Things that Think 2008
Smart Blocks
Christina Wolfskill, Dan Maples, Matthew Hilgers
Our project idea was a base station into which number blocks could be placed to form equations. The base station would read the equation and give feedback to the user as to whether it is correct or incorrect. This final concept was chosen because it seemed to be very feasible to construct, and the same concept could be adapted for many other uses including spelling, word associations, or colors. Thus, it would make a great prototype that would showcase a highly adaptable concept.
Links to interesting computational construction kits:
Background reading:
The second project is to create a prototype of a construction kit that incorporates elements of computation. Our class definition of construction kit is one in which pieces can be combined in different ways/configurations; as opposed to a model, where pieces are put together in one specific way. The computation embedded in the kit may include: communication between pieces; communication between a piece and a desktop computer; or communication between the pieces and a user.
Laser Ball: An Interactive Construction Kit
Jonathan Crider, Karim Elatov,
Matthew Fetig, Bobby House
Laser Ball is a construction kit that joins physical and virtual objects to create an interactive user experience. Users are able to move physical blocks around a screen, specify an area to draw a virtual ball, and then watch the ball bounce off the physical blocks. As part of our implementation we ran into several design challenges and to address them we made some interesting design decisions. Unfortunately, we were unable to implement some features that we would have liked to see be incorporated into Laser Ball. Given these extra features we believe they would make for some interesting applications of Laser Ball.
