In the first project, students were asked to create a simple interaction related to the topic of food, which is enriched by data. The used the simple iPaq component to bridge the physical and digital.

In the second project, bikes and data were crossed.

In the third project, the topic is interactions in public space that employ data.

Through a number of different mini-projects we submerged ourselves in this fascinating topic, looking for poetry and beauty in interaction scenarios.

HEre are the three winning videos:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQXFacmWfA1v-9JF4p_Dl6AxQ7m_EosLr

Today our world revolves among many things around sounds and we wanted to work with the connection between sound and shape. The question was how can we define what is the sound of something heavy, rough or jagged, etc.
We have created a project that allows people to take something from the physical world, and make a sound of it. With RFID technology we succeeded in creating a machine that converts those items into sound.

A person can not only hear how a heavy or a light objects sounds, but he can make combinations with them and discovered a new sound.
The machine works every time you slide an object on it, when each one can activate and de-activate its own sound. Sliding them all together you will hear a unique composed song.

The final result:

…and some process:

First presentation:
We decided to present the project when two people are talking, while they are talking there is another conversation with going on with their hands. We placed two computers facing them.
The results were relatively good but we felt during the presentation something was missing, the comments also showed that, we realized that two people together creates too much noise and something is lost in the interaction.
The decision was unanimous in the group: two people dialogue is too much; one person will be enough.

Second presentation:
We decided to try and add another layer to the interaction, like dividing the body, the movements and speed into sections that way each will play a different sound.
 We brought a microphone and recorded ourselves in different sections of gibberish nonsense shouting (needless to say how ridiculous it sounds to people around at that time), and put all the appropriate changes to the system.

Third presentation:
Not much has changed, but there were some changes, most of them were small but significant changes like how to make people understand what to do without telling them, how we steer them in to the zone of the camera and move without telling them that . All of that is related to the set - up around, how we build the set to invite people.
We introduced these changes in addition to the velocity distribution of a body but, failure, it does not sound good and not ”feel” good, maybe if we had another week to work on it we had found a solution and make it work better.


Time to move to the next project, leaving only thoughts what would had happen if we had another week ……

Background

The peep-hole project allows a sneak peek into the interaction design laboratory. Its purpose is to expose the activities and knowledge created in the lab to the viewers. The Peep-hole project is structured from 3 parts. Each of the parts is dedicated to one human sense.

Concept

To allow passer-by to peep into a place he doesn’t know. By peeping in the viewer can experience some of the abilities and pros that the interaction lab has.

Method

The peep-hole combines three human senses (touching, watching and hearing). In the visual part I tried to communicate with the interaction lab logo; so I developed the peep-hole in three holes. The first is the peeping-hole, the second is the speaker and the third is the knob. During this project I did lots of research, checking the height of the holes, the distance between them, the sound that helps the user to feel what he is doing, and the knob (materials, feel, and texture). Throughout the project I created 4 main prototypes; some were already installed into doors I collected from the street. The final product will be installed in the interaction lab’s door,
and this is where another interesting part of the research begins.

Prototypes

Presented in general details.

Prototype 01 – testing an idea of creating a knob, using the mouse laser bin as a guide for creating that knob.

Prototype 02 – max software for communicating with the new knob. I was testing the speed and delta of the turning knob, trying different knobs.

Prototype 03 – first implementation in the door number 1, new hacked electronic knob, sound system implementation, testing holes height and distance.

Prototype 04 – it was the second implementation in door number 2, testing with people near the lab. The door’s navigation metaphor was scrolling through moving film. The knob was like a radio’s knob, when you turn it you go forward / backwards.

* In this stage I decided to make some big changes, due to many good advices from Karmen Franinivich. First I changed the metaphor. I created a space behind the door eye so people would feel and connect what they see to the lab behind that door. The movie had become another side project that gave me the opportunity to deal with the communicational side of the project.

Prototype 05 – new door design, improving door’s strengths (anti-vandalism), and different door eye tries. Embedding a sound system that detects if a user is near; adding sleep / awake states, testing with several sensors, trying many video tests, checking clarity, focus, hierarchies, defining number of projects presented in the door.

Prototype 06 (current) – I created new and improved max patch, fixed portable electronics box that can be hanged on the door, better videos for use, increase knob sensitivity, sound design for guidance and clarity. Also due to many changes I have decided to minimize and remove many features that were build in pervious prototypes.

Future –better hardware, smarter software, real standing door, and much more.

Online radio and music stations

You would have thought that the easy downloading and the multiplicity of music channels would make people to abandon the radio concept. Well, it’s not true.

According to recent publish by the ratings body Rajar, 47.2 million people are listening to the radio in the UK, each week. This is the highest listening rating since 1992. This increase is being driven in part by the growing use of the internet to listen to the radio and also due to new devices such as the iPad.

People love to be exposed to new music, to explore and to expend their playlist.

Another common listening option are the online music station like Last.fm, Spotify, Pandora, and of more .These websites usually offer eclectic or specific playlists, a music recommendation service, and a sharing options. The obvious disadvantage is the fact that they are virtual, and unlike the physical intuitive radio interface – they offer 2d flat experience…

More thoughts about radio, and more background for this project, you can find in the project’s wiki- http://www.superavi.com/interaction-lab/

The concept

Radio.co is a music sharing product with a dedicated software and an online community. The radio allows the user to hear his music and to explore other people’s music, not only when he is near his computer, but all over his house, in a ‘stand alone’ product,  connected to the users playlists in a WiFi connection.

The method

Like the apple airport express, the radio allow the user to stream his music and to hear it when he is in his bedroom, his living room or in his kitchen. The user can make special playlists or hear a random songs just like with iTunes or windows media player.

If the user is in an “adventurous” mood, if he wants to hear something new and to explore other people’s music, he is physically taking the main knob from “his” area to the “social” area.

