We had to create an abstraction of the Aurora Borealis, so we abstracted the colors and the movement to create an installation that responds to the movement of a person the way atoms in Earth's atmosphere respond to charged particles from the sun, creating the Aurora Borealis. 
We decided to create translucent boxes out of acrylic and put LED lights in them. The acrylic and the position of the LEDs diffused the light in a very beautiful way that was similar to the glow of the real Northern Lights. We wanted the boxes to move in a wavy motion like the Northern lights do, so we used a Servo to move a line of the boxes. 
 

The reason for our project was to create an abstraction that moves and had the same colors as the Northern Lights. We did this by using a Servo, acrylic boxes, and LED's to recreate the movement and the colors of the Aurora Borealis. In our project, we had a long wooden board that held up the boxes. On one end it had a screw, and on the other it had a Servo. The Servo was connected to one box, and it would move that box back and forth, therefore also moving all the boxes back and forth. At the same end as the Servo was the power strip and the LED's. The LED's went through all the boxes on the top, creating light that cast downward on the the person standing underneath. Also at the end with the Servo was a Ultrasonic sensor. The sensor would sense whenever a person went underneath our project, and would light up and and move only when triggered. At the beginning of our project, we didn't think hinges were necessary, but we later decided to use them. We created many cardboard boxes; some vertical, some horizontal; some with holes for LED's, some without; some with room to move the boxes ninety degrees, some without. It was a very long process, but because of our many iterations, our project came out well. There were some challenges, however. One, was that because we had been using cardboard the whole time, we did not account for how heavy the acrylic was going to be. The Servo had a hard time moving the boxes, and therefore our project had more of a stuttering motion, instead of a wavy one. A second challenge was that the soldering on our LED's was not good at all, so we ended up having to use just a strip of uninterrupted LED's, and cover up the lights that were showing.

For this iteration, instead of having just cardboard thinly cut in places, we created our first set of boxes. We used boxdesigner.com to make vertical boxes using notching. We attached the boxes using screws. We would put the lights down the sides of the boxes. We ended up not using this version for a few different reasons. One was that the motion was very limited, and it was not able to move in the wavy motion. Another, was that we decided the lights would look more realistic coming from the top, rather than the side. It would have more of a glow effect and be more representative of the Northern Lights. We changed a lot of features for the next iteration.

This iteration is one step before our final cut. We made the boxes horizontal and planned to have the lights coming from the top. There were still a few technical changes that we needed after this iteration, though. We had to alter the Rhino sketch to accommodate space for the top and bottom pieces so they didn't stick up as they do in this picture. We also made them more visually appealing by making end pieces and we added screw holes for the servo. The only other thing we changed from this version for the final was changing the box dimensions from cardboard width to acrylic width.

The Noodle Jungle is a large mobile exhibit structure consisting of a series of noodles hanging from it. It was created to make an immersive and relaxing experience for the participants. The noodles create a fun and enjoyable experience for participants changing and distorting sound. Our project creates and immersive experience using surgical tubing and sound. Five pieces of surgical tubing are attached to ultrasonic sensors so that, when the surgical tubing is pulled and twisted, it distorts the sound it is connected to. We wanted to create an exhibit that is themed around a rainforest or jungle, with the noodles mimicking the vines of a real rainforest. Our final project is a large mobile with each noodle hanging from it. It can be stood under and the noodles can be pulled and contorted from inside. Fake vines are place on the outer rim of the mobile to create an immersive and closed off feeling and add to the jungle theme. The Noodle Jungle creates a calming and entertaining exhibit that anyone of any age can enjoy.

    In this studio, we were challenged to make an art piece that kept people busy while they waited for the bus. The first solution we came up with, was making a pedal box under the bus stop seats, that would allow commuters to pedal and generate electricity. This could be used for charging electronics or powering a sign that tells you when the bus is coming. We later pivoted because this was kind of a solitary idea. Although it encouraged you to charge and use your phone, it wasn't really a form of art. So, we wanted to make something that was interactive, communal, and is a piece of art. We split up to come up with ideas, and we all decided on a large cylindrical music box that you could spin around a pole making music.

Gus’ brief

The musical bike is a stationary tandem bike that, when pedaled, makes music.  As the back wheel of the bike turns a cylinder with spikes, the spikes hit a piano-style hammer that hits drums. It can be played in an ascending or descending scale or have songs programmed in like on a music box.  This bike will be a part of a playground created for children who have fled Syria and are now living on the Turkish border. The bike was created as one of many musical elements of the playground. Play and music are important for children everywhere, but many of these kids don't have much of either.  

