Our project is the Wheely-awesome wheel! It is a way for people to compliment themselves, and others. Using our revolutionary technology of two spinning wheels with struts connecting the two. These struts have various compliments on them.

    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.

Going on the bus in Boston is not an exciting experience and waiting for the bus is even worse because you have to wait for long periods of time and there’s absolutely nothing to do.

The Guest Book structure is an interactive sculpture that allows bus riders to express themseleves and helps make time appear to be going faster. 

The Guest Book Structure is a place for people to come and write and express themselves. We believe that everyone has a story, but not necessarily a place to express how they are feeling so this is a perfect way for everyone at the bus stop  to collaborate on something that is also very personal.

Two weeks ago our studio was given the challenge of creating an installations that would make waiting  for the bus a better experience. We had to find a project that could connect the people at the bus and also keep them entertained. We believe that the Guest Book Structure is a great way of doing that. People can come together and write how they are and when you step back you see the structure covered in messages.

Our piece is not only a canvas for people to come and write on but is also a sculpture. The piece encompasses the pole, but also has certain pieces that have hinges allowing you to open and write more personal messages or read them.

 We knew from the beginning that we wanted to make some sort of guest book for people to come and write on, but we went through lots of different ideas before arriving at the final structure. We first started out with the poster holder idea because it would protect the messages from the elements and from being stolen, but we thought it looked literally like a book so we changed to our second idea which was the fortune teller structure. With the fortune teller structure we liked the movement of a fortune teller and the way it folded so we thought about making that the base of the structure. We liked with the fortune teller structure because there could be some hidden messages and you would have to work to find them. This piece, however, we quickly found out was not a possible project in the time frame that we were given and the number of hinges that we would’ve needed to use. After lots of brainstorming, we finally decided on the structure that encompassed the pole. We thought not only did it look really cool and artistic, but it also allowed the opportunity for hidden messages and an easy way for people to express themselves.

Our biggest challenge was the amount of time we were given. We spent a lot of time brainstorming and coming up with new ideas. We could have been more successful if we had arrived at our final structure sooner, allowing us to make small changes and finish fully the final project. We had a hard time figuring out the best way to put the whole project together using hinges and other materials.

 

We were tasked with creating something for the bus stop that would make it a more enjoyable experience. Additionally, we decided to focus on fitness. Our project, Racing the Bus, provides a fun, competitive and active solution to the boredom and sedentary nature to the bus stop. Racing the bus is a rowing machine that moves your bus icon around the bus route. The faster you row, the quicker your bus travels.

Our reason for creating this project was to combine our love of fitness with our love of bus stops. How our project works is that when the rower rows, it moves a pulley attached to another pulley with a gear mounted. This gear is in succession with another gear with the map etched into it. This entire project took a great deal of time to make. We were originally going to have a literal representation of the map on the display, but that would require electronics and our current design is purely mechanical.

We ran into a few issues when we were trying to make the gear system. I originally was going to have a series of gears that were gradually bigger. I had difficulties fitting all of the gears in such a limited space, but we realized that we only needed two gears, a small one and the gear that would have the map.

Under encouragement from the City of Cambridge's Department of Transportation, we created an urban fractal-inspired "tree" as an artistic bus stop installation. The overall purpose is to illuminate the environmental benefit of riding the bus, rather than riding in a car. The installation, designed from the essence of what we consider an urban tree to be, grows and dies in response to the number of passengers waiting for the bus (the more people there are, the more alive the tree is; and vice versa). We used an ultrasonic range finder (distance sensor) in tandem with a stepper motor and pulley system to activate the tree. The branches, reminiscent of natural fractals such as ferns, were constructed out of segmented triangular prisms, connected with nylon. The trunk acted as a base for the project and storage space for the sensors.

Going on the bus in Boston is not an exciting experience and waiting for the bus is even worse because you have to wait for long periods of time and there’s absolutely nothing to do.

The Guest Book structure is an interactive sculpture that allows bus riders to express themseleves and helps make time appear to be going faster. 

The Guest Book Structure is a place for people to come and write and express themselves. We believe that everyone has a story, but not necessarily a place to express how they are feeling so this is a perfect way for everyone at the bus stop  to collaborate on something that is also very personal.

Two weeks ago our studio was given the challenge of creating an installations that would make waiting  for the bus a better experience. We had to find a project that could connect the people at the bus and also keep them entertained. We believe that the Guest Book Structure is a great way of doing that. People can come together and write how they are and when you step back you see the structure covered in messages.

Our piece is not only a canvas for people to come and write on but is also a sculpture. The piece encompasses the pole, but also has certain pieces that have hinges allowing you to open and write more personal messages or read them.