Then he can insert the knob into one of the lighted holes, connect and listen to someone else’s playlist.

Each hole represents a member in a music sharing community. When a hole is lighted, the member is online and the user is welcome to connect to his “station”.

The design concept

The design inspiration came from the classic radio by dieter Brahms.

(http://designmuseum.org/design/dieter-rams), and from the old operators switchboards.

Coming up soon – the technical solutions and the final interactive product.

What?

The SensiMote is an interactive remote control for an air conditioning system. It is activated by intuitive gestures: if we feel hot and we want to cool the room, we simply blow on it. The remote will “feel” the cold and will pass what it “feels” to the A/C. The longer we blow on it, the bluer it becomes and the colder the room gets. If we feel cold and we want to heat the room, we simply rub Sensimote’s fuzzy side. The remote will “feel” the heat, and will pass what it “feels” to the A/C.The more we rub it, the redder it becomes and the hotter the room gets.

To turn off the A/C, the SensiMote should be laid down to Sleep on its left side (not the rubbed side) for at least 3 seconds.

Why?

The main idea for this product was to question the way we using certain devices. Perhaps there is a better and more convenient way to use them? We chose the air conditioner because we think that the current mental model with which we control it is wrong, and the numeric scale that is related to temperature is not right. Those numbers are not really a good description of the sensation we are after (also, 22˚ is not the same in different operation modes). With Sensimote, we don’t care anymore about a number that is shown on the remote control – from now on, we only care about what we FEEL, and this is what we indicate to the remote.

How?

The remote

For the “rubbing” gesture we used 3 pressure sensors (FSRs) connected in a row and when the user press all 3 of them together and changed the main pressure from one to another, the remote “senses ” the heat. We did it this way to prevent from the A/C to turn the heat on in case that someone is simply touching it with no intention of doing so.

For the “blowing” gesture we used a wind sensor the can sense when a wind is blowing through it.For the “sleeping” function used a tilt swich (mercury switch) that needed to be closed for 3 seconds. We connected those and multiple LEDs to Arduino.The SensiMote runs on a 9v battery.

We connected the heat ventilator’s functions to Relays that were controlled with Arduino. We used Xbee for the communication between the “A/C” and the SensiMote. We connected one to SensiMote’s and the other to the “A/C” through the Arduinos.

Who?

David Budzik, Guy Eizon and Shimon Aviram

What?

The SuperNav is a supermarket navigation system that is provided to customers by the supermarket. SuperNav shows the shopper their exact location on an isometric map of the supermarket. When the shopper speaks the name of a desired product to the device, the map displays, dynamically, the location of the product and the shortest route to it. After the shopper reaches the desired product, they can move to next one by saying its name.

We selected a game-like style of the interface and interaction: the graphics show a pixel-style charcter moving in the space, and the sonic feedback when arriving at the desired location contains a humoristic “twist”related to the identity of the product.

Why?

Originally, this product was meant to be for wheelchair users and its main idea was to make the shopping experience into much faster, with less orientation mistakes and much more comfortable because of the inconveniences of navigating in the isles of the supermarket with the wheelchair and all of the other shopping carts. During the development we understood that this is actually a product that can be of benefit for everyone.

How?

We used RFID technology to know exactly where the user and shopping carts are. We placed tags in gaps of one step. Each spot had 4 RFID tags in a row so the RFID reader won’t miss it, and we mapped the 4 as one spot. Two RFID readers were connected to a stable element at the bottom of the shopping cart, 3 cm from the ground. The readers were that were connected to Arduino.

For the input, we used a voice recognition software. To prevent the system from receiving noise from the background, we used a Press To Talk button that the user need to press while saying the name of the product.

Who?

Guy Eizon, David Budzik and Shimon Aviram

Mentors

Michal Rinot, Yonatan Assouline

Students

David Tal, Eli Haimov, Victor Bar, Amnon Barnea, Udi Oren, Dor Leist, Noga Amit-Miller, Omer Miller

What?

An ordinary supermarket carriage empowered with motors so handling the carriage becomes easy and as intuitive to the shopper as if it’s a regular carriage.  

Why?

The supermarket adventure is characterized by the common phenomenon that the farther in the adventure we go, the heavier our carriage gets and the harder it is to manipulate it. So, if to begin with we don’t have much strength or ability to control it, even less as we advance to our target.   We want our carriage to serve us, and not the other way around!

How?

In order to maintain the intuitive interaction with the shopper, the manipulation of the carriage remains as always – by pushing and pulling the handle. The handle is equipped with sensors and switches invisible to the shopper, that perceive pushing an pulling movements on the two sides of the handle. These are then analyzed by the software and translated to action of the motors.
We used a PhidgetMotorControl HC which allows us to control the angular velocity and acceleration of the motors.

For power, we used a typical PC power supply which use switcher technology to convert the AC input to lower DC voltages. The typical voltages supplied are:
- 3.3 volts
- 5 volts
- 12 volts
For our motors, the suitable voltage is 12 volts, so we used the yellow cable.
We also connected a switch to a green and black cables to be able to turn it on and off.

Our carriage is a typical supermarket carriage but we had to replace the back wheels so it will fit the installation of the motors. To stabilize the movement of the carriage we used plumbing pipe which attaches the wheels to each other and sets a straight path of movement.

Who?

Yael Zwickel, Miri Hakmon, Guy Novominski

What?

The Perplexed Guide is a device that helps users differentiate between the prime and the bland while shopping at the supermarket, by decreasing the salience of all non relevant visual information. The application allows the user to create a shopping list out of commonly used products at home, and then helps the user find these items at the supermarket when shopping.

