Fly Superman Home
This project will be a game wherein a test subject tries to manage the height and speed of superman by blowing into a sensor in order to get him home. The game will be shown on processing and have a superman icon figure which is in a stable position on the screen, but flying as the background moves forward. The top and bottom of the screen will be death zones which superman needs to avoid to continue the game. In order to manage the height of superman, the test subject will blow into a wind sensor which correlates with how high or low superman gets on screen. Within the game, there will be obstacles such as floating rocks that will cause the subject to adjust the rate of blowing into the sensor. The longer they can blow into the sensor without killing superman, the higher the score they will get. Throughout the game, different levels of progression will correlate with musical sounds to encourage the player.
Research from this project was actually inspired by looking through my old iphone games. Many years ago I often played a game called jetpack joyride. In this game, the player navigates a man on a jetpack through a laboratory by using their fingers to adjust how high or low the jetpack is moving. The premise of my game is similar to jetpack joyride, but takes on a different element of controlling the character. On the iphone, it is much easier to control the character by tapping a finger. But in my project, it is significantly harder to guide the character to safety. It involves a physical aspect which is missing in many of the iphone and computer games of today. I think this project is a game angled towards younger kids. In this, I am seeking to move kids away from the new-age games of today that donât involve physical interaction. As for impact, I think it creates a new medium of gaming that mixes old style physicality with new style technology and reward. Hopefully it can inspire future games to be interactive on both a physical and digital level.
Re-earthing Traditions in China
In order to preserve traditional Chinese culture, this project will be focused on learning non-mainstream Chinese dialects of today and the past. The goal of this project is to raise awareness regarding the dying out dialects around China. Because Mandarin is becoming standardized as the official language, families are putting less emphasis on preserving their historical linguistic roots. For example, the Gao Kao (é«èïŒcollege entrance exam is only being distributed in Mandarin. This excludes many of the dialects that come from provinces containing millions of people that have not traditionally used Mandarin in the past. This issue has forced many families to abandon the use of their own dialect and focus solely on learning Mandarin. An example of this is in many southern provinces such as Guangdong province with different dialects such as Cantonese.
In order to correctly preserve these traditions, this project will have a physical map which displays the different provinces of China. Each province will be linked with a button on top of it. Once clicked, the button will link back to processing and display a video or âhow toâ of a native speaker using that dialect in some form or another introducing themselves. This project will be used as an educational resource for non-native or native speakers to practice or just learn about Chinese in general. It will hopefully raise awareness about the subject and revitalize the importance to maintain traditional dialectic roots in a Mandarin dominated society.
Rejection Recycling
In âRejection Recyclingâ, I am creating a project that can detect when a paper or cardboard item is a non-recyclable because it is contaminated with oil or other food substances. The original problem I am dealing with is that many things that are often thought of as recyclable when they are in fact trash or other categories. This applies to a wide variety of things having to do with food, but mostly paper and cardboard products. When someone places an item into the wrong trash sorting bin, there is no consequence at the time because it is difficult to monitor food waste everywhere. The only consequence is wasted energy at the recycling plant which has to deal with misplaced trash. But with the help of my project, people will now understand where to put their food scraps or pizza boxes and help clean up the environment.
The premise of the idea derives from the many sensors weâve used in past recitations. By placing sensors within the recycling bin, they will be able to autonomously detect if it is suitable for that category of waste. If it is suitable, then a large green check mark will appear on screen by way of processing accompanied by an encouraging âdingâ sound. But if the waste is not suitable for recycling, then a large red X will appear on the screen along with an alarm sound. There will be a mechanism to reject the non-suitable material into a side bin where the subject can pick it up and place it into a suitable bin. This will be done through arduino physical motions connected to a trap door. In todayâs world, many people are uneducated about which materials need to be recycled and which donât. I hope to educate many on which items should be placed in recycling and forms societal habits which contribute to environmental protection. This product will be targeted as the mass public because our environment affects all of us and recycling is the first step to reducing negative impacts around the world.