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to make some sort of guest book for people to come and write on, but we went through lots of different ideas before arriving at the final structure. We first started out with the poster holder idea because it would protect the messages from the elements and from being stolen, but we thought it looked literally like a book so we changed to our second idea which was the fortune teller structure. With the fortune teller structure we liked the movement of a fortune teller and the way it folded so we thought about making that the base of the structure. We liked with the fortune teller structure because there could be some hidden messages and you would have to work to find them. This piece, however, we quickly found out was not a possible project in the time frame that we were given and the number of hinges that we would’ve needed to use. After lots of brainstorming, we finally decided on the structure that encompassed the pole. We thought not only did it look really cool and artistic, but it also allowed the opportunity for hidden messages and an easy way for people to express themselves.

Our biggest challenge was the amount of time we were given. We spent a lot of time brainstorming and coming up with new ideas. We could have been more successful if we had arrived at our final structure sooner, allowing us to make small changes and finish fully the final project. We had a hard time figuring out the best way to put the whole project together using hinges and other materials.
 

Iterations :

Our first iteration to the project was changing the sizing of the cardboard triangles because it made the pieces easier to fold and hold better. When all the pieces lined up it resembled a fortune teller a lot more and gave you many places to write. We also made the hinges out of a stretchy string so that the pieces could face in many different directions. Using the stretchy string made the pieces sort of separate but also connected very similar to the messages that would be written on the piece. We cut out a hole in the middle of the structure as well to make room for the pole so that it could easily be placed on it. We felt that the hinges would be too difficult to place and would take away from the messages that people would be writing so we decided to scrap that idea.

Our second iteration was coming up with a new structure completely, but keeping the same idea mostly. With this version triangles would be attached to the pole that would allow you to fold out and in. This kept the same hidden messages idea, but we didn’t like the look of it as much. We felt that it looked too simple and wouldn’t really attract people's attention so we decided to go back to the drawing board.

Our third iteration was a combination of the past two ideas and putting them together. With this structure, there was the pieces that would fold out, but in this case it made little message flowers, but also messages that you could move around using the hinges. We didn’t like this idea as much as we thought we would because it ended up looking like we just tacked some things to the pole.

Our fourth iteration was our favorite idea that we had come up with since the fortune teller. This structure had more of an artistic piece and we liked how it made it look more like a sculpture. This idea had numerous layers that would cover up each other so to read other messages you would need to fold upward other ones. However, we felt that this was a bit cluttered looking so we went back to brainstorming.

Our fifth iteration kept the idea, mostly, but made the piece a little more spread out and easier to read. We had triangles that stuck out from the pole that you could write on the outside or open up and write on the inside. We liked the idea of the triangles circling the whole of the pole and started calling this idea pole jewelry.  

Our sixth iteration was keeping the pole jewelry idea, but making all the pieces connect. It was like one long 3D object that circled the pole and looked really cool. It also gave many people the chance to write at one time and made it seem more collaborative.

Our final iteration was the structure that encompassed the whole of the pole. It kept the traits of the last structure, making it 3D and being “pole jewelry”, but also went back to one of our beginning ideas having the hinges and certain places to write private messages. This way also gave people a lot more space to write and could be viewed from all angles.

Everyday, people who take the bus sit and wait for their promised transportation to arrive.  There are no accommodations at the bus stops that make waiting more interesting.  We have solved this problem by creating a simple game console-type device.  This device attaches to a sign post, and allows the individuals waiting to have fun.  The games were designed to be compact and easy to learn.  This new entertainment will greatly improve the experience of the common day bus-taker and, hopefully, help convince more people to take the bus.

    At the beginning of our project, we set out to create a few addictive games that would occupy people waiting for the bus.  When we visited a bus stop, we did not see anything that filled that need.  We solved this issue by creating games that are engaging, addictive, and could even bring out a person’s competitive side.  Our console has two games: Memory and The Button Game.  Memory is a game where the person is shown a pattern of lights, and the person then has to recreate the pattern by pressing the buttons that correspond to the color.  Every round, another color is added to the sequence.  The point of the game is to follow the pattern for as long as you can; when you press a button that was not in the pattern, you lose.  The Button Game is also very easy to learn.  The goal of this game is to tap the button as many times as you can within a thirty-second time period.  After thirty seconds is over, your score appears on the screen.  Our original plan for both of these games was to have a synchronized scoreboard and to install consoles across the city, at different bus stops.  In this way, people would compete to have the best bus stop score.  The scoreboard would show the stop where the highest score was achieved.  This would make it a fun competition.  We originally intended the games to synchronize with the bus timing; for example, the button game would start thirty seconds before the bus came.  We did not have enough time for this, though.   The gaming console has a simple design.  It is as small as possible, but is still able to incorporate a screen and four buttons.  This means that it does not take up a lot of room on the sidewalk, and people will easily be able to play the games without being worried about blocking pedestrian traffic.  In our development process, we first brainstormed fun games and then went on to prototyping.  We went through a few different iterations for both the button box, screen, and actual buttons before finding the best ones.  We faced many technical and design challenges over the course of this build.  Our biggest problem was time; we did not have enough time to program or design all of the things we originally wanted.  Although we would make improvements if we could continue beyond these two weeks, we now we have a working prototype that could go out on the street.