Before throwing away a used product the user creates a digital shopping list by pointing the camera to the product’s unique barcode. When the user arrives at the supermarket he views the environment through the monitor. Viewed throught the device, all supermarket products are seen in gray-scale, apart from the desired products that are shown in full color, attracting the eye and the shopper towards it.

Why?

The supermarket is full of stimulations, visual, vocal and scents. We decided to come up with a solution for the visual stimulations by filtering the non relevant visual stimulations. The idea was to come up with as a solution to help people with cognitive disability, by decreasing the cognitive load one faces while walking in the super market .

The Perplexed Guide turned out to be an inclusive solution for all people coping with the manufactures manipulations that force products in to our carts without us ever planning on buying them in the first place.

How?

We mashed up combining a small security monitor and a web camera in order to simulate a tablet\smartphone application.

In order to single out the relevant product we had to come up with a system; we were inspired by an iphone application called ‘facelook’ that recognize users faces from photos and tags them to their Facebook profile, but products at the supermarket do not have the same structure as faces and so that algorithm wasn’t right.

We had to figure out how to recognize products. It was impossible for us with the little knowledge we have to write an algorithm that will recognize each product, but we could use a ready made technology: fiducials! Fiducials are markers that can be recognized with a camera using a designated program such as ‘cvv’ or ‘Reactivision’ that interprets the ID of the marker while filming it.

We wrote a small program using ‘max/msp’, that communicates with the ‘Reactivision’ through the ‘TUIO’ protocol. Input comes from the camera and to the program when ‘Reactivision’ recognizes the marker on the product, The user will now assign the product to the grocery list by pressing the ‘add to list’ button. Then he will receive an output that shows the product is listed.

When the user enters the supermarket he will receive the same output- the listed item will turn colored when he will pass by it. After the user has taken the product from the shelf and to the cart he will press the ‘remove from list’ button in order to remove the product from the list and finish the shop.

Who?

Adi Kaminski, Adi Cohen, Dima Polovkin (Special thanks to Yair Reshef and Michael Harari for their major help in writing the software.)

What?

Our “Social Kettle”, as opposed to the regular kettle in the kitchen, functions as a social entertainment device which is used place in the living room. In order to boil water with the “Social Kettle” the users need to whistle to it during the whole boiling process or else it just wouldn’t boil.

Why?

In this project we dealt with changing the interaction with an existing product. Our inspiration came from the old whistling kettle. The interactive part of the kettle is designed to become a shared experience. The group needs motivation and perseverance to earn their coffee or tea.

How?

The kettle has four spouts which face all participants. The kettle contains LED stripes that indicate two things: first, the water temperature (the color changes in a spectrum from blue to red). Second, the level of strength of the whistle (by the height of the lit strips, similar to an equalizer).

The technology is divided into two parts:

1. Software

2. Hardware

The software’s aim is to identify the whistle; the identification is done by using Processing software with Frucsinge Sonia library.
The hardware is managed by the Arduino Microprocessor. There are four sensors included in the hardware: Two force sensors to measure the height of the water in the kettle, one sensor to recognize the lid, a temperature sensor to identify the temperature of the water. We also put a Relay to control the heating mechanism.

In addition, there are 5 RGB LED strips controlled by the element TLC 5940 and 15 transistors pnp.

Who?

Tomer Pasman, Yael Zwickel and Anat Bawer

What?

LOOKUP is a shopping-cart locating device.
Our product is made out of two parts connected as one unit. The first part is left on the shopping cart, while the other is worn around the wrist. The worn part has a built in button which, when pressed, triggers the part left on the cart to project an image onto the ceiling above the cart, indicating its location.

Why?

In this project we dealt with the challenge of making the supermarket more accessible for those with memory/orientation disorders. The solution we found is an Inclusive Design one, since it is common for everyone, when shopping in a large supermarket, to forget in which aisle the shopping cart was left.

How?

Technically, the device was built by hacking a keyless entry system for vehicles. The remote, which was placed in the bracelet, sends a signal to the control unit in order to open a relay. We have identified the change of the relay using a Phidgets board. We programmed our software with Processing language, and the projection on the ceiling was done by a standard projector (but is planned to be used witha Pico projector on the device).

Who?

Anat Bawer and Tomer Pasman (with Noa Eshel).

On the 10/04/11 we have an open day. Come equipped with good mood and smiley face. We will upload pictures after the event.

What

We tried to help people with visual disabilities enjoy the independence of shopping in the supermarket. We designed a sonic product that helps navigation and orientation, using voice presented through a headset. While walking in the supermarket, the shopper will hear the categories of the products found on the shelves around him or her. While walking in the center of the aisle, the sound is directional, to illustrate the location of the products, and when approaching one of the shelves, sound effects (pitch) indicate the height of the product on the shelf.

Why

Some people with visual disabilities are able to see up to 50 cm. Purchasing at the supermarket can be difficult or impossible. Through our headphones, people can use multiple senses to make buying at the supermarket independently easier.

How

In the supermarket ceiling we place an infrared camera which tracks an infrared LED placed on the headset worn by the shopper. The camera image is processed by to identify the shopper’s location. Sound is played according to this location via a custom-made software developed in Processing.

Who

Maya Avni, Itay Miller, Levy Davish.

What

sensaTV is a novel television remote control embedded into the coffee table. It is designed as a five petal flower, each representing a group of similar-content channels,
such that each petal will allow you to browse between the channels of the content group, using a knob that moves on the petal periphery. Once in the vicinity of a channel, the knob will be attracted into place and the channel will change. On each channel change, an index appears on the screen, graphically pointing out your location within the channel group and providing information about the group, the channel and the show being broadcast at the moment.

Why

The existing TV remote controls are products of technological advances and cost-reduction considerations, with little thought given to user experience. We set out to examine the way in which we browse channels. Instead of going up and down an arbitrary numeric scale, or typing up to 3-digit channel code, we suggest a physical and mental browsing map. The route and location of the channel is dictated by its contents.

