Tangible Interaction Design
Keith Evan Green, Ph.D.                                             >  w h e e l   o f   n a m e s
TA: Ruth Wang, lw756@cornell.edu
Meeting Tu. and Th., 1:25-4:25pm, HEB 2L32 | office hours: please email me.

C O U R S E   D E S C R I P T I O N   |   D E A  5 2 1 0
Everyday things made interactive and adaptive by way of embedded systems have great promise to support and augment us at work, school, and home, as we roam, play, interconnect, and age. Students will iteratively design, prototype, and evaluate artful, meticulous, full-scale, tangible, interactive devices responsive to specific challenges of an increasingly digital society.

P R E R E Q U I S I T E S   |   E N R O L L M E N T   |   Cap of 12 students
• Enrollment is limited to 12 students to make full use of the D2FS shop and staff.
• Requires professor's permission by email to receive an enrollment code.
• Preference is given to student in my affiliations: majors in DEA, FSAD, MAE, and IS, and students enrolled in the Robotics PhD or Minor.
• This course is for 4 credits, for letter grade only. There is no final exam.
• No prior coding or electronics experience is necessary to do well in this course.

S Y L L A B U S    |   S E E   A L S O   M Y  D E A  6 2 1 0   a n d   D E A  2 7 3 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

L E A R N I N G    O U T C O M E S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Interaction Design is the design of the interaction between people and things, or the interaction between people, fostered by things.

Tangible Interaction Design Studio develops physical devices responsive to people and the planet. Three learning outcomes are expected of this course.

Outcome 1: To grapple with under-constrained, “wicked” problems and opportunities of living on this planet.

Outcome 2: To demonstrate an ability to design, prototype, and evaluate full-scale, interactive and adaptive things responsive to these problems and opportunities, and present them in a video.

Outcome 3: To demonstrate, in a written report, an ability to communicate the motivations for, iterative development of, and expected use of the interactive prototypes, as well as assess their shortcomings.

This studio course is designed to guide you in designing meaningful solutions, while also encouraging exploration of who we are, how we engage with the world, and our place within it.

                     "In order to understand things, we have to build them."
                              – Ruzena Bajcsy, a founder of modern robotics.

R E A D I N G S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There are no assigned readings for this course, but the readings listed below lay an intellectual foundation for what we do in this studio.

• Paul Dourish. Embodied Interaction. MIT Press, 2001.
• Steve Dow. Wizard of Oz Interfaces [WOZ].
• Jen Golbeck. Back off, man. I’m a scientist.’Using Fiction to Teach Beginners HCI.
• E. Grönvall, et al. Causing commotion with a shape-changing bench.
• Kristina Höök. Affective Interaction.
• Hiroshi Ishii. Tangible Bits and Radical Atoms: Beyond Tangible Bits.
• Bruce Mau. An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth.
• John McCarthy and Peter Wright. Technology as Experience. MIT Press, 2004.
• William J. Mitchell. Computers for Living In, from e-topia. MIT Press, 1999.
• Nicholas Negroponte. Soft Architecture Machines. MIT Press, 1970.
• Richard Picard. Affective Computing. MIT Press, 1997.
• Terry Winograd. From Computing Machinery to Interaction Design.

S C H E D U L E   B Y   W E E K - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOTE: We will also do D2FS shop training to learn how to use the basic power tools safely. Please come to this training session with close-toe shoes (no sandals) and something to tie-back long hair if you have long hair!

Week 01.20 | Course Intro | Assignment-1 Intro
> Review syllabus; introduce Assignment-1; D2FS training; get Grove to work; B. Mau.

Week 01.27 | Ideation: design methods
> Review ideation methods--this page, top-left; write a scenario; prototype using Grove.

Week 02.03 | Early demo & prototype development
> Review scenarios & demo prototypes; iterate using a morphological chart worksheet.

Week 02.10 | Prototype development
> Review morphological charts and demo prototypes; review 'model' reports & videos.