Everyday, people who take the bus sit and wait for their promised transportation to arrive.  There are no accommodations at the bus stops that make waiting more interesting.  We have solved this problem by creating a simple game console-type device.  This device attaches to a sign post, and allows the individuals waiting to have fun.  The games were designed to be compact and easy to learn.  This new entertainment will greatly improve the experience of the common day bus-taker and, hopefully, help convince more people to take the bus.

    At the beginning of our project, we set out to create a few addictive games that would occupy people waiting for the bus.  When we visited a bus stop, we did not see anything that filled that need.  We solved this issue by creating games that are engaging, addictive, and could even bring out a person’s competitive side.  Our console has two games: Memory and The Button Game.  Memory is a game where the person is shown a pattern of lights, and the person then has to recreate the pattern by pressing the buttons that correspond to the color.  Every round, another color is added to the sequence.  The point of the game is to follow the pattern for as long as you can; when you press a button that was not in the pattern, you lose.  The Button Game is also very easy to learn.  The goal of this game is to tap the button as many times as you can within a thirty-second time period.  After thirty seconds is over, your score appears on the screen.  Our original plan for both of these games was to have a synchronized scoreboard and to install consoles across the city, at different bus stops.  In this way, people would compete to have the best bus stop score.  The scoreboard would show the stop where the highest score was achieved.  This would make it a fun competition.  We originally intended the games to synchronize with the bus timing; for example, the button game would start thirty seconds before the bus came.  We did not have enough time for this, though.   The gaming console has a simple design.  It is as small as possible, but is still able to incorporate a screen and four buttons.  This means that it does not take up a lot of room on the sidewalk, and people will easily be able to play the games without being worried about blocking pedestrian traffic.  In our development process, we first brainstormed fun games and then went on to prototyping.  We went through a few different iterations for both the button box, screen, and actual buttons before finding the best ones.  We faced many technical and design challenges over the course of this build.  Our biggest problem was time; we did not have enough time to program or design all of the things we originally wanted.  Although we would make improvements if we could continue beyond these two weeks, we now we have a working prototype that could go out on the street.

Our first step was to figure out what games we wanted to have in the system.  We started out with just the Button Game, but quickly incorporated the Memory Game, and a “Whackamole”-type game.  We quickly realized that we did not have enough time for the whackamole game, though, so we decided to focus on the first two games.  After that, we started designing the first iteration of our button box and supports.  We 3D-modeled what we had in mind for the button box.  It was unique in shape, which we thought would attract people.  The buttons were evenly spaced so the user can comfortably push them with two hands.  We also knew that we would only need four buttons, and that they could be used for both games.  Next, we built supports to attach the system to the sign post.  The supports utilized the pre-existing holes on the post.  We thought that we would attach the button box to the supports using either screws or nails.  We also quickly modeled a button and had it 3D-printed.  With our first button, we did not think about mounting, we were just focusing on the actual button design.

In our next iteration, we changed the supports, the box, and the buttons.  For the supports, we added notches that corresponded to holes we made in our button box.  This way, the bond would be a lot more secure.  We also changed some dimensions on the supports.  We made one of them wider, so that it would still be stable even though most of it was not directly against the post.  Since one side of the post is open, we had to bridge the gap to make it sturdy.  After some feedback, we also redesigned the button box.  We realized that the original design had a lot of “pointy” edges that were not worth the risk.  It also stuck out more that four inches on both sides of the post; which is not allowed.  Therefore, we made the box more compact and flat.  The box no longer has pointed edges, and the buttons are closer together.  We also redesigned the button.  We made a casing around the entire button that would serve dual purposes:  it would support the visible portion of the button and also house all of our electronics and springs.  The casing fits over the hole in the case and holds the button in place.  We made slots for an electronic button so that when the visible portion was pushed down, it would hit the real button and record the data.  We also left space for springs so the button would go back to its original position.  A hole was cut in the button to allow for an LED.  The screen mounting was also added around this time.  We had talked a lot about different screens, but finally decided on an LED dot matrix.  We attached it using the same type of supports that we used for the button box.  We made a backing for the screen, and we were able to mount it on the post.

In our third iteration, we made several subtle, but necessary, changes.  With the button box, we made notches on the side to improve its stability.  The spacing between the buttons was changed, to allow our new buttons to fit.  We also decided to fully encase the screen; to do this, we made a box around it with a clear acrylic piece that fit over the LEDs.  The actual buttons were tweaked a little, too.  We cut out the top so we could put a piece of acrylic over it, so that people could see the LED.  We also made the frame around the button a little smaller, and made a bigger slot for the electronic button.

In our final iteration, we made a very small, but useful change.  We put the button box on an angle, so that it would be more comfortable for the user.  This required us to angle the supports.  Although we acknowledge that we were not able to complete all of our original design goal, we believe that our finished product will be a great addition bus stops around the city.