Express

Collaboration

Writing

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

The short story "A Suit of Storm and Steel" is about a 17-year-old, James, who tests a cryogenic chamber and sleeps through the apocalypse. When he wakes up, 10,000 years have passed and technology has regressed. Earth has come full circle and humanity is back to a roman-era civilization. Because he still knows how tech works, he is seen as a wizard and is revered for his skills.

I learned a great deal about writing and bookmaking this OI. I normally dislike writing and stay away from it, so my skills were somewhat lacking. But writing a whole book has improved my skills greatly. I also created a whole world for the book, and so my world building skills also improved.

 Collaborate

Engage

Digital Fabrication

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

Image 3

Image 4

Sketching & drawing

Mass and Cass is a project that tells the story of how the media represents homelessness at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. Mass and Cass started to look at how people view information and where they get it from. When a person comes to our project, they will see a 3D-printed phone case, a 3D-printed model of Mass and Cass streets, and a table with the Mass and Cass streets on them. They will view a variety of media, like TV news, articles, social media, etc., about Mass and Cass, and after seeing all the media, there will be a QR code for them to scan. If they don't have their phones, they can use a laptop with the quiz already pulled up. There will be a couple of questions about their perspectives about the media.

My most notable progress has been in my prototyping skills. Before this session, I had no idea what prototyping involved. It was the first time I had to use PETG filament in 3D printing. Out of the four prints I made, just one turned out well. It was interesting to research the different varieties of filament; in my opinion, the best is PLA. Another area where I've seen improvement in my skills is digital fabrication. I now have a better relationship with Rhino and Thinker Cad. Working one-on-one with my coaches was a great learning experience that helped me grow. Compared to previous studios, this one has allowed me to be more independent. I think this studio has been really beneficial to me. While being on Zoom I was focusing on the fabrication side of things having time with my team to talk about ways to combine the Concept was great.

Engage and persist

Collaborate

Physical fabrication

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Giving and receiving feedback

MASS Perspective is an interactive exhibit designed by high school students that explores the perception of news through different media outlets. MASS's perspective uses reporting on the Mass & Cass issue as a case study to show the different ways news can be consumed and understood.

The exhibit featured newspapers, articles, newscasts, social media posts, and radio/podcasts each giving a different perspective on the Issue. At the conclusion of the exhibit, you are instructed to scan a QR code. This leads you to a Google form about the media you gravitate towards and how much you learned about Mass & Cass. From this information, we are able to see how people go about learning news and current events and how the media they choose affects their knowledge of the topic.

During Open Innovation I was able to learn a lot about working with a group with complex dynamics. My group had two people on site with one on Zoom. This created many communication barriers that we had to work through. As the studio went on we were able to create a schedule and plan for communication and this helped make sure all group members were working parallel to each other. Then as we started the fabrication process it presented new challenges. We had to learn as a group how to take advantage of everyone's skills on Zoom and in person.

Additionally I also learned about exhibit creation throughout this studio. Most things I make at NuVu I am able to provide insight about the project while presenting, but for the exhibit it had to be created in a way that allowed for the viewer to understand without a explanation. This new challenge made me focus on the connection between the viewer and the exhibit instead of the viewer and me.

Collaborate

Engage and Persist

Material Exploration

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

Iteration



We created a battle bot and an accompanying video of our process for personal enrichment and to inspire others by showing how building a really cool thing is something anyone can do. Throughout our process we took videos of ourselves making this battle bot and by the end of it, we compiled these videos into a short inspirational montage of the last 3 weeks. The actual process of building the battle bot was segmented into different design sections: The flipping mech, Materials, Wheels, Wedge Shape, Chassis, and Electronics. Collaboration was key to the success of this project. Knowing this, we prioritized communication and challenged ourselves to keep our goals unified and defined. Iteration was also at the core of our work flow. We failed often and fast to the point where every single part on the battle bot was redesigned and tested at least twice. Some parts even went through 7 iterations. The final battle bot was a wedge shape with a flipper mechanism. One of the defining and unique features of our bot is how the front flipping plate is able to rest on the ground while a spring is being wound up, and when the spring is wound, it connects with the front plate to activate a flipping motion.

This studio admittedly began with a rough start. Our team was disorganized and confused on the direction we were moving towards. We had no clear purpose for our project. This was an important lesson to the value of communication and defining goals. Throughout the project, I also struggled facing failure. I noticed that the worry of my design failing in a test made me postpone the experimentation process. I now recognize the value of experimentation and how much opportunity it holds for learning. I learned about group dynamics and leadership as our team solved problems and overcame challenges. I also learned how to work with high forces (from the spring), and how to design parts to be structurally sound. For example, the effects of cantilevering a shaft.

envision

collaboration

material exploration

Image 3

Image 4

physical fabrication

Our project is a modular terrain board made of inexpensive or wildly accessible materials. Our goal with this project was to send out an instructional slide show for other hobbyists or club members to be able to make it themselves. Terrain boards can be used in many games, such as Warhammer or DND. Buying a terrain board costs a lot of money, and so do a lot of conventional materials, so we made our board cheap and modular so that with one board, you can assemble many different boards or landscapes to play on. The actual modules are made of installation foam, which is one of the cheapest foams and the nicest to work with, and so are the rocks and hills. We then painted them and put colored sawdust on them for grass. And the dirt is made of dirt. The one thing I would have changed if I did this project again is to be more carful while measuring things out

In this session, I did a lot of material exploration. I found out how to make grass with sawdust and used foam for the first time, and I also did a lot of physical fabrication because I had to build the actual board, build a lot of modules, and make the hill thing, which was a challenge. I also did a lot of work on collaboration, keeping everyone on track and ensuring we all had something to do. Throughout this project, we also had to do a lot of planning and brainstorming because we had to come up with a lot of modules.

