Fall 2021 Course Guide

Please note: this site is from a previous course iteration and is no longer updated.

Welcome to 16-223 Creative Kinetic Systems! This introductory physical computing course addresses the practical design and fabrication of robots, interactive gadgets, and kinetic sculptures.

Fall 2021 News

For Fall 2021, the course will be held in-person in the IDeATe Physical Computing Lab, Hunt A10, on the library lower level. No doubt there will still be some pandemic accommodations, but the plan is that we will meet in person and make use of the IDeATe fabrication facilities. The current status of IDeATe facilities can be found on the IDeATe Covid-19 page.

For this next evolution of the curriculum, the primary embedded computing platform for the course will now be the new Raspberry Pi Pico, programmed in CircuitPython. This will hopefully expand the sophistication of our control programs. The Arduino Uno will still be available but no longer the focus.

But the key principles of the course remain: a beginner-friendly approach, collaborative development of machine prototypes, and computation and mechanism used to create playful physical behavior.

Contents

• Syllabus: Creative Kinetic Systems
• Daily Agenda Logbook
• Technical Exercises
• Demo and Project Assignments
• Course Project: Marble Machines
• Physical Computing Reference Guide
• Lab Resources
• Sample CircuitPython Code
• Sample Arduino Code
• Sample Python Code
• Sample Mechanical Designs

Student Work WordPress

The 16-223 Student Work area is provided for posting all project documentation and discussion. Enrolled students may log in to this area using their Andrew IDs. All content may be posted either publicly or privately.

Course Role and History

This course is part of the Integrative Design, Arts, and Technology (IDeATe) program at Carnegie Mellon University. It is a recommended portal course for entering either the IDeATe Intelligent Environments or Physical Computing programs. This course makes use of the IDeATe fabrication and lab facilities in the lower level of Hunt Library. The permanent link for the course is https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/16-223.

This course was offered under this name in Fall 2020, Fall 2019 and Fall 2018, but was previously known as 16-223: Introduction to Physical Computing in Fall 2017, Fall 2016, and Fall 2015, and under 16-223/60-223 in Fall 2014. That name is still used by 60-223: Introduction to Physical Computing.

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Creative Kinetic Systems Fall 2021 Course Guide by Garth Zeglin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.