Poster

Max Allen

seed saver

Anara Magavi
image.png

The Conturtible

PJ Walsh

The Conturtible is meant to combat the prevalent invasion of humans into the salt water marshes of coastal New England and Florida. The reflective shield will be proactive to help save the population of the Diamond Back terrapin who sees a plummet yearly due to careless ATV drivers. By saving turtles, PJ's project protects the natural food chain of the salt water marshes. With turtles dying in great quantities the frog population booms while the fox and raccoon populations suffer. This disrupts the cycle significantly. The project is mainly for the park rangers who's responsibility is to protect the animals and their habitat. There is only so much they can do to protect the suffering species. With this robotic appendage that will passively defend the turtle from invasive humans, the park rangers can spread their focus to other animals that need attention. 

The design is a reflective, flexible material called Mylar that is supported and motorized in a fashion similar to that of a convertible car's folding roof. The design is similar to a convertible car. However, instead of providing a shade, a light sensor will detect headlights and trigger a reflective sheet held up by support shafts that when the threat has passed, will retract and compact into each other.

MUsic-Go-Round Presentation Example

Stefano Pagani and Natalie Ferry

The Music Box is a project worked on in collaboration with the Karam school, located in Reyhanli, Turkey. The town is mainly occupied by Syrian refugees, who are creating a musical playground to give back to the community that welcomed them. The Music Box allows children to play and explore the creation of music. It has been shown that both play and music accelerate brain development in the language and sound processing centers of the brain. For many refugees, who are learning new languages, this could be very helpful. The music box is made up of two cylinders. The inner cylinder holds the comb, which is a series of flat steel pieces that get plucked by the pegs positioned in the outer cylinder when the kids spin it. The kids can ride on the pegs as it spins around. The design takes into account that there will be many different users with a range of ages, by including components that are fun and engaging for everyone, Such as the spinning aspect for the kids and the platform to sit for parents.

Portfolio & Presentation Posts Fall18

Andrew Todd Marcus

Your portfolio tab is the part of your project viewable to the world. This is where you will present your work to your coaches and peers for your studio review presentation. This is also what family, friends, colleges, the media, and everyone outside of NuVu will see. It is the record of your work and must stand alone, telling a compelling story of your project.

Portfolio pages have 2-3 posts in this order:

  1. The Presentation Post: This post's privacy is set to Everyone. This post showcases your final design by telling the comprehensive story of how your idea was born, developed, and manifested. The arc of the story should encompass the, How of your project in a compelling narrative. It showcases your design process including your brainstorming, each of your iterations, and your final prototype. It allows the viewer to delve deeply into your process.
    • Every Slide should have a Title and Caption.
      The body of this post is The Brief. You should include a version of the Brief for each collaborator in the project.
    • This post will be used in your review presentation at the end of the session.
  2. Optional Video: This post's privacy is set to Everyone. A video showing the interactive functionality of your project. The title of this post will be Video.
  3. Presentation Script: This post's privacy is set to School. Each group will post their script for there presentation. This post will be used to prepare for and practice your presentation. This post should be titled "Presentation Script" and should not be made public. Alternatively, 

 

After reading this post and completing your Portfolio Tab, you must make sure you have done the following:

THE PRESENTATION POST

This post's privacy is set to Everyone. This post showcases your final design by telling the comprehensive story of how your idea was born, developed, and manifested. The arc of the story should encompass the, How of your project in a compelling narrative. It showcases your design process including your brainstorming, each of your iterations, and your final prototype. It allows the viewer to delve deeply into your process.

  • Every Slide should have a Title and Caption.
    The body of this post is The Brief. You should include a version of the Brief for each collaborator in the project.
  • This post will be used in your review presentation at the end of the session.

You are encouraged to make your narrative as compelling as possible. All of the content below should be included, but if you would like to rearrange the material in order to tell your story differently, work with your coach.


INTRODUCTION PORTION

Your presentation is a narrative, and the introduction sets up the scene for that story. Here you introduce the project, say why it is important, and summarize what you did.

