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KEYPRINTS

Leon Eckert

Our typing pattern can be captured and used against us. KEYPRINTS explains how this works visually and proposes a way to protect our privacy.

http://leoneckert.com

Description

The subject of this project are keystroke patterns and their use as unique identifiers to individuals online.Our personal data is in high demand and collected by both government and companies. Free services making our lives easier or simply more fun are the main incentive we receive in exchange, yet for the most part we are unaware of that trade.
Of increasingly high interest in that context, is behavioural and biometric data an example of which is our keystroke pattern. The keyboard is arguably the most central interface of computers and we all use it in slightly different ways. The rhythm in which we type, the frequency we use individual keys and other details can be measured, recorded and stored in data sets which can identify us in a similar way our fingerprint does in the physical world.
The project *Keyprints* intents to explain this concept through visualisation on the one hand as well as proposes a way of protecting ourselves from data collectors on the other. For that, a physical intervention intercepts the signal between keystroke and computer and adds a randomised or intentionally defined delay.

Classes

The Stratosphere of Surveillance, Introduction to Computational Media

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Moolody

Peiyu Luo

A recorder player that can translate human sound into pitches and play it.

http://www.peiyu-luo.com/2015/12/07/winter-show-doc/

Description

My final project is a machine that could read some patterns and play the music.There would be two parts:
First part is a drawing machine. Users should sing a song, then the machine could analyze the notes and translate them into some specific patterns and print them.
Another part is a Synthesizer. This machine could read special patterns and play the music in a interesting way.

Classes

Cooking With Sound, Introduction to Physical Computing

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You've Got Rain

EunJee Kim

Lighting installation of a cloud that delivers promises on rainy or snowy days.

http://eunjee-kim.com/category/intro-to-physical-comp/

Description

Rain symbolizes a promise kept from the sky for the plants and farmers. With such idea of rain as representation of promises, I wanted to build an interactive cloud installation that allows people to connect back with those who they could not keep their promises with. A person can send a message with the cloud installation. Only, the message will not be delivered immediately, but be stored on the cloud until it rains or snows in the city where the receiver lives in.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

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Happy Spotify Mirror

Yan Zhao

Happy Spotify Mirror is a smart mirror that can be triggered by smile to play spotify music and light up. The idea of this project is to break the traditional way of how to play online music and explore a different way of interaction between people and computer.

http://yanzpro.com/happyspotify

Description

Happy Spotify Mirror is an experiment of exploring new interaction methods between people and computer.It will be displayed as a one-way through mirror with a monitor hidden at the back. At the first glance, it looks the same as a normal mirror. The special about it is it is an interactive mirror with music, graphic effect and lighting. It can play spotify music but is differ from the traditional way of playing online music; instead of screen interface, spotify app, or physical button, there is only a mirror for interaction. The only way to trigger it is to stand inside of specific distance and then smile to the mirror and hold the smile for seconds, then the music will be triggered, at the same time on the mirror will appear interesting graphics synching with the music. Lighting effect synching with the music will also happen around the mirror. If you want to change the music, go back to straight face and then smile again, you will change it to play another music. . If you keep the same smile after the music is triggered, you will see different colorful graphic effects. If you have different levels of smile, different music played by different instruments will be triggered. For example, if you are little happy, it is piano, if you are happier, it is ukulele. If you are very happy, it will be violin. Also when you change the distance from the mirror, you will change the volume of the music. For example, if you move towards the mirror, the volume will be louder, vice versa. In conclusion, the Happy Spotify Mirror is experimenting on making the interaction between people and computer much more interesting, natural and minimizing the perceptible invasiveness of computer.

Classes

Introduction to Computational Media, Introduction to Physical Computing

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Attitude Chair

Phil Guo, Wipawe Sirikolkarn, Yuan Xue

So you think you can sit.

Description

Attitude chair is not a typical, passive chair but rather has a mind of its own. The chair deliberately turns away if it doesn’t want you to sit on. By doing this, we hope the users can engage and interact with such a passive, utilitarian object.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

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Transform

Xinyao Wang

An interactive creature has 10 hands, which can stretch out and give you many high-fives.<br />

http://www.wangxinyao-design.com/?p=332

Description

It is alive. It can breath. It has 10 hands, which can stretch out and give you many high-fives. Before you touch it, it starts to deform and stretch out one of its’ hand. Then, you guys have a perfect high-five. However, if it stretch out to many hand at the same time, it will get tired and breath more rapidly. Kinect will sense the movement of the users’ hands, and send out data to PC. Then analyse the data and get rid of the noise with Processing. Arduino will receive the data of hand movement. Then control the linear actuators.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

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Foggy Mountain

Yuli Cai

Immerse in the music of foggy nature

Description

Foggy Mountain is an installation that reflect the life of ancient Chinese literati. The life that immerse in the nature and play string instrument towards foggy mountain. It is an universal feeling to experience relaxed mood and unified soul while being surround by nature. Breath in, Breath out. We are actually interacting with nature every second. Guqin, is a special traditional string instrument in China, it has been endowed with our infinite emotional conversation with nature. Every time you play a string, it vibrate its sound out to nature. Foggy Mountain vivid these abstract feelings by visualising the sense of nature vibrating back.

By playing different strings, you will get rising fog from different areas according to the frequency of sound. The movement of pattern that being projected onto the fog is synced with the frequency of the string. The higher the frequency, the left the fog will show up, the faster the movement is.

Foggy Mountain use a guitar pickup as input, 50 fans to control the fog up and down and also a projector to project pattern.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

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Disembodied

Shangbo Chen, Yun Li

An interactive sound installation that people can undergo different environments based on their own choices and have otherworldly experiences.

http://kylinsays.com/pcomp/disembodied/

Description

Size: 2m x 2m ~ 2.4m x 2.4m

Environment: Dark and Quiet

Using: Kinect, Projections on ceiling

Our project is an installation that aims to provide otherworldly experiences for audiences using Kinect, projections and sound. Participant walks on an empty grid of projected tiles on the ground, each one contains different environment that shifts as participant goes. We let people in charge of where they want to go and make their own explorations created by our design and their very own imaginations.

We use Kinect, paired with Processing, to track people’s movement on a 5×5 tiles board. The board’s width and height are 2 to 2.4 meters long. Preferably, a dark environment make our projections more visible. Once Kinect located the participant, the program would play a soundtrack through headphones, composed of many environmental sounds that build up the virtual world around people. Lights would project the grid on the ground as well as flavor texts that contain an elusive and suggestive storyline which helps participants understand the world they are currently in.

We built this project to encourage people to go wild with their imaginations. At first glance, it is an empty grid of nothing. We hope that when people finished the walk and look back, they would see something out of this empty space: a vivid world created solely with their own curiosity, memories and emotions.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing

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Circle Jerk

Kevin G Stirnweis

A touch screen arcade party game where you play with your friends to protect and grow your circle.

Description

Circle Jerk is a fast-paced, touch-based arcade game where players work together to protect and grow their circle. Each touch creates a colored character that follows the players' movements. Players move their characters to protect their central circle from incoming purple monsters. Each time a player engulfs a monster the circle grows larger, but if a monster breaks into the circle it can deplete quickly! Work together to grow the circle as quickly as possible.

Classes

Introduction to Computational Media