Week 02.17 | Demo prototypes for Assignment-1 [20 pts]. | Cornell Break Tuesday
> Ahead of class: upload to our shared Box folder a quick phone-video of your demo.
> DEMO DAY. Demo your protoype. In so doing, you play the role(s) of you scenario.
> Introduce Assignment-2 and do a GIF by Ps, Figma or Gif Maker; ex. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Week 02.24 | Assignment-2 start: review individual proposals by GIF
> Tu Review GIFs; on the basis of the GIFs, form teams; meet your team.
> Thrs Review Assignment-1 draft videos.

Week 03.03 | Present concept as GIF
> Tu Review Assignment-1 draft videos again.
> Thrs Screen Assignment-1 videos & reports due today [25 pts]; teams meet.
> Teamwork: morphological chart worksheets and storyboards (ex. 1, 2) for Assign.-2.

Your storyboard should make clear why the furniture you design is transforming in the ways it does, for what purposes, where, at which times of day, for whom.

Week 03.10 | Early demo
> Tu Review storyboards and morphological charts; teams pick components and order.
> Thrs Review user study methods (top-left); teamwork: hardware-prototype concepts.

Week 03.17 | Prototype development
> Demo early prototypes with think aloud; teams order components for full-scale.

Week 03.24 | Prototype development
> Demo prototypes doing a role play; iterate designs.

Week 03.31 | Cornell Break

Week 04.07 | Prototype development
> Demo.

Week 04.14 | Prototype & video development
> Demo; more about videos; do a UX Survey (SUS; how to score it)

Week 04.21 | Prototype & video development
> Demos.

Week 04.28 | Prototype & video development
> Demos and video drafts

Final Class 05.06 | Demo prototypes for Assignment-2 [20 pts].
> DEMO DAY. Demo your protoype and upload to Box a phone-video of the same.

DEADLINE: tbd deadline for uploading Assignment-2 videos & reports [25 pts].
Upload all requirements to our shared folder for grading by date/time announced each semester by Cornell U. Registrar as offered here.

A S S I G N M E N T S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There are two assignments for this course.

The first assignment, undertaken by each student, is intended to be a fast-paced engagement.

The second assignment is undertaken by teams of 2-4 students and provides a longer, deeper development of the design following a trajectory like this:

• Conceptualization
• Prototyping / Rapid, low-fidelity
• Concept Generation: GIF, Scenario, Morphological Chart, Storyboard
• Prototyping in Hardware and Software
• User Testing
• Video Making and Reporting
• Documentation

Team composition for the second assignment will be formed by the instructor(s) based partly on proposals pitched in class by class members.

Keep in mind: this course asks you to develop interactive, physical artifacts that have at least one input and one output which moves physical mass.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

                   The first image - the "empty room" - in Here by Richard McGuire.

Assignment-1 | An interactive box offering temporal and emotional connectivity.
45% of the course grade; individual effort.

The first assignment will take inspiration from Richard McGuire graphic novel, Here (1989). The book presents the same location in space at different points in time --mostly a living room in a home (this room, empty, is pictured above). In the images showing the room in 1995 and 2015, we see (presumably) the same five people posing together for a portrait.

The images of the same people at two different points in time offer a rich source of inspiration for creating interactive devices that explore temporal and emotional connections. Using the Grove kit you are provided, develop an interactive, physical device at small scale that connects either (a.) one person in the portrait speaking to him/her/their self across time (e.g., an adult female speaking to herself as a girl), or (b.) one adult speaking to another as a child (e.g., the youngest adult speaking to the oldest child). You will be asked to write a scenario that offers the circumstances (regrets, wishes, gratitude, loss, ...) of the person or two people you are designing for, addressing the themes of time, memory, and human connection.

Practically, you will develop an interactive device that offers a minimalist yet expressive way to communicate time, memory, and connection through simple hardware components. The focus here is on using limited hardware and physical materials to create a meaningful interaction between the past and present, whether it’s through gradual transitions, feedback loops, and/or symbolic physical movement.