TITLE WITH TAGLINE: This slides shows a crisp, clear final image and the title of your project. with a pithy blurb describing the project. The image, name, and tagline should draw a viewer in. 

Examples:

  • The Fruit - A line following, light tracking robot
  • Segmented Vehicle - A vehicle that conforms to the landscape
  • Cacoon - Wearable sculpture exploring the concept of transformation and death

EVOCATIVE  IMAGE: This is a single image that shows a clear image that evokes the soul of your project. This image helps set up the why in a compelling way, sets the stage for your narrative, and will help frame the entire presentation. The caption of this slide (set with the Edit Captions button when editing your post) should discuss the context of your project. No Text on the slide.

THESIS STATEMENT: This is a TEXT ONLY slide for which briefly describes the Soul and Body of your project. You can use the project description from your Brief or write something new. This statement ties together your narrative.

Examples:

  • The Cocoon:  A wearable sculpture that explores the concept of transformations and death. The Cocoon explores the spiritual journey beyond the human experience; what it means to be human, how wonder effects us, and the concept of what happens after death.
  • Body Accordion: A musical prosthetic that translates the wearer’s body movements into a dynamic multimedia performance. The Body Accordion converts flex sensor input to sound through Arduino, MaxMSP, and Ableton Live. 
  • Seed to Soup Animation: A whimsical animation about the slow food movement. Seed to Soup showcases a holistic method of cooking. From garden, to kitchen, to dinner table.
  • Antlers: A wearable sculpture inspired by antlers found in the deer and antelope family. "Antlers" explores the comparison between armor and attraction. 

PROCESS PORTION

The Process Portion of your presentation tells the story of how you iteratively developed your project. Somewhere in that story you should include conceptual and technical precedents that guided you at each stage as well as brainstorming and process sketches and clear photo booth imagery for 3-4 stages of your process.

This portion is made up of three types of slides repeated 3-4 times. Each iteration in your process should include:

  • PRECEDENTS:  Precedents are any projects that inspired you creatively or gave you technical guidance. These can include conceptual precedents and technical precedents. No Text.
  • SKETCHES/SKETCH CONCEPT DIAGRAMS: These slides show your generative ideas in sketch form. These should clean, clear drawings. A sketch should show a clear idea. Do not simply scan a messy sketchbook page and expect that people will understand. If you do not have a clear concept or working sketches it is fine to make them after the fact. No Text.
  • PROTOTYPE IMAGES:  These are actual images of the prototypes  you documented in your daily posts. These images illustrate your design decisions and how your project changed at each step. No Text.

FINAL PORTION

The Final stage of your presentation is the resolution of your narrative and shows your completed work. The use diagram shows how your project works and the construction diagram shows how it is assembled. Final photos show the project both in action and at rest. The imagery captures your final built design.

USE DIAGRAM: A diagram showing some aspect of the functionality. These can include:

  • How one uses or interacts with the project
  • The overall behavior of the project over time
  • For a complex interactive project, this can be a clear diagram of the software behavior

MECHANICAL DIAGRAM:  A diagram offering insight on how the project is put together and functions technically.

  • Ideally, this will be an exploded axonometric
  • At minimum this can be a labeled disassembled photo  

ELECTRONICS or OTHER DIAGRAM: Additional diagrams showing some important aspect of your design. 

IMAGERY: The last slides should have an images of the final project. These images should be taken in the photo booth, cropped, and adjusted for contrast, brightness, etc. Images should include:

  • An image of the project in use (taken in the booth or at large). This should include a human interacting with the project.
  • Images of project alone. Include at least one overall image and one detail image.
  • You can also use an image In-Use. 
  • Consider using a GIF to show how the project works. 

 

The Brief Part 2 - Full Brief

Andrew Todd Marcus

The Brief Part 2 - Full Brief


Remember, all documents related to the brief are found HERE. These include a note from the writing coach and the Composition Reminder Sheet.

