Tap the World
Over the past 3 decades, climate change has been an increasingly contentious issue, an imminent threat subject to intense scrutiny and debate. Arguments aside, it is extremely relevant at this moment which is why this project is inspired to try to actively add to the worldwide effort to mitigate the problem. From a recycling company’s perspective, plastic bottle caps (already separated from the bottle) are much more useful as they can be more efficiently categorized and recycled, partially due to their smaller size combined with the higher concentration of plastic. Moreover, this project aims to provide an alternate and entertaining way to participate in the global cause.
In order to fully understand our objective, the project needs a detailed plan. We plan to create a world (2-Dimensional earth) using a laser cutter, which will include three holes of difference sizes. The holes will be assigned different values depending on their size: the smallest one will be worth 5 points, the middle hole will be worth 2 points, and the biggest one will be worth 1 point. With Processing we will create a spherical planet earth (globe) that rotates. Each time a person is able to throw a plastic bottle cap successfully through one of the holes, the world will rotate. The degree of rotation will depend on the value of the hole the bottle cap went through; for example, if the bottle cap goes through the smallest hole, the program will translate this to 5 degrees and rotate the globe accordingly. The successful passage of the cap through the corresponding hole will be detected by motion sensors placed in each hole, which will send this information to Arduino which will then translate and communicate with Processing to make the world spin. Once the player has reached 360 degrees – has caused the world to make one full revolution – the player has achieved the ultimate goal of recycling the bottle caps.
In order to achieve this in time here is the plan in steps:
- We will first laser cut the world and complete that design (April 27)
- Begin to figure out the values for Arduino and Processing, and work with the sensors and circuits (April 28)
- User testing session
- Depending on user test results and feedback, make any changes that will improve the project.
- Present “Tap the World” (May 14)
The project is also unique in that it provides a fun and interactive way for people to recycle, and more importantly offers positive reinforcement to encourage the continuation of this type of environmentally-friendly behavior. This is something I believe is severely lacking in this global cause: when a person places a plastic bottle in the correct recycling bin, nobody/nothing cheers. This would try to fill this void. Moreover, we plan to place this type of project next to already existing recycling bins for plastic bottles so that it’s not a hassle for a person to keep the bottle caps when throwing out a bottle and then having to go throw the cap out somewhere else. This could have a greater impact in NYU Shanghai’s recycling efforts, for example. Eventually it could be incorporated on a bigger scale and we can send the caps to organizations like the aforementioned one to help two causes at once.
Tap the World absolutely fulfills my criteria to be considered an interactive design or project, since it incorporates the users and provides a response in a timely manner to a particular action placed by the user. Moreover, the human action initiates the interaction between Arduino and Processing, therefore the interaction necessarily takes the user’s input into account in order for the system to fully function. This fully matches my interpretation of interaction.