The kind of artifact you are striving for is small in scale, whimsical/poetic, beautifully fabricated (in hi-fidelity), interactive in simple ways, and meaningful and purposeful. You are encouraged to construct your box enclosure from the corrugated plastic panels provided in class. If you need a different size or shaped corrugated plastic enclosure, or if you wish to cut-out or engrave the surfaces of the panels, or if wish to use MDF or acrylic instead of corrugated plastic, work with our partners in the D2FS on laser-cutting panels to-size from digital files you generate using CaseMaker. In any case, your finished product must not have ink-pen writing or coloring on it, or use craft materials like cotton balls or craft paper; any inscriptions should be subtracted by laser-cutter engraving; color should come from the LED stick provided. You are permitted (and even encouraged) to cut material away from the panels by laser-cutter or mat knife. You may also add on to your box other features that are meticulously fabricated and purposeful. The battery pack provided must go inside your box with all your electronics; design an elegant way for users to recharge the device.

You do not have to generate code on your own: you can select one of the codes provided under the heading below, “Arduino Codes You Can Copy & Paste.” (An effective way to tailor your code to your wants without coding experience is to use ChatGPT as described below.)

             "Design is the process of creating solutions within constraints."
                           – Chris Bangle, former Chief of Design at BMW.

Limit yourself to using only the Grove electronics and box panels provided. Ensure that the battery and all electronics fit inside the box, and that the battery is accessible for recharging. If you diverge from the panels provided, generate your cut-files using CaseMaker and work with the D2FS to have these cut. Don't make the mistake of creating a prototype that is not meticulously designed and fabricated; prototypes that look like craft projects created by a child will be graded accordingly.

Intellectually, your "small" assignment may take inspiration from the boxes of artist Joseph Cornell (one such box is in Cornell's Johnson Museum of Art), the words of Brian Eno (producer of, e.g., Coldplay's "Viva La Vida", ambient music pioneer, and member or the band Roxy Music), and three perspectives on affective computing / designing for emotion:

• Affective Computing (emotion as biologically-based cognition), by Roz Picard (her TEDx Talk).
  
  
• Affective Interaction (emotion as a culturally-determined construct), by Phoebe Sengers of Cornell IS, Paul Dourish, Kristina Höök.
  
  
• Technology as Experience (emotion as part of a larger interactive experience), by John McCarthy and Peter Wright, Don Norman, and Bill Gaver.
  

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -                              Metamorphosis: Caterpillar - Chrysalis - Butterfly.

Assignment 2 | Flux Furniture
45% of your grade; team effort.

Chapter 6 of my book, Architectural Robotics (MIT Press, 2016) poses the question, "How can things...as familiar as insects or furnishings reconfigure themselves...to be something else? How can "A" become "B"? As considered in my chapter, this was a question that perplexed Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. According to Aristotle, the process of metamorphosis demonstrated that neither A (e.g., caterpillar) nor B (butterfly) are sufficient, “whole” entities in and of themselves; they are, instead, mutually dependent—coupled, bound—with A anticipating the arrival of B, and B following from A.

Later in the same work, Aristotle equated the process of metamorphosis with the workings of robots ("'miraculous' automatic puppets") and with the building of a house:

It is possible that A should move B, and B move C, and that the process should be like that of the 'miraculous' automatic puppets: the parts of these automatons, even while at rest, have in them, somehow or other, a potentiality...just as the activity of building causes the house to get built.

Aristotle here made a peculiar analogy between the natural process of metamorphosis, robots, and the built environment.

For Assignment 2, you are asked to work in teams of 2-4 students to design a table, stool, or bench that physically transforms based on changes in the environment, such as the number or behaviors of people in the room, changes in ambient light or sound levels, or .... The table might extend or retract, change shape, or adjust its surface texture and/or color in response to these stimuli. This furniture, while inspired by the metamorphosis of caterpillar-to-butterfly, is different in that it does not transform from state A to B, but is instead in flux: a fluid, adaptable nature—ongoing, seamless changing from A to B (to C?), (back to A?), to [...].

