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.