Now that you have created an document that outlines all of the information you want to relate in the Brief, it is time to weave that information together into a strong narrative that ties together the Why, How and What and Who of your project through clear, cogent writing. Tell the story of how your idea was born, developed, and manifested.

Create 1 post titled “The Brief” in the Writing tab with text that includes the following 2 items, numbered:

  1. A 1-2 sentence project description for your transcript. This will serve as the basis of the Project Description that appears in your transcript. This description should not include the name of the project and should be written in the third person. This was Question 1 in your Outline.
    examples:
    Night Light Blankie: A child's sensory blanket that provides comfort and privacy in the high stress environment of the hospital using weight, textures, and light. The blanket transforms into a mini light up fort over a child’s head.
    Cocoon: a shroud that explores human spirituality and the concept of life after death through the use of repetitive religious iconography. Composed of over 300 pieces of laser cut balsa wood lined with space tape, the icons are arranged using a mathematical strange attractor.
  1. A 1-2 paragraph brief for your project based on the description below. This will be based off the information you put together in your Outline and should focus on style. The NuVu writing coach will give you feedback and you will have the opportunity to revise this text before the final presentation. The primary purpose of The Brief is to explain, entice, and convince the reader that your project is amazing and important. Imagine your project on display in the Museum of Modern Art. The Brief is hanging on the wall next to your work. In 1-2 paragraphs, a viewer should understand what your project is, why it exists, and how you made it, and who it is for. More importantly, the viewer should be interested and care. You will draw them into your project through a compelling narrative.

    Things to think about:
    • Use the information in your Outline. Do not simply put all of the answers together -- you must weave it together into a clear story.
    • The what is a clear statement of the thesis or problem+solution. Your project description for your transcript (#1 above) can be adapted for this purpose.
    • The why explains how your project changes the world. It is the reason your project exists – what social issue is it engaging, who is your project helping, how does the project change the world, and what important social, intellectual, or technical questions does it raise? The scope of the why can vary widely.
    • The how briefly explains what technical prowess, innovative methods, or cool materials you used in your solution.
    • The who explains who will use your design, why they will use it, and in what context.
    • Think of the reader - it is good to imagine that a college admissions officer AND a potential employer in the field of your design should both be able to understand and be excited by the project based on your writing.

Write in the Third person in an explanatory fashion. Resist using I, WE, OUR, or YOU and focus on describing the work.

Here is an example from Penelope the Pain-O-Monster:

Pediatricians and other doctors find it challenging to collect accurate self reported information from children about their level of pain due to lack of communication skills, fear, anxiety, and discomfort. Traditional 1-10 pain scales do not fully address these issues, often leading to uncomfortable children and inaccurate symptom information. Penelope the Pain-O-Monster is a cute plush toy that uses integrated pressure sensors to allow children to express their source and level of pain through play.

A previous project, The EmoOwl, helped children with autism to express themselves by translating motion into color. Penelope the Pain-O-Monster grew out of the desire to expand children’s health menagerie with a different stuffed animal, one that makes the pain charts patients use to express their pain more interactive and easier for a child to use. Because research has shown that playing with stuffed animals can take children’s mind off pain, an additional “Fun” mode was added to distract from pain and anxiety. The handcrafted stuffed animal uses force sensors in different body parts that light up from blue to red depending on how hard they are pushed to show the child’s pain level. The hope is that, as one of many future healthcare friends, Penelope can help sick children feel safer while providing more useful information to care providers.