This project challenges you to think about adaptive furniture that responds not just to user input but to the broader context in which they exist, blurring the lines between object and environment. Draft a scenario for why the furniture you design is transforming in the ways it does, for what purposes, where, at which times of day, for whom.

For a fun inspiration, and a great example of a GIF, here is one take on flux furniture: Loop chair.

You are encouraged to construct your furniture mostly from MDF with (maybe?) details in acrylic, plastic, or ..... You are encouraged to consider cutting-out or engraving the MDF surfaces of the panels. Work with our partners in the D2FS on laser-cutting panels to-size from digital files you generate using CaseMaker or otherwise, if you wish.

Use sensors for light, proximity, sound, and gesture to detect changes in the environment and human activity. Use LED sticks and strips to change the color of the furniture and make it blink, fade, or intensify. Consider using motors (e.g., this one) to change the shape of the table (e.g., expanding its surface, changing its height, or altering its texture). (MDF is provided by the D2FS; electronic components must be purchased by your team; you may elect to reuse some components from Assignment-1)

As with Assignment-1, you do not have to generate code on your own: you can select one of the codes provided under the heading below, “Arduino Codes You Can Copy & Paste.” (An effective way to tailor your code to your wants without coding experience is to use ChatGPT as described below.)

G R A D I N G   /   G R A D I N G   R U B R I C - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Please review carefully the POLICIES found in the narrower column on the left-side of this page. These policies are not negotiable except under grave circumstances.

Throughout this course—an intimate and intensive “conversation” across students and the professor— students will have ample opportunity to receive feedback on their work. Here is my grading rubric for the two major assignments.

The list that follows names and describes the graded components for this course. Each component is worth so many points, as shown in red type. The sum of all of these components equals the final grade of 100 points. The numerical scale for grading is as follows: A+ (98–100), A (93–97), A- (90–92), B+ (88–89), B (83–87), B- (80–82), C+ (78–79), C (73–77), C- (70–72), D+ (68–69), D (65–67), D- (below 65).

[10 points] attendance, participation.

• Unlike a large lecture class, this 5000-level studio class is an opportunity for in-class conversation, discovery, and collaboration.

  An attendance sheet must be signed by you in the first ten minutes of class for you to be counted as present. If you expect to be later than 10 minutes on a given day, or if you will be absent, email both the professor and the TA ahead of the class session with the cause for your late arrival or absence; these will be considered as a valid excuse or not. To assess participation during class, names may be pulled "from a hat" to select student critics who will peer-review the developing work accomplished by other students; the quality of the student critique will form part of the 10 point assessment. Please review the POLICY for active participation ["P1"] on the bottom of this page.

[45 points total] Assignments 1 and 2 [rubric], each of three components:

• PROTOTYPE at 1:1 scale (full-sized), made interactive by way of sensors and actuators to create combinations of movement, lighting, displays, and/or sound.
  [20 points] assigned to the prototype in class.
  
  [25 points] assigned to video and report upoaded by deadline in schedule:
  

• VIDEO [my guide] communicates a full, cohesive story of your designed, interactive artifact, answering why, for whom, where, and for what purpose. Upload to our shared folder an MP4 file reduced to < 30MB using, e.g., Handbrake (see my video guide). In your Documentation, include a URL link to your video uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube. The video will otherwise adhere to the requirements for a Video Showcase submission to the ACM conference, CHI, a benchmark for design research. (Videos from a previous Video Showcase.)
  
  
• REPORT (pdf), that includes every aspect listed in my grading rubric. Upload your REPORT to our shared drive as a print quality pdf document. These examples from previous classes are model reports (1, 2, 3, 4) but they may not contain every requirement in my linked grading rubric. My grading rubric offers the most current expectation for documenting your design.