Dan's MAS.110 Final Project

 

 

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  My Interactive Self Portrait

      An abstract but purposeful construction

    

     I chose to represent my self portrait using physical objects that were abstract yet familiar enough to successfully make a representation of myself.  The portrait consists of a brain with blinking LEDs, a Piezzo speaker, a blinking LED light for the eye, and 4 lighted pushbuttons to simulate food being passed to the mouth. 

     The portrait is intended to be an interactive experience for anyone who walks near it. An infared sensor is used to detect the presence of people. When someone walks near the portrait, sound will be used to catch that  person's attention. Once the person comes closer, the noise will stop and the portrait will provide the actual interactive experience.  With the useage of Nylon, and hotpants, and input pushbuttons that the player can touch, the portrait will come alive.  With the hotpants, the brain will signal to the player via graphics, whether it wants to play, is hungry, or whether it wants to solve a differential equation (or a much simpler math problem). These three actions are very similar to the kinds of things I do at MIT. I study hard, I eat alot, and I like to play bass guitar and surf. 

     The user can push a button to feed it, excite it, or make the portrait think.  If it is fed, lights will simulate the food being passed to the mouth and the speaker will make noise to signify it's hunger has been satisfied.  If it is excited, the lights will blink fast and the speaker will make lots of noise. If it wants to solve a math problem, the brain LED's will flash slowly, and via the hotpants graphics, a math problem will be displayed and solved.  If the player feeds, excites, or makes the portrait think, when the portrait wants to, a smiley face will be displayed to signify that the portrait is happy.