of A) a knob and button console box and B) three flexible lamps that come out of the console box.

The three lamps are pointed toward the three cardinal instruments of the drum kit: The hi-hat cymbal, the base drum, and the snare. (The majority of basic drum beats utilize only these three elements). Every time a certain drum is to be struck, its light flashes.

Users pick the rhythm they seek to learn, (blues, rock, soca, etc.) and the desired tempo. Then they are gradually led through the elements of the beat as they progress through the three levels.

A similar method is often used to teach melodies on electric pianos – but I have not found a similar product for the drums. I do not know why, because playtesting has revealed that it works quite well!

The machine has been built and works. Playtesting revealed two central ways in which it can be improved –A) adding an option to listen to the actual beat before one starts (as opposed to a ‘tone’ interpretation of the beat that is currently coded in). and B) making the lights stronger. I am currently working on these two additions, and also am rethinking the design of the interface to better guide student through the process.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing