Self-evaluation and Group Assessment
NMD342 05/11
Alex Turanski
I thought the course was a good opportunity to learn new valuable skills as well as be in an environment of engaged people who are are willing to argue an opinion on how advanced technology is and how it changes our lives. We did plenty of research on everything that relates to physical computing and interactive design. From memory I remember talking about in class on ubiquitous computing and the future of how technology will be everywhere without us even knowing it. We read and talked about some physical computing examples from the articles everyone in class were asked to share and talk about in class. We never got around to my article though. I was going to talk about how amazon go is turning everything in the grocery store into tangible sensors that we can pick up and leave the store with to make shopping more convenient. Some of the other student articles talked about recording data from the brain by calculating and observing the electro synapse energy running through our heads when we make connections. This could perhaps help with the future in ubiquitous computing development to make technology change an environment based on what we are thinking. Someone had an article about an interactive table that uses a scanner to collect data on hand movements and uses it to control pegs on a table that can move up and down and replicate what the hand is doing. This kind of technology will allow business meetings to be more interactive for long distance communication. Someone else talked about Google and their work flow in designing a user interface for their site and applications.
The projects where good experience for understanding sensors, practicing teamwork and thinking ahead to get something done. We also had to write a blog on the articles we researched and readings we had to go through. The first project I remember was the scratch made sensor. I chose to make a flex sensor using two copper foils that I soldered to copper wire to plug into the bread board. When I first got into this first project on the first few weeks of class I thought I was way in over my head because I had forgot all the Arduino code I learned from a few semesters back and honestly didn’t think I would even stay to make it through the semester. However, I was very curious to see what I could learn from the research and was both entertained and educated in the class discussions. There was definitely a lot of things said. And not said. But it was all in all worth my time attending. The Rube Goldberg was an interesting team work project. For mine I had to build a trigger sensor with a laser and photoresistor that activates a DC motor that is used as an elevator to pull up a golf ball to the starting point. I had all my code working for a smaller motor but it couldn’t pull the weight of the elevator and ball so I had to switch to a DC motor which changed the code in a way where I couldn’t figure out how to make the elevator go up and down once. I tried to ask a few people on my team for help and we couldn’t figure it out and my part wasn’t done on presentation day. I learned a lot in that project. Working with other people to create a device with separate parts that work together is a great way to get experience in building prototypes for cool new things. I enjoyed working on the project with Seth and Chris. They were very helpful in getting the project up and going. Seth built a sensor with a magnet the gets hit when the ball hits a paddle on a bearing which triggers the pathway that was suppose to go to my elevator. Chris made a trap door that is triggered when water fills up a tube and activates a water sensor that goes back to the trap door and opens it to go down some pvc pipe that we cut in half. We all worked about the same on the construction of the project. If only the first motor could pull the weight of the golf ball then my part would have worked with the coding. The other Rube Goldberg projects were actually really creative! I really liked the basketball hoop idea and the interaction in the spinning elevator project.
The Sk8 n Scratch prototype project was fun to make. I literally came up with the name painting on the project ten minutes before class. It came out really nice with the black paint and electrical tape wrapped around the wires. If I didn’t use two potentiometers than the board would totally be ridable with rotary encoders. The potentiometers would break because they can only spin at like a 270 angle and then stop like a volume knob. So that in mind I’ve learned to use four rotary encoders when i start making my second prototype. I will also turn the black box into a touch screen display where the corners upload audio control patches. Software that is programmed with MaxMSP and Raspberry Pi are programmed specifically for the Sk8 n Scratch bearing sensors. These sensors must be used with a rotary encoder that connects to a bluetooth module that is installed on the trucks. When you put the wheels on the trucks the rotary encoder in the wheel connects with the bluetooth module that sends integer data to the center touch screen display. You will be able to upload patches and your own playlist of music to play on the the scratch pad from your computer or phone. I wouldn’t have ever had this idea if I never went to this class. I learned a lot about thinking on how to create technology that fits in with what we already do in our everyday lives and routines. Almost every day I use my pennyboard to cruz around campus or town and when you go on pennyboard adventures out in the woods I thought the Sk8 n Scratch would be a cool idea to bring something new and convenient to something I use all the time. I say convenient because the Sk8 n Scratch pennyboard will have speakers on them or the option to bluetooth connect to other portable speakers. This class definitely motivated me to get the first prototype done.
There was definitely some competitive talk in the class discussions and some pretty interesting energy in opinionated conversations. When trying to talk and figure out how the psychology of a target market correlates with how technology can be implemented in their lives then there are a lot of different ideas that can swing back and forth in talking about some of the class discussions. Some people have different experiences and it is sometimes hard to get a point across when other people can’t relate on why they would use a certain method of technology in making a software interactive for people in a fun way that triggers their curiosity. People have different curiosities and experiences which makes these discussions difficult sometimes. However there were a lot of questions asked and a lot of attempted answers. Sometimes we were definitely able to spark our creative thinking which is why I thought class was worth attending. Other times it just seemed like a looped argument. But that’s usually how it is. The ying yang applies to everything including conversation.
The best skills I learned in this class is how to think about future technology, how to apply well designed interactive design into physical computing and the knowledge of ubiquitous technology and how we can use it to make our lives more convenient and efficient. Also this class forced me to learn arduino even more which I am thankful for because now I actually have a pretty good understanding for how the code and sensors work which will expand my creative thinking for innovative and meaningful ideas for products and services. It will also allow me to build more effective prototypes. I wouldn’t really have done anything different in this class. I had a good honest attempt with the Rube Goldberg project and asked plenty of questions when I needed help. I read the articles and took some good notes on what stood out to me and my final project came out a lot better than expected. So for me at least I thought the class and group projects where a success. I’m glad I stuck with it. It was good practice for engaged conversation and using teamwork to get projects completed.
