Assignments¶

Technical Exercises¶

The course begins with several rapid prototype exercises intended to develop machine-building skills.

Project Assignments¶

The projects are the core of this course: we want to design, build, and document devices which blend digital and physical processes to meet human needs in expressive or useful ways.

The full text of the project assignments will be posted below.

Past Technical Exercises¶

Following are a selection of topical technical exercises from previous iterations of the course.

Sound and Music¶

Exercise: Percussion Toy. Parametric 3D design of a laser-cuttable percussion instrument.
Exercise: Music Box. Free-standing human-powered mechanical sound machine.
Exercise: Motor Music. Free-standing gearmotor-powered interactive sound machine.

Storytelling Machines¶

Kinetic Toy. Parametric 3D design of a laser-cuttable kinetic play device.
Mechanical Puppet. Free-standing puppet system with human-operated control mechanism.
Motor Puppet. Free-standing puppet system with gearmotor actuation.
Programmed Puppet. Free-standing puppet system with microcontroller.

Marble Runs¶

Marble Run Tile. Parametric 3D design of a laser-cuttable marble run.
Marble Fidget Toy. Handheld marble device fabricated using 3D printing.
Actuated Marble Run Tile. Marble run tile including hobby servo actuation.
Marble Lift. Marble run incorporating DC gearmotor to lift balls.
Reactive Marble Run Tile. Marble run tile incorporating single-bit sensing.
Motor Marble Run Tile. Marble run tile incorporating DC gearmotors.
Marble Game. Playable electromechanical game using marbles.
Marble Music. Musical instrument using marbles.

In-Class¶

Interview Game. Getting to know each other.
Discussion Prompts. Building a foundation for classroom discussion.
Hand Choreography. Developing a domain-specific choreography language.
Network Party. Live networked interaction using custom tactile user interfaces.