Prototyping Mini Projects
In the fall semester of 2023, I enrolled in The Art of Making: Hands-On Systems Design and Engineering.
The Art of Making is a course in how to dive into understanding complex real-world problems involving people and design innovative and effective solutions for them. It is a total immersion in problem solving and design: in one semester students create 4 individual projects and 5 team projects including an intensive 2-month team capstone project. Students learn design thinking, prototyping, teamwork, project management and how to use rapid, iterative prototyping and user testing to solve the right problems and make effective, data-driven designs.
- Dr. Joseph Samosky, Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Wearable Technology Prototyping
In the last few years, innovative tech has become an increasingly popular accessory to finish every outfit while making our daily lives more efficient. Think smartwatches, fitness trackers, health monitors, and headphones. These are all forms of wearable technology, a term that refers to electronic devices that can be worn on the body as attachments or embedded in clothing.
Our team of 5 was tasked with creating a novel wearable device using a Bluefruit microcontroller programmed with Python. The design had to include a digital input, digital output, analog input, and a serial I/O connection. Most importantly, it must uniquely solve a problem with a specific use case.
LittleBits is an electronics platform that uses small, colorful, and easily connectable modules, each of which serves a specific function, such as sensors, motors, lights, and more. These modules are magnetic, making it simple to snap them together without the need for soldering or complex wiring.
Our team of 4 was tasked with creating a “novel and useful” prototype with LittleBits in 1.5 weeks. We also had to create a website and a presentation to share with the class in this time frame. It’s function and the problem it solved was completely up to us!
LittleBits Electronics Prototyping
Tangible User Interface Prototyping
Makey Makey is an invention kit that allows users to turn everyday objects into touchpads and connect them to a computer. By connecting a conductive object to the Makey Makey board via alloigator clips, that object becomes a touchpad. For example, you can connect a banana to act as a space bar or use a pencil-drawn button on paper. Here’s a brief Youtube video showing what it does:
Our team of 4 was tasked with designing and building an interactive system that uses Makey Makey to enable a tangible user interface (TUI). The overall system should be novel and innovative but also useful. We were strictly prohibited from implementing a user input that could be performed equally well by an ordinary pushbutton switch or a standard joystick. In other words, we had to get creative.