Introductions and Admin

Introduce ourselves and describe what we want out of the class

Class blog — I have to “promote” you after you sign on for the first time.

A10 cannot be used outside of class time. I’ll see if I can create a “class time” for MTI

kits are available: https://bookstore.web.cmu.edu/SiteText?id=73598

How do we handle the end of the semester?

Pick My Office Hours

Discuss

revisit tigoe’s page — what was physical interaction and what was reaction? Do you see any themes in projects that aren’t allowed? is there something you’re tired of seeing?

reading assignment — what makes something interactive?

does interaction require emotion or just the appearance of emotion? When do we go from “robot” to “uncanny valley” to “human”?

Musicians and DJs working a crowd — who is interacting and who is driving the interaction?

so what is physical interaction? When/where did it start?

Physical Interaction History

Beekeepers – explain the complexity of a hive and how we’re only just now (past 20 years) discovering how bees vote to make hive-wide decisions. “Honeybee Democracy” is a great introduction to how science works and how to write about science: https://amzn.to/2Z6Y9yL

Alchemists – trying to make things happen with substances they don’t understand. If you don’t know about elements and that lead and gold are elements, what decisions are making to interact with substances? People knew that honey bee “propolis” helped prevent infection thousands of years before we discovered bacteria. Sometimes working in ignorance still leads to progress.

New music and dance styles based on sampling and analog synths: Moog, ARP 2600, hip-hop. Early hip-hop was limited to record players and mics; early synths were insanely expensive and shared at fancy studios. Grand Wizard Theodore *invented* scratching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHCOIK_fICU

Console games with physical feedback, Rez Trance Vibrator: https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/25/13046770/rez-trance-vibrator-ps2

Dance Dance Revolution from arcades to console games

Driving assistance with vehicles: AI? Interaction? What if the car won’t let me turn, start, or stop? How can I disable safety features?

Flight assistance software in commercial aircraft. Is autopilot interactive?

Flight assistance for military aircraft: self-guiding drones, incoming missile warnings for helicopter pilots. Interaction or reaction?

Near-future Interaction

the focus of this class – we’re prototyping for five years out

interacting with intelligent systems that we don’t completely understand and that can make decisions against our will or with results we don’t appreciate

• car that thinks you’re too intoxicated, sleepy, or incompetent to drive, so it refuses to move
• home automation system that won’t open the doors and let you leave because the particulate count in the air is hazardous and you’re not wearing a mask
• police equipment that won’t let you fire at unarmed civilians — pistol trapped in a holster, safety wont go off.
• fire engines that won’t engage fires that cannot be contained
• entertainment systems that can filter content as part of mental-health

We’re giving “agency” to interactive devices: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_(philosophy)

“Near-future” is a popular base of pop-culture: MCU set a few years from now

Blade Runner 2049 is a bit farther in the future.

practical effects used as input devices to imagined systems of the future

Adam Savage gets a no-spoilers tour of the Blade Runner 2049 prop shop.

show Adam Savage with prop manager, start around 4:12, skip to 14:30, skip to 18:30

This is not new, in the past we talked about the future and technology. “Design for Dreaming”, released in 1956, is all about the future. It’s also all about the sexism in the 1950s, so you can skip to these points, to get the important points: start at 3:30; skip to 6; skip to 8

Good drama is about storytelling — what if interactive devices are characters in the story?

• Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) — our super computer meets the Soviet supercomputer and they plan our future
• 2001 — HAL 9000, the ship’s computer that decides it does not want to follow the plan laid out by humans
• War Games (1983) — A computer controls all of America’s nuclear weapons. Would you like to play a game? the only way to win is to not play the game.
• Alien — MOTHER, a semi-intelligent computer that controls spacecraft while humans are in cryosleep.
• ST:TNG’s Data — a walking mobile phone smarter than spacecraft computers?
• (Terminator movies don’t count — killing spree robots, not interaction)
• Farscape — Moya is semi-intelligent spacecraft used by the main characters, and can refuse orders or do things because of her own desire, not that of her passengers.

Assignment 2, due at 11:59 the day before class, so these are due Monday, 7 September

First, order your kit https://bookstore.web.cmu.edu/SiteText?id=73598

This is a pen-and-paper assignment to go over posting to the class blog and what a good submission looks like. If you want to make something with hardware, that’s fine, but it’s not required. Science fiction is ok, fantasy is not. ever. NO UNICORNS.

1.) A smart doorbell, similar to the smart thermostat I talked about on Tuesday, or

2.) Make a useful practical effect by giving interaction to a thing that doesn’t currently interact with humans. For inspiration, watch Blade Runner 2049. Yes, it’s 3 hours long but OMFG. Look at the physical interfaces between intelligent systems, replicants, humans, AI, and agency for androids.

Prepare the presentation as you would for a crit. Look at previous classes for inspiration

https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/48-339/f2019/

https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/48-339/s2018/