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Last update 2007-03-12, latest changes in red

Do-It-Yourself Non-Standard User Interfaces
Optional subject for the master's program Digital Media, 6 credits

Summer semester 2007

Lecture/Lab: Wed 9:45 a.m. – 1 p.m., room I122 and/or I220, starting April 11^th in I122

If you plan to attend this course, please send me (Jörn Loviscach) an e-mail so that I can compile a mailing list.

Syllabus: We will look into new interaction devices, explore in which settings they may offer advantages over standard (i.e., WIMP) interfaces, and create some devices and demo application software of our own design, which thanks to the current technology has become utterly simple. The range of components and devices includes: motor faders, accelerometers, gyroscopes, force feedback joysticks, radio transceivers, graphics tablets, the Wii controller, and multi-touch displays. Interfacing this gear with a computer will sometimes work directly but more often require the use of embedded controllers, most probably of the Arduino type, which can be handled extremely easily. Other interesting controllers are hacked mobile devices such as the Apple iPod. Electronics and physics will be introduced as needed and be kept as basic as possible. Here are two examples of what's possible: 3D animation input, zooming and rotating images with two fingers.

The total workload amounts to 180 hours. In the lab and at home, students will work in small groups on individual projects. The lecture will reflect which projects they have chosen. It will cover general technology, sensors and actors, and application issues. Here is a quite comprehensive list of topics to pick from:

General technology

• Embedded controllers: Arduino and iPod

• Voltage, current, power, frequency

• Reading electronic schematics; building prototypes on breadboards

• Analog electronics: RC combinations, diodes, transistors, op-amps

• Digital logic circuits

• Analog-to-digital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, PWM, filtering

• Interfaces to standard computing equipment: serial connections, radio (BlueTooth, ZigBee, etc.), USB

Sensors and actuators

• Inertial sensor (accelerometers and gyroscopes); compass

• Motor faders and rotary encoders

• Motors, servos, step motors, muscle wire and how to control them

• Force feedback, haptic devices

• Graphics tablets, touch screens, Multi-touch devices

• LEDs and light sensors

• Body signals: temperature, heart rate, skin resistance, EMG, EEG

• Action at a distance: ultrasound sensors, Theremin

• MIDI keyboards, drum pads, and controller boxes

• Microphones and loudspeakers

• Not-so-standard PC gear: graphics tablets, Wii Remote, amBX, using several mice

Application

• Pattern recognition: gestures, actions, etc.

• Principles of UI design

• Application fields: mobile systems, music, games, 3D animation, support for handicapped people, ...

The development part will involve neither complex OO software development nor flashy graphics design. On the contrary, the focus will be put on thinking like an engineer, that is: being creative in the face of strict limits imposed by electronics and physics. Note that embedded devices and electronics are not easy to debug; this requires tenacity. On top of that, the extraction of meaningful data from sensors benefits from advanced mathematical methods.

Lecture notes: available online the day before the lecture, see the folder next to this file

Schedule