Author: Ruben Alexander Mayorga

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Group Project：Personal Statement

Interactivity ,as explained in the Art of Interactive Design, is “under understood”(Crawford 1). Interactivity as presented in the reading of Introduction to physical computing is a series of “ listen[ing], think[ing], and speak[ing]”(Igoe XX). Interactivity is all around us, every action we do has a response and a process. This means that everything we do in our daily day is engulfed in the term of interactivity. I would claim that, interactivity is the sending of a message or messages, the understanding of such information and finally a reply.

During the semester, we have done various projects which have shaped my understanding of interactivity. The projects all have involved many different aspects which, as a whole, have deepened my understanding of creativity. From the main projects we conducted the two most important have been the sensor project, and the Lamp project. Both projects had aspects of interactivity. For example in the sensor project, the input from the distance sensor sent a message to the ARDUINO which in turn reads the information and sends an output. In the case of the sensor project, the output was a tune with a light. Although the sensory project was more complicated than the Lamp project, the lamp also introduced the idea of input and output. The project helped me understand how the machine interacts with the human. Furthermore, a third project that was helpful in the understanding of interaction was the button game project. In this project we programed a game based on the amount of times each player pressed a button. The Arduino read the messages and showed a light to the victor of the game.

The project was based on a future technology, which depended on the interactivity of the machine. The group brainstormed a machine that first of all received several messages from sensors in the user, after that the machine would translate the messages received and make an educated guess of the situation of the user. Finally, the machine with the information received by the sensors and the guess, would, as an output, prepare food for bettering the mood of the user. The project is very clear in the three aspects of interactivity, first the machine receives a message, after it is interpreted by the machine and finally with that interpretation the machine can respond to the needs of the user. This is very similar to what Igoe and O’sullivan say computers have “listen, thinking, and speaking” (XX). In this case the Machine has the ability to listen to the user needs, translate to know what he needs, and finally speak by serving food.

The project, was inspired by the sensory project. The sensor project showed us how to collect information to send without any kind of words. In this way we designed a machine that would use sensors to collect information from the user in hopes to decipher the state of mind the user had, sending a message to the kitchen to prepare food. The Project takes the three aspects of interactivity and utilizes them in sensors, reading of emotions, and preparation of food.

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Recitation 3: Sensors

The project consisted in creating a machine that occupied the infrared distance sensor to prove its functionality. The main objective is to be able to use correctly the distance sensor, and learn the different things that are able to come out of it. The project started being a simple one, just to see how the sensor worked, but later became more and more complex. Adding more outputs to the project, and finally achieving the final project, of a light that turns on when an object is near it with a tone and after the sensor doesn’t detect anything the tone changes.

The project was more complex than we anticipated, due to the many things that we had to program and change. But I think the final project turn to be very well prepared. I think it was good to teach us to work with the programming and the sensor.

Questions

  1. We assembled a distance sensor, it could be used by automatic doors, or cars, or any machine that requires the distance to be known.
  2. Because you need to follow certain steps in an order if not the cake, or in this case program wont work as well.
  3. Computers facilitate our way of life, the computer experience helps us understand the world in a different way,. Humans depend so much in the computer that the concept of media and how humans interact with the world has changed drastically.
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Recitation 2: Arduino Basics

The project consisted in creating three different circuits which were, dim lights, speaker tones, and a button game.  The assignment consisted in creating the circuits and later programming each one to, slowly dim a led light,  to play a melody, and finally to tell which button achieved 10 pushes first. The idea was borrowed from the professors which gave the instructions. The project had few difficulties, the first 2 circuits were done fast and without any problem. Nevertheless the third circuit was problematic due to the led being misplaced in sides, creating confusion and slowing the process. The experiment help me a lot to understand the importance of the code, and the many ways you can use simple codes t do many things.

Questions 

  1. We use circuits in everything, from our phones to our computers, they all have input and outputs to have interaction in the real world.
  2. Because the 10 k resistor helps maintaining the 5 volts when pushed and 0 when not
  3. I think I would do a ceiling that lights up only where people are walking and put it on top of my room
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Electronic and Soldering

  • What is it?  It’s a circuit that create an alarm, a bell, and a dimmable lamp
  • Why you are doing it (what was your assignment)? We did three different types of circuits to learn the function of the different components, and to put in practice the breadboard, and the circuits.
  • What do you hope to achieve and learn? We hoped to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the circuits, and how to weld the circuits together.
  • After reading The Art of Interactive Design, in what way do you think that the circuits you built today include interactivity? The circuits include interactivity because it requires the sending and receiving of signals from the button and later the dimmer
  • How can Interaction Design and Physical Computing be used to create Interactive Art? They can be both combined to receive and send messages of the surroundings, via sensors that interact with the real world. With this combination there can be created many machines, for example in Shanghai interactive museum there is a room in which you can walk and it rains all over except where u are. 
  • Did the process go as planned? Did you achieve what you set out to? What aspects of the project worked? What aspects failed?What would you change about your process if you were to do something similar in the future? The process was not as planned, there were many complications along the way. The time was not enough to finish the three circuits, we could only do 2 of them. Also, when we were welding the circuits together the cable burned and fell. The second circuit took extra time because the first two times the circuit did not work, we required the help of the professor to finish.