How

On the outline of the flower we’ve created a route, in which a knob-controller can move. On locations along the route we’ve defined spots for channels, and set magnets to create tactile attraction. This way you can sense approaching and changing of a channel without looking down – which is useful when watching TV. In our prototype, we placed a ‘Fiducial’ marker at the bottom end of the free-moving knob. A web camera tracks the knob and CCV software identifies the location of the marker and feeds the information to our Flash based software which displays the relevant information on the television screen.

Who

Itai Miller, Levy Davish, Guy Novominski and Adi Cohen

Karmen is developing a project titled ‘Voice Sketching Tool’ around interactive gestures and sound. Check out her project blog here.

Come see, and try, 8 interactive projects. A kettle you have to whistle to, an alternative way to navigate TV channels, a remote control for an air conditioning systems that responds to your own warmth and cold.


Inclusive design means design that takes into account different people, with different abilities. In this semester we looked at how interactive objects can create beautiful and useful experiences, that can extend to include a variety of people.


We tried two different approaches: in the mid-term project, we started from a certain disability (visual, hearing, motor control, cognitive) and tried to learn about it. Looking specifically at the experience of shopping the supermarket, we created objects that address the disability, and then tried to see where they can be useful for people with different abilities. In the final project, we worked the opposite way around: we started by creating objects that mix and excite the senses in different ways. We then tried to see what the relevance of these objects is to people with different sensory abilities.

What?

The Samurai Samorai is an interactive cutting board that shows you how to make sushi in an easy and playful way.

How?

The Sushi Samorai interaction is possible due to a few key elements;

On the surface of the board there are 9 metal strips that are wired to an iPack. The knife as well is wired to the iPack and is, in fact the ground key.
This way, whenever the knife touches one of the strips a circle is closed.
The software and animation were performed in Adobe Flash.

Why?

The cutting board is an everyday, ordinary object and we found it to be just that, ORDINARY and in other words quite boring. We decided to add a twist to it and make the “chore” of cutting veggies to a fun and exciting experience.

What?

The project is meant to give life to a simple plant and remind it’s owner that if you don’t water it, it will wilt and die. When the plant senses a low water level its slowly descends to allow for a wilted look, when watered the plant will rise and do a little dance to show it’s satisfaction.

We forget far too often to water our plants and as a result their beauty quickly fades, with all the hassles of everyday life it’s very easy to forget such a simple task. So why not enhance the interaction between plant and owner. Perhaps if watering the plant grants an immediate reaction, the plant’s owner will be more want to water the plant more often.

Technologically wise the plant consist of a base that hides the inner mechanisms, within the base is are 2 motors and chain which allow the plant’s “pot” to move up and down and tilt.

The pot is made out of fabric to allow it to compress and expand to allow for the interaction. An Arduino is used to control the motors and access the water level.

What?

Drunken Mirror is designed for social gathering places such as Pubs, and its purpose is to encourage people drinking and to enhance interaction between people.
There is one seat in front of the mirror for a single contester, with every drink the contester drinks more and more objects appear on the mirror (such as a hat, glasses, mustache, etc.) that actually interacts with the person by moving along with him, as he keeps on drinking more objects appear.
Not only the objects appear on that one person, they appear on anyone who looks at the mirror.
In addition- next to the mirror there is the “Wall Of Fame” that contains all the pictures taken with most objects on.

Why?

The main goal was making an uncomfortable situation to a more relaxed and funny. From that point on we started narrowing down the options and chose the “Pub environment”. We decided to focus on interaction between people who are unfamiliar and give them a trigger to start a conversation or any kind of interaction.
In order to encourage the interaction we thought about the drinking contests in pubs and that mainly because:

1. People come to Pubs to drink.

2. People will want to participate in the game since most of the people are competitive in their nature.

3. There are people who loves been the center of attention.

The aim is get people to experience something that seems familiar to them at first but later with a Twist (the objects).
The fact that objects are appearing over people’s faces is a new situation and may create options and chances for people to communicate.

How?

The mirror showing the objects is a result of a projection of a computer screen that receives a photo of the people in front of the mirror through a network camera and by using FLASH software the object appears over the people’s faces.

Drink and contester identification:

The appearance of the object is controlled by the bar tender.
Underneath the bar there are two switches what are operated by PHIDJECT.
The first switch calibrates the system (deletes all the objects)-is used when a new contester sits in front of the mirror.
The second switch is adding the objects according to amount of drinks taken by the contester, and in charge of grading the “Wall Of Fame”.

We decided to give the control to the bar tender as a result of lake in time. The ideal idea was using a weight sensor under the cups that works when the cup is empty (after the contester drank the drink).

The Wall Of Fame:

The wall of fame is updated automatically when there is a new record. The new record changes the picture appearing over the wall and puts on the new picture of the person with most objects on and removes the old record to second and third places.
Just like the mirror the “Wall Of Fame” is a projection of the projector on milky colored Perspex.

Facial Identification:

As a part of the software we used for the mirror there was an opened code for facial identification, we added objects and operations that made the objects appear or disappear.

What?

“Bubu monsty” is a toy box with a soul. The idea of “bubu” is to encourage the kids to return the toys back to the toy box after playing. Whenever the child puts a toy back into Bubu, Bubu makes sounds as if it is chewing and eating, the sounds increase when putting more toys in it. When all the toys are back in “Bubu”, “Bubu” vibrates and burps, by doing so “Bubu” informs the child that all the toys taken out of it are back in place and that now it is satisfied.

Why?

One of the challenges that parents are facing is the issue of room tidying, that is why we’ve decided to turn the challenge from a chore to enjoyment.
We focused on kids among the ages of 2-4 years; this is the phase when kids develop organization values. We’ve turned their toy box from a simple box into a friendly monster “eating” toys.

