Week 17 - Applications and Implications
Assignment
Propose a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered
What will it do?
As exposed in the final project pages of my documentantion, my intent is to make an interactive board game aimed to children to help them understand the consequentiality of consuming products and service and their leftover waste. This might sound as too brainy thing for children, and in fact a more succint description is just that I want to make an interactive game where players get directly the feedback of their actions, in a fast-paced, collaborative, many-things-left-to-guess mood.
Essentially, I will make a board in which will be available many blocks of different shapes, colors and materials. The players will have at their disposal different cards depicting objects and activities and will have to place one by one these cards with blocks of their choiches matching the silhouette of the object depicted in the card.
A sensor placed on the bottom of the stacking part will evaluate the wheight of the block used for a given card, confronting it against a pre-recorded set of wheight values. If this evaluation differs too much from the optimal wheight, the stack will begin to shake and buzz, with a degree of strenght related to the divergence from the optimal wheight.
If the stacks for any reason fall (earthquake-like shakes, unstable stack, lack of dexterity of the players) the game is over and lost.
Who’s done what beforehand?
I haven’t found in the Fab Academy Archive many projects or assignments that could help me figure out solutions regarding my project, but in my mind I describe this game as Tangram…
…meets Jenga…
meets Operation.
There’s another game from which I drew a lot of inspiration called Beasts of Balance, made by a bunch of wild makers under the name of Sensible Objects and that has underlying mechanism really close to the one I want to make.
What will you design?
I will entirely design the board, the stacking base, the blocks and the playing cards. Furthemore I’ll design all the electronic boards to read and actuate the system and the program that will manage the game.
What materials and components will be used?
I’ll make most of the project in plywood, but I also plan to use PLA plastic for many little custom parts (joints, holders, etc.). Cardboard and paper will be used for the interactive cards and I hope to recycle as many material I can for getting together all the blocks that I need (leftovers of wood, PCB and cast acrilic, remains of 3d printer filament, packaging material, etc.).
An essential component will be a wheighing lad bar and a load cell amplifier.
Where will they come from?
Plywood and papers will come from local supplier (hence timber from european woods presumably). Electronic components and other fabrication material are bought through internationl distributors, so presumably they’re all made in China (I don’t have yet the materials with me).
How much will they cost?
Not considering materials already at disposal in my lab, I plan not spend more than 50 $ for various material, of which I’m not expecting to use completely. Sketchily, I think the whole project won’t cost more than 30 $ in materials, but I’ll esteem that more accurately once I’ll have the product finalized. For a more detailed breakdown of the costs, I prepared the following spreadsheet.
What parts and systems will be made?
The part with least intervention from my behalf will be related the weight sensor. These are really peculiar components and making them myself would have been either impossible or too daunting. All the rest, meaning electronic boards, plywood assemblies and other custom part, will be made by me according to my designs.
What processes will be used?
I consider to use at least the following techniques and processes:
3D printing
2D printing
Laser cutter
Vinyl cutter
Electronic design and production
Casting and molding
Embedded, interface and network programming
What questions need to be answered?
The most crucial part of the whole system is the wheight sensor. I’ll have to calibrate it precisely with the software I’ll code for it and prepare cards and blocks different enough in wheight to not to be confused by the sensor.
All the other matters left unanswered regards the interactivity among players and game. This is surely a delicate matter, but for which many considerations won’t have the slightest value until the system will be functional. For this purpose, it will be an important task for me to make the game the most “debuggable” and customizable as possible (possibly even at runtime) in order to get usable, accessible and undestandable interface and product.
How will it be evaluated?
When dealing with games, there’s only one real factor of success: fun.
In fact, I’ll spend a lot time fine-tuning many aspects of the game not to make it work (the whole system isn’t itself that complicated), but to make it the most accessible, enjoyable and entertaining my knowledge and my time will let me do.
Furthermore, since I’m dealing with a game product and an infant audience, finishing will be another very important topic. The elements should resist well manipulation, hurts and wear enough to make them usable among different sessions and not to be dangerous (such as pointy or splintered).
Finally, I wish to realize a product that is indeed fun, robust and safe, but also interesting and that can help to deliver the message I meant for it.