This project builds on the mechanics of a piano. With the piano, a finger hits the key, the key moves the hammer, and the hammer hits the string to make a sound. In our innovative mechanism, a foot moves the pedals, which moves the wheel. The wheel moves a cylinder, which strikes the keys that hit the drums to make musical notes.

There are many benefits to this bike: Since this is a musical bike, we hope it motivates kids to pedal.  By pedaling faster or slower, kids can change the tempo of the music, which is fun. The bike gives kids good exercise. Because it’s tandem it is a social experience as well. We hope that our design helps kids meet new friends on the playground and just makes kids happy. 

Harpvard Bridge hacks the space on Harvard Bridge, the bridge joining Back Bay and Cambridge. It takes advantage of the number of people who walk across the bridge between Boston and Cambridge while trailing their fingers along the railing by converting a segment of the rail into a digital harp. The harp has six strings, but it can support many more if one were to make a large public instillation of this project. The strings are standard guitar/harp strings and they produce the same sound as a guitar does. Each pair of strings is also fitted with a distance sensor, and they feed all their data back into a locked box holding an Arduino microprocessor board and speaker system. While the traditional strings are twanged, the speaker plays a complementary sound. Each pair of strings has a different sound. The hack turns trailing one's fingers along the rail into a fun, musical experience.

Urban Hacks was the idea of hacking the urban environment in a way that would affect everyone that interacts with the environment. After coming up with a bunch of ideas, we decided on making a hammock. We wanted people who walk by on the street to be able to sit down and relax or even take a nap at any time given in a more comfy option than a bench.

Our first brainstorm included all the ideas we originally wanted to put in our hammock. A lot of those extra ideas were cut as the project progressed but some were added. In the sketch, we wanted to add speakers on either side of the persons head. We also wanted to put a cupholder on one of the poles that the hammock would be connected to. Before we made a lifesized model and worried about putting those extras in, we made a smaller scaled model so we could be more comfortable with our concept and see if we wanted to change anything before we got into the lifesized model.

We used a little piece of fabric, laser cut some thin wood and used rope to get our first model up. It was onto the next model from there. The idea had seen a major change though. Instead of being hung on two poles, this hammock would be hung on one pole and be more like a seat. With that design change we decided to take out both the speakers and the cupholders because it seemed like those would just go to waste and add extra complication.

We got cracking on the first lifesized model of ours. We put in a support beam that would be above the hammock and would help connect both sides of the hammock together and have it hang from the pole. There wasn't much to the model originally so we had the idea of making it light up! With the support beam added it would be a good place to put an LED strip on. It makes the hammock seem more intriguing and more interactive. I spent a lot of time working with Arduino and the LED strips. At first, I just tried to get a very small bulb to light up which I was able to figure out. We thought it was too simple for the LED to be on all the time and that would drain the battery quickly so we wanted the LED lights to turn on once someone sat on the hammock. To make that possible I started working with the flex sensor as I still continued to figure out coding in Arduino. I continued to work with the small bulb light and it wasn't until later that I used the LED strip. Since they were both sources of light, it didn't matter much which I used, and the bulb took up less space and just made the process feel cleaner. Only difference would be the code for the lights. I already had a code ready for the LED strips where I would just have to edit it and put the specific amount of lights on the strip which was 25. Now, with everything working with Arduino, if the sensor received any flex, it would activate the LED strip. It was now time to put it in/on the hammock itself. We didn't put in the sensor until we worked on our final hammock.

After testing our first lifesized model, we thought it was good but we should make it a bit bigger and possible more comfortable. With the rope being yellow, we decided to paint all of the hammock yellow so it would look better. Our new fabric was already yellow so it was just a matter of painting the support beam. We also made a pocket in our fabric that we could place the Arduino board along with the battery in, which we needed for the lights to work. Lastly, we decided to update the look due to a small accident. We had a sit stencil we designed and we spraypainted onto the final model. While spraypainting, a breeze came through and spread the paint randomly, so we decided to do that all over the fabric which came out really well.

Over the past two weeks, Pablo and I have worked on an extendable table. The table may look fairly normal at first sight, but there are handles to be pulled out and extended. The main problem I've encountered when eating lunch is a place to put my food. I usually sit on the couch, along with 10+ other kids. It is very challenged to put all that food on two small tables. I often just eat on my lap. But, with an extendable table, the students and I will no longer encounter this problem. Our solutions with to created a yin yang design in between two top and bottom layers. The yin yang design has handles attached to them, where you can pull them out for extra space. There are three extensions in all, adding much more room for students lunches