The decision was derived of three main reasons:

1. Children respond to stimulus: The chosen age range is set in the developmental stage when kids respond to the stimulus surrounding them. In order to attract the child’s attention to the stimulus, respond to it and ask for it again we’ve used sounds and vibration effects.

2. Focus on food: Children at these ages are in the phase when burping is a positive practice and they can imitate “Bubu’s” response when “eating” and “satisfied”.

3. Children tend to personify objects:According to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, children at this age range tend to get attached to certain objects in their environment and to attribute human qualities to these object. Therefore we wished to create a bond between the toy box (Bubu) and the child so that the child would have the urge to help “Bubu”.

The reasons stated above helped us characterize Bubu and get to the final product.

How:

We’ve used weight sensor which identified whenever a toy was taken out/put in according to the weight range obtained. (Increasing weight= toy inserted, decreasing weight= toy taken out).
The data has been transferred to software developed in “FLASH”, which set the type of the sound and the toy box condition.
In order to know when and if all the toys taken out of “Bubu” are returned, the software has made a comparison between the sum of the weight decreased and the sum of the weight increased every time there has been a change in weight.
Balanced weight meant that all the toys taken out of “Bubu” are back again and therefore ” Bubu ” is satisfied, vibrates and burps.
The effect of vibration was activated by the use of “phidget”, which commanded when to operate according to a command it received from the software we developed.

What?

Zen for kids is an interactive puzzle for toddlers and small children that educates them about life in the jungle.

Why?

When we did our research and observed children’s play and toys we discovered that they enjoy most creating worlds of their own. In this game with every piece that they put in place something comes alive. This way, the children learn about the sound and behavior of the element whether it’s an animal or an element of nature like a small pond.

How?

The game is created in a few layers.

Hardware: the play board and pieces. The board is made out of two clear pieces of thick plastic (0.8 mm) that are glued together and have cutouts in different shapes. Between the two pieces lies wire strings, each cutout has two strings going from its edge. The strings are connected to an iPack, one to a letter and another to the ground. The iPack is connected to a laptop that runs the program.

The play pieces are made out from the same material, with a brass cord attached to them. The board is placed on top of a computer screen that is hid in a wooden box so that only the illuminated surface can be seen. When a piece is placed properly in to the board the brass closes a circle. By doing so, the sound and animation for that piece are activated.

Software: Programming, animation and sound The interface is both animated and programmed using Adobe Flash .

What?

Bumper Cars: The project is meant to teach children how colors mix while at the same time making it a fun experience. The project consists of 3 different colored toy bumper cars; yellow, red, and blue.
When 2 cars crash together the colors of both cars mix together resulting in both cars becoming the mixed color, for example crashing the blue and yellow cars will result in both cars becoming green.

All kids love to play with toy cars and crashing them together is natural in play. So why not make this a learning experience while at the same time making it more fun.

The toy cars have four conductive passes surrounding the base of the car, this allows for simple close/open circuit based identification of each car with each car transmitting 5V on a different pass.
With in each car is a separate Arduino which controls the color of each car, each car contains a certain amount of led lamps to allow for different color combinations.

What?

The Reverbio project was part of the “P” learning task where we were supposed to create a toy thaht enables the teaching of a concept through the act of playing.
the Reverbio is an add-on that connects to toys and enables a recording of a sound we wish to attach to the toy (e.g. a ‘tweet tweet’ for a toy bird) and once pressing the connected add-on it makes the sound that was recorded. picture a small contraption that contains a mic and a speaker that can be connected to the toy…

the learning process here regards three of the basic sound principles:

1. loudness – the harder you press the contraption the louder the sound is.

2. timbre – which is the recognition of the sound created (that enables us to differ between a trumpet or a trombone for example, or the ability to recognize mom’s voice) – this will be represented by the sound recorded by the player.

3. pitch – this will be shifted by lifting the toy & contraption higher to make the pitch higher and vice versa.

What?

Can Carnage is a Pimped version of the classic “throw stuff at cans t’ill they fall out” game, basically, we took the classic game and added modern features by putting the whole scene inside a modern crash lab. The game consists of 3 levels in various difficulties, added with a “rule” generator that challenges the players to do weird stuff while throwing balls at the targets.

What?

Yam in Hebrew means sea and Yabash means land. Yam – yabasha is a game based on a classic outdoor game that is played by children in Israel. In the traditional game, a big circle is drawn on the ground (like in Hopscotch) Inside the circle is sea and everything else is land. There is a minimum of two players. One gives the orders (sea/land) while the other tries to follow by jumping in or out of the circle. The faster the player yells the orders the harder it is for the jumper to follow.
In the new version we created, the circle is replaced by two bouncy pads for the child to jump on; one is for Yam and the other for Y. We also replaced the yelling of the commands and made controllers that activate different sounds for sea and land.

Why?

In this project the goal was to take a classic game that has little to non technology and transform it to an interactive game or toy. We picked this game because it is very plane, and because we wanted to put it inside the house. (Also because it is very fun to play even as an adult…)

How?

Each pad is made from two hard plates of wood and sponge between them. When a player jumps on the pad the plates close a circle and send a signal to the computer. The controllers are made in the same way only much smaller in size. When a player presses a controller it generates a sound that is related to sea/land. The sounds for sea are of those of water (like drops or waves) and the sounds of land are of live stock (like cows or chicken)

What?

Imagine yourself as a customer who’s trying to re-design his home, and an interior designer is coming to your house with a device that can simply illustrate the results immediately, before a long procedure in the way to get the optimal results.