Outline - Alec Chang

Alex


  1. Write a A 1-2 sentence project description. This description should not include the name of the project and should be written in the third person.
    1. What is the "soul" of your project? Describe the idea of the project in conceptual terms. This should paint a conceptual picture in the reader's mind. (1 sentences)
      1. Spoonji: A floating barge that utilizes sensors and GPS trackers in order to monitor the PH level of the water surrounding a sponge as well as tag its location on a digital mapping program.
    2. What is the "body" of your project? Describe the basic technical or physical construction of the project. This should NOT go into excessive detail, just provide an overview. Describe the project to someone with no technical knowledge in as few words as possible. The reader should be able to envision what the project looks like. ( sentences)
      1. When the barge encounters a sponge, it releases a capsule containing PH level sensors and a radio transmitter. Then, the barge marks the location of the aforementioned sponge on Google maps. With the help of this tool, researchers can monitor the chemical content of the water near the sponge without gathering local samples.
    3. Night Light Blankie: A child's sensory blanket that provides comfort and privacy in the high stress environment of the hospital using weight, textures, and light. The blanket transforms into a mini light up fort over a child’s head.
    4. Cocoon: a shroud that explores human spirituality and the concept of life after death through the use of repetitive religious iconography. Composed of over 300 pieces of laser cut balsa wood lined with space tape, the icons are arranged using a mathematical strange attractor.
  2. Why does your project exist? The why explains how your project changes the world. It is the reason your project exists –
    1. What social issue does your project engage? (1 sentence)
      1. Spoonji brings an otherwise obscure species of freshwater sponge to the public’s eye, and it will provide a way for the citizens of Massachusetts to interact and care for the sponges.
    2. Who is your project helping?  (1 sentence)
      1. ^
    3. How does the project change the world? This can be in a simple physical way or in a complex social way. (1 sentence)
      1. ^^
    4. What important social, intellectual, or technical questions does it raise? (1 sentence)
  3. Who is the project for? Who will use it and in what context (1 sentence)
  4. How does your project work. In non-jargonistic language, answer the following
    1. What is the basic technology behind your project? (1 sentence)
      1. The main component of Spoonji is the floating barge that is powered by two, bottom mounted motors. The barge consists of a wood body along with two sealed PVC pipes for flotation.When instructed to do so, a servo controlled crane atop of the barge drops a capsule containing monitoring equipment and weights into the water. The equipment is contained in a
    2. What is technically innovative about your project? How does it differ from existing technology? (1 sentence)
      1. There isn’t anything technically innovative about this project, it combines multiple pieces of existing technology into something original. For example, the barge by itself is not innovative, but by integrating a crane system with the barge a completely original product.
    3. How does a user physically and mentally interact with the project? (1-2 sentences)
      1. This project encourages people to interact not with the project itself, but with the sponges that it is surveying. The Spooji is a medium in which ordinary citizens of Massachusetts can play a part in aiding a local species.


In Tune With Chris

Sina Ball and 2 OthersAbe Gonzalez
Simone Sparrow

A wearable origami tank top, for professional dancer Chris to feel "in tune" with the Earth while he dances for Heidi Latsky's company. 

When initially meeting with all of Heidi  Latsky's dancers in the piece called, On Display, we immediately noticed all the inspirational stories and backgrounds that every single dancer had. When meeting with our dancer, Chris, when asked if he had any superpower in the world what would it be? He responded with the weather. When he asked him why, he said because he wanted to be "in tune" with the Earth, and dancing makes him feel that way. This was the inspiration for our "vibration" vest. Chris said one of his favorite features was his chest, and he also really loves angular cutouts. Our group decided to make a tank top with cut outs, that included laser cut mesh pieces in every cutout. On the front in order for Chris to feel "in tune" with the Earth, we did an origami fold that expands and contracts as Chris dances. 

We made the undergarment and mesh piece out of latex like spandex material which we laser cut for clean lines. We then sewed those two pieces together to make it one. We made the origami out of thick cotton material and paper in order for it to keep its shape. We then attached each origami piece onto the front of the garment creating this beautiful piece. Chris will be wearing this In Tune Vest in New York for his sculpture garden performance with Heidi Latsky's company. 

Porcubot

Alex Tang and 3 OthersCharlie LeStage
Sean Hadden
Owen Brigham
1 / 8

Created by: Alex Tang, Charlie LeStage, Owen Brigham, Sean Hadden
https://cambridge.nuvustudio.com/studios/robo-cars/high-speed-battlebot#tab-portfolio