Comments for Making Things Interactive, Fall 2020

Comment on I’ll take that as a “Yes” by Jet Townsend

Jet Townsend — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 22:15:48 +0000

One note: in the music world we have a lot of debate about what “perfect pitch” means. Many of us believe it’s like being raised bilingual, you learn two different languages as you grow up instead of going to class to learn a second language. Rick Beato, a professional musician, has raised his kids to have perfect pitch. It’s almost creepy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXivZlPu0ms

Comment on Sound in Physical Interaction Examples by kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu

kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 00:51:15 +0000

In reply to Jet Townsend.

http://global.11st.co.kr/glb/product/SellerProductDetail.tmall?method=getSellerProductDetail&prdNo=1797740744#

11st is like amazon in Korea, and they ship this worldwide (it’s a totally well known, safe platform)! They have different kinds, but the one I use for my cats is HT-P003. We tried using a water purifier from here as well but cats seem to find it very weird and scary because the water is moving.

Let me know if you need more info!!

Comment on Sound in Physical Interaction Examples by Jet Townsend

Jet Townsend — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 00:43:15 +0000

Can you post a link to that cat feeder? I can’t find it in English, but a link in Korean is fine.

Comment on Class notes, 6 Oct 2020 by kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu

kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 11:50:03 +0000

Question: What if you were playing mp3 files or video, how would you use interrupts as part of the interface?

For hardware, other devices can generate interrupts like when putting on AirPods, it automatically syncs with the music app and the banner pops up on the interface indicating that it has been connected. In this case, the music app was being used, and it is interrupted by the bluetooth settings UI. Or as in YouTube, the messages like “press ESC to exit fullscreen” or “press spacebar to pause and start” pop up on the interface as well. Every keystroke itself generates as interrupts in this UI. I would use interrupts as part of the interface by different components such as banners, notifications, or a floating button, and add animations when appearing and exiting to make it look as smooth as possible for the user and not to make them feel annoyed by sudden interface changes.

Comment on Interesting State Machines by Jet Townsend

Jet Townsend — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:23:13 +0000

In the US, we have “rest stops” and “truck stops” on major public highways. A rest stop has bathrooms, drinking water, maps, and maybe vending machines. A truck stop was originally for people driving semis, they not only had bathrooms but showers, diesel fuel, and sit-down restaurants. Rest stops slowly evolved in to something like a truck stop for people making long distance trips by car. When I drive from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, I always stop at the same two rest stops to stretch, get coffee, etc.

Comment on Assignment #3: Display Sounds of a State Machine by kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu

kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 10:55:54 +0000

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/32OPOznpltn-stunning-curcan/editel?sharecode=ZzRkc6SEV4qRWETWBHUlpaVMg9w8RBxkgwzj03aXpbA

I do not know why but phone/mechanical alarms tend to give me migraines. (I think it’s because it suddenly creates a loud noise that wakes you up? not sure; but this is why I can’t take naps) So I just wake up corresponding to light. Yet I also sweat a lot, and I have been waking up in a gross state of mind because always wake up to the heat of the sunlight.
So I thought, what if an LED lamp works as an alarm instead of creating a loud sound.
I coded/made a circuit that has an LED that corresponds with the value of a photoresistor.
In real life, the photoresistor would be attached behind the blind so when the sun comes out, the LED lamp will light up without sunlight over heating the room.

Comment on Make It So Forward-Chapter 3 Thoughts by kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu

kyungsec@andrew.cmu.edu — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 10:09:47 +0000

After reading Make it so, and about science fiction, I both agree and disagree. Yes, science fiction is loaded with imagination and creativity, and it is rooted in what we have in present; however, I think science fiction became not only predictive but also very cliché. The technology we see and feel from Iron Man may be fascinating, yet the technology from those movies always brushes the mechanism of “how” it works under the rug and shows the sci-fi genius Tony Stark. (and it is always the job of modern-day real engineers to figure out the “how” part.) The depressing part of this, though, is that people just glances and walks pass thinking “meh, I’ve already seen Tony Stark doing it.”
And Make it so also goes over about the interface design and interaction. As great as it seems from the sci-fi movies, it may not be as amazing. For example, those holographic screens that moves with the user’s action. Interaction wise, maybe it’s great that it involves natural interaction, meaning that like Wii from Nintendo, the user naturally figures out because it is in their physical movement. However, the user experience wise, it is not great, indeed, it is very opposite to being friendly. Those hologram panels always appear to be exclusive for those nerdy characters in the movies.
Like I mentioned in my bath buddy presentation, users happen to have some sort of mental model in their minds. The mental model for high-tech panels would be those hologram panels; therefore, the designers present something like a laser keyboard. The thought of it was great, and it perfectly matched the users’ mental model; however, it wasn’t quite successful because the user experience of the keyboard wasn’t a good representation of what people sought for other than looking cool. That is why I think the conceptual model should sometimes look away from people’s expectations because it does not always promise that was exactly what they are looking for.

Comment on Welcome to MTI, Fall 2020 by tianhony@andrew.cmu.edu

tianhony@andrew.cmu.edu — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:34:12 +0000

Assess what skills you can bring to the class and your projects, maybe share those as Looking Outward?

I study computer science so I can bring my coding/debugging skills to the class. I’ve done research on machine knitting at the Textiles lab, so I have some experience with soft fabrication and using a industrial knitting machine(Though I’m not sure how useful that is during the pandemics).

Comment on Descendant short story thoughts by tianhony@andrew.cmu.edu

tianhony@andrew.cmu.edu — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:19:29 +0000

The story was also confusing to me at the beginning, and it was difficult for me to imagine or picture what the suit looks like and how the protagonist lives in the suit. I did find the story quite interesting and I think I was expecting some kinds of plot twists throughout the story. I especially liked how the story starts with the human saying “I hurt”, and ends with the suit saying “I hurt”. The suit was originally designed to protect the human and improve the human abilities, so it was ironic that the suit ‘lived’ longer than the human and it acquired emotions that electronic parts should not have.

Comment on Tom Igoe’s “Physical Computing’s Greatest Hits (or misses?)” by tianhony@andrew.cmu.edu

tianhony@andrew.cmu.edu — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:07:19 +0000

When I first saw the title of “Greatest Hits (or misses?)”, I thought the article would be about what are or are not considered as physical computing, but it surprised me that these “overdone” concepts/ideas don’t appear “overdone” to me, and that’s probably just because I haven’t seen enough. Therefore, I’m really excited to see what will come out of this class, especially with covid-19, when”physical interactions” are looking extremely different.