We thought to ourselves “why not make the whole living room into virtual objects?” The Living Room is the alternative and yet advanced solution for future living room space where you see less electronic devices, less wires everywhere, and even less furniture, and you will have more interactive experience to design and create your own space!
By combining physical icons or objects with projected graphics we can get a new and different, high level, of interaction between the user and its environment. With this technology, we allow the user to set his own atmosphere and operate functional objects. Another objective we can achieved is the “anti-potato-couch” policy. which mean that instead of controlling everything by remote, the user needs to operate this system by moving around objects and to interact with them. Further more, a great value of The Living Room is that all family members will find themselves together in this living room space where all the cool, interesting and experiencing object are…!

Project goal was to encourage people to go outside to the street, and make their stay a pleasant experiential. According to our vision, people enjoying the street, meet other people or just sitting, staring or watching events on the street. in this manner they make the street alive.

We created a system that includes a bench and a dynamic street lamp that encourages people to approach him, sit on the bench it’s connected to and stay beside him.

By subtle gestures of our street lamp responds to what’s happening around him. It follows the people who come to his environment, gets confused trying to figure out whom to respond. Looking for attention and offended if you ignore it or when it alone (turning his head, lowers it and dims the light).Our street light increases the light when someone is sitting bench attached to it, illuminating the environment to that person. It flashes the light dulls it or increase it to find someone to play with when there’s nobody around.

Interaction and Gestures

* Tracking of people in order to create interaction.

* If number of people passing in the street, street lamp gets confused after which one to follow, until it’s chooses only one of the people and will follow only after him.

* Beam strengthened as approaching the center of the bench, if the person really sits down to a maximum beam of light shining.

* If there are no people near the street lamp, or if they are next to him but did not move, streetlight offended, bow my head to one side and a flashing light – it’s sad that he has no one to play and communicate. Then he starts to move from side to side in search of an object to play with.

Interaction with the street lamp makes people react in different ways and gives the feeling that they have someone to be with him, even if they are alone on the street.

Technology

Street lamp powered by two engines. Each engine is responsible for the movement of one axis (X or Y). Complex system of motors, gears and bearings allows the various movements of the streetlight.

Extended system consists of several parts, including photo identification camera detects people in the area and gives information to the computer that processes the data and run the engines. In addition, monitoring is done using rotation sensors that check the position of the engine at any stage, allowing us to know at what point the beam is focused.

Something To Someone

RoadRider is a training gadget for bicycle road riders. The system consists of visual and audio displays, which are assembled on the bicycle handlebars and on the rider’s helmet.

Using the system, the rider can compete against his previous sessions or against sessions of other riders. During the ride, the rider’s speed is continuously sampled and recorded. The different recorded sessions are available to the rider for future use and are listed in the graphic interface of the system. In the beginning of each session, the rider selects the session he wish to compete against.

The rider’s current speed is constantly compared with the speed of his competitor (his previous session). Based on his performance, the rider receives a real-time audio-visual feedback which provides him with an accurate indication of his whereabouts, in comparison to the competitor and to the length of the track.

Interaction

The main aspects RoadRider aims to provide for the rider are are information and motivation. Due to the demanding nature of competitive bicycle riding, it was important that the system will provide the rider with ongoing information, while maintaining his undivided attention on the road ahead. For that reason, we decided to keep the visual display to a minimum and to provide most of the information in the form of a 3D audio. We explored different audio tracks, manipulations and combinations, in the hope to achieve an informative and motivating outcome, which provides the rider with a sense of a real race environment.

How does it work?

The application was constructed of several parts:

* The Phidget – received the input from the bicycle wheel

* The Flash – was responsible for collecting the data from the Phidget, and from the saved files, performing calculations, creating the visual output and sending a string of values to the MAX/MSP component.

* The MAX/MSP – played the different sounds according to the values it received from the flash component, and was also responsible for saving the data.

The Phidget component received the input from the bicycle wheel every time the wheel completed a turn. The flash component was responsible for: collecting the data from the Phidget, and from the saved files, performing calculations on the data, creating the visual output and sending a string of values to the MAX/MSP component. The MAX/MSP component played the different sounds according to the values it received from the Flash component, and was also responsible for saving the data.

The communication between the Phidget component and the Flash component was done through the Phidget’s webservice, and with the Flash listening on the websevice port. For the Flash to the MAX/MSP connection, we used a custom object called flashserver. This object listened on the http port that the Flash broadcast on and passed the values to the MAX/MSP.

The Flash component first opened a names file, which contained all the names of the files currently saved. Each file contained a list of numbers representing the different speeds of previous riders. For the purpose of the demo, we collected about 30 seconds of data, which resulted in about 30 values saved on each file. The user chose a rider to ride against, and the Flash would open the file, read its contents and create a competitor speed array from the data in the file.

Once the race started, the flash began receiving sensor data from the Phidget, counting every full wheel turn, which represented the rider passing about 2 meters. Once every second, the number of wheel turns was collected, resulting in the meters-per-second current speed reading. This was extrapolated into current and average speed, distance passed, acceleration etc. and was compared to the “competitor” values.

We’ve compiled a sequence of scenarios that dictated which sound would be played if the rider was located ahead, behind, or next to the competitor, and the volume level. There were a dozen different sounds that were used, and to control them, a string of values was aggregated according to the scenario. If a sound wasn’t used, a ’0′ value was sent as that sound’s volume, and if a sound was to be played at full volume, a value of ’100′ was sent, and so on. Most sounds had up to 4 channels, for forward right, backwards right, and forward and backwards left, to create a 3d sound experience. Therefore, if a sound had 4 channels, the string contained 4 different volume commands. The values string was then sent to the MAX/MSP component via serial output.

Scenarios Volume and Channels mapping

In addition, a visual display was created, showing both riders’ average speed and total distance, as well as an animation showing their relative position, where the rider that was leading was showed to be higher than the other rider, this display was also updated every second.

