The purpose of the Digitally Connected studio was to explore issues of youth and media through an animated video. The final video was displayed at a conference called “Youth and Media” where it was used to begin a discussion about how how media and technology effect youth. Our video, “Space Mission” discusses the positive aspects of how media effects youth, specifically, the internet as a resource for independent learning.

We wanted to make a cartoony, heartwarming video about a baby who loves space and spends his time on the internet learning about rockets. The baby eventually becomes a toddler and builds a rocket from blueprints he found on the internet. The toddler finally realizes his dream of going to space. The message of the video was that the internet is a great place to explore your hobbies and learn about new things. The inspiration for this concept came from our own lives. To us, the internet has been a huge source of knowledge and help when learning new skills.

We used Adobe Illustrator to create the the characters and environments and used Adobe After Effects to animate them. The story we planned out initially was much more complex, but it proved too long and complex and we had to cut a lot of it out.

We started off the project by coming up with ways to represent crystals minerals and rocks in a dress. At the time we were unsure of what we wanted our dress to look like, but we just started to sketch ideas and look up images online that inspired us. We were drawn to crystiline structures. After a bit more research we decided that we wanted to use mirrored acrylic mixed with some sort of base material, such as felt or spandex. Our first prototypes were made of paper, then wood and were all based around an original design that we made of the layout for the pieces. We eventually decided on using black felt as the base and having certain areas by covered in the acrylic and some just be felt with the pattern cut into it. The acrylic was attached to the dress by pre cut holes we had made in the pattern. In the end the dress combined the beauty of nature and the modern mood of the city into a good looking creation.

Our project, Cylindero, is a radio controlled vehicle with lights, and is capable of driving at fairly high speeds. Now completed, the interior electronic components of Cylindero are no longer visible. Cylindero is constructed of 3d printed plastic components, most of which were designed in the early stages by us. Our concept has changed since the beginning, for practicality and structural reasons, but it is very close to what we originally planned, and for that we are proud. We did, however, face design challengs which we were forced to overcome. For one, a base problem of Cylindero is its main design. For it to work, the motors must be the centerpiece, not the arduino or battery. The whole construct would have to be suspended from the motors, meaning both the cylinder wheels and the outer cylinder would need to be able to take a lot of strain from continous running. To solve this problem we chose sturdy motors, but in addition we replaced the motor axle with a sturdier mount (or hub) to connect to the cylinder wheels. Another problem we faced was spinning of the interior. If not properly secured, the interior of Cylindero would spin instead of the exterior (the same reason why a flying machine with one blade would not work). The motors needed leverage, something to push against. To solve this problem we suspended all the weight below the motors, however it does still remain a technical difficulty that is a product of its desgin. We will now demonstrate this vehicle's power in action...

Our world has no sun so it is dark everywhere , we can't see anything .

So we designed a bracelet that detects movement and vibrates when something moves

The main idea is that gravity is no longer present on Earth. and due to strange occurrences that make the Earth spin at double it's speed, the winds also go double their normal speed with double the amount of force. There is a problem with people, animals and buildings floating off the face of the Earth. If these conditions were to indeed take place, the people would not be able to live on Earth without a way to hold themselves into the ground as if they were a plant. Yet as humans, we are built to move and would need a way to mobIlize ourselves as well. Our final wearable provides a rigid structure to protect yourself from the outside environment and wind. It offers long legs that have a heavy weight to plant yourself into the ground attached to a piece similar to a mechanical spider claw that helps mobIlize the wearable.

The muscle atrophy of astronauts is due to the inactivity of the muscles in zero gravity. When there is no activity muscles deterioate, and when muscles are inactive circulation is decreased. Our "sleeve" incorporates STEM technology with RockTape technology to allow for increased muscle activity and blood flow in space. Our 3d printed control system redirects wires, eliminating much of the clutter and making the device more wearable. This project has the potential to prevent the muscle atrophy experienced by astronauts in space in a straightforward, inexpensive, and wearable way.  

In a world, where everything is so windy that anything can get blown over at any moment, there is the Tri-noceros. The Tri-noceros is a motorcycle-esque machine that can get get flipped over and still continue driving forward and backwards.

You will be creating your presentation on the NuVu Platform.

Things to do/think about:

• Your presentation should be located in the Portfolio tab of your project.
• There should be (1) post titled with The Name of Your Project with all of the slides.
• You should have (1) post of a video of your project in action. Chances are people wont be able to see your work from and we can project a video of your project working.
• All slides should have a title. You can add titles when editing the post
• With the exception of the Title slide NO TEXT SHOULD APPEAR ON YOUR SLIDES.
• Only (1) image per slide. Images should be uploaded directly. Make sure that the images aren't pixelated! NO GOOGLE DOCS!!!
• Be sure to add your team members as collaborators and make the (2) posts Public.
• Only one team member can edit a post at a time!
• Presentations should be no longer than 3 minutes. PRACTICE!

1st Post : Title this post the Name of Your Project

Absolutely no more than 9 Slides!

1 Title/Intention Slide. For build projects, describe the Problem and Solution. For conceptual projects this can be expressed as Intention/Solution. The slide should include the name of the project and a one sentence statement of both the problem and the solution.

• One slide to show conceptual idea. 
• One slide to show mechanical or functional idea.

1 Concept Sketch. This should be a clean sketch of your initial ideas. If you do not have a nice drawing or lost yours, create one now!

2 Iteration Slides. These slides should show early prototypes of your design. Focus on big changes. You do not need to show tiny changes.

2-3 Final Slides. These should show clean images of your final project (these should be taken in the photo booth).

Text:

The text of your post should have a strong narrative that ties together the Why, How and What of your project through clear, cogent writing. Tell the story of how your idea was born, developed, and manifest.

The text should include the following 2 items:

1. A 1-2 sentence project description. 
2. A 1-2 paragraph brief for your project based on the description below.. The primary purpose of the text 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 text of your post 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. More importantly, the viewer should be interested and care. You will draw them into your project through a compelling narrative.

Things to think about:

• The what is a clear statement of the thesis or problem+solution.
• 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 how briefly explains what technical prowess, innovative methods, or cool materials you used in your solution.

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.     

Our previous project, The EmoOwl, helped children with autism to express themselves by translating motion into color. As we sought to expand our children’s health menagerie, we thought about making a different stuffed animal to help kids in hospitals. We quickly realized that the pain charts that patients used to express their pain could be made more interactive and easier for a child to use. We read that playing with stuffed animals can take the children’s mind off the pain so we created an additional “Fun” mode to distraction 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. It is our hope that Penelope will help sick children feel safer while providing more useful information to care providers. We anticipate that Penelope and the EmOwl will soon have many more friends to help improve healthcare for kids.

2nd Post: Video

Upload a short video showing your project in action. Do not count on your project working as you expect during the presentation.