Day 20: (Mon Nov 4) Intermediate Progress Review

Notes for 2019-11-04. See also the Fall 2019 Calendar.

Notes from Day 19

My general lesson from the trip: don’t use a table.

Agenda

1. Assignments

   • Due Wed Nov 6: Intermediate Progress Report

   • Due Wed Nov 6: new purchase requests

   • Due Mon Nov 18: completed project revision ready for testing and critique

   • Due Fri Nov 22: final Museum prototype

2. In-class

   1. General comments on the course.

      1. From the course description: “creating experiences for human audiences through the physical behavior of devices which embody computation with mechanism, sensing, and actuation.”

      2. Learning Objectives

   2. New engineering objectives.

      1. Testing to failure.

      2. Robust joint designs.

      3. Reinforced structures (as needed).

      4. Electronics packaged internally.

      5. Minimum visible wires.

      6. Minimum use of glue.

      7. No tape.

      8. Clear affordances.

      9. A deliberate aesthetic style. (Not necessarily ‘fully considered’, just not ad hoc). Does it look, sound, and feel intentional?

      10. Well-defined transport preparation.

      11. Process documentation.

      12. Tests:

          1. Can it survive extended interaction?

          2. Can it operate unattended?

   3. Pair review (20 minutes). Discuss the following with your partner and prepare to present:

      1. What was the most surprising interaction with the children?

      2. What are the general goals for another iteration for this project?

      3. What was the most successful technical (execution) detail?

      4. What was the least successful?

   4. Project discussion. (10 minutes/project, review timer). Please:

      1. Present a brief summary of your pair review.

      2. Questions from the group.