Once the race was over, the flash collected the rider’s speed readings per second into another string and sent it to the MAX/MSP to be saved. The MAX/MSP component had opened all sound files and then played each file according to the value it was sent. For example, the values “75 25 0 0” meant that the left upper channel was to be played at 75% volume level, the left backwards channel at 25%, and both right channels were to be silent, giving the impression that the sound came from the left, and slightly forwards. As mentioned before, the MAX/MSP component was also the part that was handling the file saving process.

Configuration:

All three components ran on a single Windows XP machine through their desktop clients, downloaded from the developers sites. All the files were saved under one folder, this included the MAX/MSP .maxpat file, the Phidget Flash drivers, the Flash .fla and .swf files and the media files (sound and images) and the text files that were read by the Flash component and written to by the MAX/MSP component. The MAX/MSP custom objects were placed in the Program Files folder for faster integration. The .maxpat file was placed inside the media and text files folder. The main folder’s path was added to the MAX/MSP client File Preferences list. A crossdomain.xml file was also placed inside the main folder to bypass Adobe Flash’s security restrictions.

Difficulties:

Version issues: During the integration of the different components, we discovered several issues which were caused by the actual platforms we used. The MAX/MSP version we originally used, 5.1 had a bug that caused it to lock the entire folder it was writing to, disabling any attempt to read from the files it used, saving into it, or re-compiling the fla file. Updating to MAX/MSP v. 5.1.3 resolved that issue.

Similarly, the Flash component refused to read values from the Phidget, due to security features introduced in the Adobe Flash CS4 release. Using Adobe Flash CS3 (downgrading the software) resolved that. In both cases, debugging these issues was an arduous task, since no faults could be found in the code.

Installation/Configuration: The project required several unusual elements, especially in the different connectivity of the various hardware component. The main machine had to have a USB entrance for the Phidget, a 3d-capable sound card with 3-point outlets, and a way to communicate with the hand-held machine. Another issue was that to properly test the project, it needed to be fully constructed, and therefore many of the errors were not apparent until the last days when all components were assembled. It also made it hard to fix those errors as we couldn’t disassemble the parts and test them, forcing us to work on the fixes while the parts were in “display mode”.

Interoperability: another major debugging hurdle was caused by the fact that, while each component worked by itself, most of the issues were caused in the interim – a message that a component received was not what it was supposed to receive, and didn’t know how to parse it, or parsed it incorrectly. However, the component reported the error as if it was caused by itself, and as result it took us more time to realise that it was caused by another device.

IO Security: Due to design restrictions, Adobe Flash can read information from files, but cannot write to them. On the other hand, MAX/MSP can write to files, but has a cumbersome read capability. We resorted to reading with the Flash and writing with the MAX/MSP components, which is considered a bad practice, and had created several bugs.

Connectivity: The entire system was connected by different cables, some of them extended, and wifi connections, all of which were prone to faults. We had a major issue with the 3d earphones which didn’t map correctly to the 3d channels in the sound, and the connection between the main machine and the hand-held was disrupted as result of a wifi outage during the show.

The Main Idea

Every time when you go to the library, looking for a book, you pass from one book to another, pull out each book and read the back cover. This is exactly the action we decided to change – Instead of pulling out the book you just press on it and it moves a bit out of the shelf. Instead of reading the back cover the book whispers it to you.

Planning and Modeling

Our mechanical-robot library based on two major engines. One is a DC engine to move back and forwards and the other is a servo engine that controls the “arm” that serves you the book. The big issue in this project was: How this machine know which book was pushed by a reader? which book shall whisperer?
Finally our solution was: if the books at the library is already in an alphabetical order, it means that every individual book has it’s own place on the shelf. So, we maped the back of the shelf with copper blocks, and strait behind each book, this block located. Then, we installed a reader-head (like in a phono needle) on the arm and then we can count the index of the current book faces the arm.

You go inside the cabin and selects one of the five books which where left there by previous readers. each book will have its own barcode and by scanning the book you hear the recommendations that the previous readers recorderd. By listening to the their tone you can hear thier age (roughly) and wheater their male or female, and then decide by youerself if you want to read the book in question or look for something else. Insdie the room you are in your own personal, isolated reading atmosphere and space. you have your private speakers which are pointed inside the readin gcabin so onky you hear it. in case you liked the book you can record youre own recomadation and leave it to the next reader.

Our idea is to create a little robot (possibly a book worm) that helps people find the book they’re looking for. The library catalog isn’t very clear about the area which our desired book is at. so, the little book worm will analyze the catalog number of the book we’re looking for, and lead us to the right book stand it suppose to be placed.

creating a Series of spices Accompanied by sound. first, by passing your hand obove the top of the spice shakers, you get the sound of the specific spice. second, after choosing the right spice, you get a sonic feedback for the outcome amount, as you “shake” it more you get a stronger feedback

The ‘Sonic Maze’ is a table-top maze game for two players. The goal of this game is to get from one end of the maze to the other without seeing the maze itself…

Each player controls one axis (vertical or horizontal) using a rotating handle. Based on an audio feedback, the players need to collaborate in order to complete the game. The audio feedbacks inform the players whether the hidden indicator is currently on track or not. The volume increases as the indicator gets closer to the end point.

Background

We had SO many ideas but none of them felt right to all of us at the same time (when that wasn’t the case, we remembered that the project should also meet the challenge’s brief…).

Then, just when we thought to seek help from the UN, somewhere between a Disco Ball and Wind Bells… we all suddenly agreed – we want an interactive game, which will be tangible and get people to get rid of their ego and their sight and just listen to one another and to the game.