Engage and Persist

Collaboration

Writing

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

Concept Development

The Interview is a film about reflecting and making decisions based on events. In the film, the main character Christian Carrol is a rookie journalist, and gets an interview with a serial killer. He has a rocky first interview and goes home only to hallucinate that the serial killer is in his own home. He goes back to the serial killer for a second interview to try and understand what happened, and after conversing decides that journalism might not be the best path for him. Interview was about experimenting with filming techniques and script writing.

Growth is a very nebulous concept. It’s based on your definition of better than before, which I guess is the subjective part to growth. Well, in my very subjective opinion I became better at collaboration, persisting, writing, and concept development. In collaboration it was very, very challenging to work with people that had such a different view to what a good story is, which leads me on to the most important one here: persisting. I don’t think I could express the sheer work that went into making a somewhat comprehensible final product. This is the one I spent the most time and effort on. Writing, I love to write. I became better at writing from working on a genre that don't usually engage with. Last but not least concept development, I think all movies are concept development in some way, but just envisioning the story and recreating that in the real world was challenging. 

Collaborate

Engage & Persist

Coding

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

Image 3

Image 4

Lo-fi prototyping

Our project is an electric vehicle for people who make a lot of short trips in gasoline vehicles around the city. This electric vehicle would help reduce their carbon emissions, while still allowing them quick and private transportation. This means that people can still have the privacy, reliablity, and speed of private vehicles, while not having a negative impact on the environment. We had many sketches and multiple prototypes, and it eventually culminated in two 'final products;' a paper scale model of the vehicle, and a chain drive using a motor to show how the inner mechanics of the vehicle would work. All of the prototypes showcased their use and worked extremely well, so we have gained a lot of confidence in the idea.

I learned a lot about collaborating with my peers in this project. Although I had different ideas of what we should be working on, as I thought working on a controllable model would be a lot more important than a chain drive system, we ended up compromising and making both. I think I also learned a lot about engage and persist, as during the process of building the remote control model I ran into a lot of problems and had to figure out how to fix them. One example is that the arduino was the only board we could reliably get to access the motor controller, but the ESP is the only board with access to WiFi. It seems like a simple issue, connect the arduino to the ESP and you're done; but the ESP and arduino use different voltage levels (how much power they use). I tried making some different types of voltage dividers, but eventually found that the ESP has a regulated input for the arduino's power level, which was extremely helpful. In doing all of my work with building the vehicle, I learned a lot about coding (obviously) and the importance of prototyping. I had many iterations of my remote-controlled vehicle, so I realize now how important getting a good prototype down can be.

Engage & Persist

Writing

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

Image 4

Statistics & Data Analysis

Between The Runways is a paper about runway incursions. The Idea was to talk about how the more incursions we have, the closer we come to have a real crash, and how we need to stop runway incursions. My original plan was to redesign a terminal at Boston Logan International to ease up congestion. I later came to the realization that they have already been doing that at the airport. I changed my idea to something more important at not just Logan but many airports around the world. During my writing I also experimented with a video that I quickly dumped because I felt like my editing skills didn't fit the type of video I needed to make. At the end I also decided to learn tableau and make my own graphs and data for my paper. I think overall this project gave me a bunch of new skills.

During the entire of this OI, I learned and improved many skills. At the start of this studio 3 weeks ago I felt that if I wasn't going to be able to have done enough. After getting a bunch of feedback from especially Keenan who helped a lot with my writing I felt like I really improved and understood how to elaborate my skills. Keenan also helped me a lot with learning Tableau and google sheets. I think throughout the whole process I fine tuned all of the things I learned how to do which will allow me to do these things in the future aswell.

Envision

Collaborate

Research





Image 4

Material Exploration

I started this studio unsure of what Innovative Architecture even meant. Nevertheless, as we researched what problem we would want to solve, and what we wanted our project to be, I became more enthusiastic about open innovation. By the time we began testing and innovating our methods of heating the memory alloy, I would look forward to coming in every day. From starting this project unsure of myself and wanted to leave to be genuinely enthusiastic about each day. As we learned through practice and repetition our testing techniques became more advanced. We started testing by using a homemade candle and screwing the wire into a wood block to hold it in place. eventually, we began using a lighter and ended our testing by passing an electrical current through the wire to more consistently and evenly heat the wire. By the end of open innovation, we had four designs for practical applications of memory alloy.

Often when designing buildings they are constructed with little thought on the effect it has on the environment. As smart materials are being used more frequently we decided to research, test, and eventually design new applications for smart materials. We started by doing thorough research into what materials would be best to study. We landed on three, carbon fiber, veneer wood, and memory alloy. Once the materials arrived we decided to focus our energy on the memory alloy and began to test it. With environmental issues on the rise constant innovation is an absolute necessity, and smart materials could be a viable alternative to certain machinery as it requires no power, or human interference to work. Hopefully, as these materials are tested and researched further they will be able to find their way into the world of architecture.

Fish Bot

A Battlebot created by: Lloyd, Myles, and Ben