Intro to Physical Computing
Jeff Feddersen
Fall 2003

Midterm due Halloween

Your midterm consists of two parts: a project and an essay in the form of a journal entry (note that the essay is in addition to documentation of your project).

Project: Since our midterm falls on Halloween, we will be having a halloween party during class. For your midterm, you will either create a costume or a critter for the party using the skills and techniques you've learned to date in the class.

Costume: Whatever you create you must be able to wear throughout class - a hat, mask, cape, boots, gloves, etc. It must be able to change its appearance in some way, and have some form of input from the wearer or those nearby.

Critter: Something that moves - crawls, wobbles, shakes, shimmies, slides - and makes sound - groans, screams, clacks, whirrs, plays spooky music. The sound can be from speakers, or from some noisy physical event (the unadorned sound of motors, relays, etc., will not be sufficient.)

Your projects will be shown in class. During the presentation, you should describe the concept, show the project in action, and explain the mechanisms and code behind it. Extra credit will be given to those who make use of physical debugging, ie, signals from the chip that communicate its status.

You must document your project in your journal before the class date.

You may work individually or in groups of up to three people.

Essay: There is a digital divide between those who have access to technology and those who don't. But you are learning to manipulate the basic components of the digital realm, placing you in an even more exclusive category - those who can make technology. This is not an insignificant ability. Do you plan to use your skill for evil or for good? Explain, using specific examples.