DESCRIPTION
Physical Interaction Design course aims to familiarize students with practices that provide designing new ways of interactions between humans through digital environments. This course makes it possible for students to experience experimental interaction with sensor technologies where the data is achieved throughout the participant’s natural expressive gestures and processed through computer.
PID course introduces physical interaction design in New Media works with microcontroller and sensor technologies. The course explores multimodal interaction practices where they adapt physical interaction to daily life applications and contemporary art works. The course also introduces artistic strategies, structures and methodologies for the creation of interactive installations, physical media/image/sound projects and for the creation of experimental musical instruments. Course will be taught mainly using the Pure Data and Arduino open-source environments.
GRADING
- 20% class participation
- 10% assignments
- 70% final project
LOCATION:
Paja (Media Lab 3rd Floor)
SCHEDULE:
Week 1 (Sensing The World)
- Tue 13th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00 – Introduction
- What Is Interaction? What Is Physical Computing? Download the presentation (PDF).
- Highly recommended reading: http://www.dubberly.com/articles/what-is-interaction.html
- Electronics & Arduino basics
- Wed 14th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00 – Sensors
- Sensors #1 (variable resistors, photocells, flex sensors, FSRs etc.)
- See the connection diagram for a voltage divider here.
- Assignment #1: DIY Sensor. Find some conductive/resistive material that could be used as a sensor or a switch.
- Arduino & Pure Data – Pduino
- Download Pduino
- Thu 15th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00 – Sensors
- Sensors #2 (IR Range sensors, ultrasonic sensors, accelerometers)
- Sensors #3 (object recognition, RFID, reed switches, hall effect sensors)
- Sharp IR Range sensor
- Memsic 2125
- Parallax Ping Sensor
- Parallax RFID Reader
- Download the Arduino code and a PD patch.
- Presenting Assignment #1: DIY Sensor
- Fri 16th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00 – Motion Tracking & Computer Vision
- Kinect
- For User Tracking: Download Usertracking and the PD patch that parses the information.
- For Skeleton Tracking: Download Synapse and the Synapse PD Patch.
- FaceOSC
- Face tracking software based on Jason Saragih’s FaceTracker library.
- Video
- Download: FaceOSC
- Download a PD patch that reads the OSC Messages.
- Reactivision
- AR Toolkit & Quartz Composer
Week 2 (Mapping, turning real world data into something useful)
- Tue 20th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00 – Motors & Actuators
- Servo Motors
- DC Motors
- Stepper Motors
- Solenoids
- How to use a TIP120 Transistor
- Wed 21st March 2012 9:00 – 12:00
- Return a project proposal (1 A4)
- Thu 22nd March 2012 9:00 – 12:00
- Smoothing and mapping in Arduino.
- Smoothing and mapping in PD.
- Smoothing multiple sensors.
- Fri 23rd March 2012 9:00 – 12:00
- Quartz Composer & Arduino
- Generative Music in PD
Week 3 (Project Work and Tutoring)
- Tue 26th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00
- Wed 27th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00
- Thu 28th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00
- Fri 29th March 2012 9:00 – 12:00
- Final project presentations at 11:00
RECOMMENDED COURSE BOOKS
- Designing for Interaction: Creating Innovative Applications and Devices
by Dan Saffer - Designing Sound by Andy Farnell
- Machine Musicianship by Robert Rowe
- Handmade Electronic Music: The art of Hardware Hacking
by Nicolas Collins
FINAL PROJECT GUIDELINES
Physical Interaction Design course is a project-based course. At the end of the course, students will submit and present their own physical interaction projects.
DEADLINES:
The project should be finished by Friday, March 30th 2012
Everyone is going to present their work on Friday at 11:00.
GUIDELINES:
- You can do a personal project or work as a pair with someone else.
- This is an open project. I don’t wish to enforce any specific theme or approach on you. As long as the project relates to the field of Physical Interaction Design.
- Think of a topic of physical interaction that you find interesting and fun to work with. You will be more productive if you enjoy what you are doing.
- Think about the context and meaning of your work. What are you trying to tell others? Who is it made for? Where/how is it going to be presented?
- Critical approach to technology is encouraged.
- The software or hardware that you use to create your project does not matter. Use whatever you feel most comfortable with. The teaching and tutoring is mainly going to focus on Arduino, Pure Data and Quartz Composer.
TOPICS YOU MIGHT FIND INTERESTING
- Interactive Installations – interactive artworks that respond to the actions of the users/visitors.
- Performance Instruments – musical/audiovisual instruments.
- Tangible User Interfaces – novel ways of interacting with digital devices.
- Wearable Electronics & E-Textiles – combining electronics with textiles, clothes and accessories.