The first concept was to take an individual Tilt Ball game and turn it into a group game. What we had in mind is to have an annoying music which will only stop playing when the ball falls into the target hall. We were so excited about this idea that we stormed the design lab, grabbed a garbage bin, a large rounded piece of wood (did that belong to someone? Sorry…) and a shiny ball and started playing!

Game Targets

Two players are trying to free Willy, which is a poor whale got stuck on the island. Each player has to maintain stability while standing on an unstable surface on one foot only!. Under this unstable surface a wiimotes (Wii Remotes) are installed, and we can track the movements and stability of the player. As much as the player can holds his stability, that will keep playing trance music with high volume to the loud speakers under a special containers (the pools) The beats frequency will perform vibrations in the water and causes the flagpole (that Willy is on the top of it) to sway and shake. Eventually, that should bring one of the player to free Willy!

We toke the twister rug and wear it… The players are to meet different body parts according to the computers call. If you can hang on, you move on, but if you can’t well… you’re just not twisted enough.

Each one of the players is wearing a different color overall. The order of the players is being set and the game starts. The computer calls for two body parts, the first one needs to touch the second one. After 3 seconds of contact the computer calls another pear and so on and so forth…

In case one of the players breaks contact for over 20 seconds the computer call TWISTED and the game is over.

A personal object, which will acompany students during their breaks.

Characteristics

* Small

* Commonly used by students

* Physically versitile – there are different ways to hold and use this object.

* Versitile, real-life responses – the object’s responses to the student’s actions should address the real needs of the student during breaks.

* Responses need to be in a friendly, natural language.

Remember the hula-hoop? miss it? so we went back in time for you, found it and brought it back to the future as the… “HulaRythm”. A hi-tech interactive musical game!

The concept

Using the rotary of the hula-hoop in order to produce sound effects. When multiple users spin the hula-hoop together, each in his own speed, capability and style everyone contribute to a common, shared tune!

How to

The hula-hoop can be spined on the torso or hands. It works by using a unique thin elastic switch or a touch sensor. This switch is attached to the part of the body you wish to spin the hula-hoop on.

Technology

The hula-hoop creates pressure against the switch when past on, closing the circuit and producing sound. Each switch contains 3-5 mini-switches making 3-5 possible tones of each sound. No additional technology is attached to the hula-hoop itself, therefore you can use any hula-hoop you find!

General Idea Description

Have you ever missed a button on your shirt? Or… maybe forgot to zip up you pants’ zipper? Well, dear friend, we might have the solution for you. Imagine yourself a smart shirt or pants which tells you when you missed a button.

Tools and Utilities

1. 1 I-Pac – keyboard’s main chip set

2. About 40m of electric conductor wires

3. Another few meters of electric conductor thread (for sewing)

4. CPU based program to analyze inputs made by buttons and loops contacts

Implementation

so…we set and try to figure out the code for our shirt and we realized it’s not that simple… The BIG problem was that normally, most of the computers and softwares can “listen” only to one key at a time, which mean that if we press the key and hold ‘a’ and then press ‘c’ – the computer sees the ‘c’ only (even it’s still being pressed) after many hours in trying to figure out how can we technically get over it? The real answer was: A Computer Game!!

let’s think of something… while we playing, we pressed many keys on the keyboard, mouse and sometimes with different input device (game-pad, joystick etc.)
So why won’t we use a simple computer game to analyze and debug inputs? We used Microsoft’s XNA Framework technology – The XNA Framework is based on the native implementation of .NET Compact Framework 2.0 for Xbox 360 development and .NET Framework 2.0 on Windows. For more information about XNA you can click here. Thanks to this technology, we can use develop our own software/game to debug more than one key input at a time. But, our troubles continue with a new line – now there is a technical issue of max input made by the keyboard at a time. It looks like we got to the edge of keyboard-computer capability, so at this point we can’t make to much about it and sometime the error sound that come out from the shirt is not immediate. However, it is the coolest shirt you could ware, and it can come with different set of sounds, such as electronic, ambient and classic. The Prototype, for example, implements and classic genre, based and a simple piano notes.

Our main idea was to create a flexible device that can be easily connected to all kinds of faucets and make the users to stop wasting water. the project was made as a first project for “interactive design hands on” course, or “IDHO” in Holon institute of technology, Israel. The device is built from two main parts, a hard cooper isolated wire connected to the faucets handle. it has two small cooper wires on each side of it, the left one is connected to a LED light strip, hidden under the handle. the second wire is connected to the ground connection on the ipac card.

the second part of the device is a flexible cooper ring that is strapped on the faucet itself, on one side it has a big connection to the LED strip. the other side is divided to 4 connections that indicates the strength of the running water. the 4 wires are connected to the ipac card.

when the user turns the faucet on, the LED lights is turned on, and the ipac card sends a signal to small application i made with flash and actionscript3, a human (ARS voice is “talking” to the user, as long as the faucet is turned on. the “faucet” gets more angry at the user over time, it bugs him to close the water. the application has 4 angrynes levels according to the 4 connections on the device. The voices are in Hebrew, but they can be easily changed in a XML file that is redden by the flash application. by that you can change the faucets personality. in the future we will try to build a statistics web site that will read the XML file which is updated by the application. and of course we will try to make the device smaller and less visible.

The concept

In every chair there’s a speaker and a sensor that acknowledges if someone is sitting on the chair. Whenever a chair is used, the speaker inside it will operate, and a certain instrument will begin to play it’s line in a chill out or lounge music track. The chairs will be fixed onto a floor that is divided into four parts- precautions, strings, keyboards, and blowing instruments. The full track can only be heard when all chairs are occupied, but every four chairs from different kinds of instrument are enough for creating a rich sound of a real song.

The fun part

The interaction between people that will sit on the different chairs creating music together in a sort of jam session kind of way, and you don’t need to know how to play on any of the instruments in order to participate…