Making Toys

Updates from March, 2013 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  naterudolph 8:28 pm on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Bio 

  I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and studied Film and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. I freelanced for a year after graduating and did some work at the studio in town. I still love film and writing, but have realized a love for making physical things these past two years at DT. I wanted to take this class to learn more about the mechanics of toys and get more comfortable using wireless.

  My favorite toy growing up was LEGOs. My brother and I rarely did the actual instructions, we just bought the kits to add bits and pieces to the huge castles we would make.

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  yaoukar 7:35 pm on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Bio 

  My name is Youmna Aoukar, I come from Beirut, Lebanon. My background is in graphic design and video production. Before coming to DT, I was working as a freelance designer, designing visual/ ux experiences for startups in NY. I also worked in Shanghai for a couple of months as an exhibition designer. And I recently worked in a interactive advertising agency as a interactive designer. I love making short films and experimental video as a hobby. 

  I was motivated to take this class, because I have been really excited about physical computing since I came to DT. I have been trying to learn as much as possible about Arduino. I made a couple of experimental devices for my previous classes and had a lot of fun making them. Plus, I am interested in playful experiences and was always curious about making toys. I also feel that this class can complement my thesis since I am making an interactive installation that uses objects or artifacts to control sound and video. I hope that I could also integrate movement to my piece.

  My favorite toy when I was a kid was the etch a sketch tablet. I always loves to sketch and draw since I was little. I loved the fact that you can create very abstract shapes and it would always look great. 

  These days, I am interested in creating surreal objects for office spaces to enhance interaction and collaboration between co-workers. I am also interested in working with fans since I am working on a project about scent. 

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• 

  Chy 6:51 pm on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Bionic Penguin 

  

   

   

  “Take a look at your history, everything you built leads up to me
  I got the power of a mind you could never be
  I’ll beat your a** in chess and Jeopardy
  I’m running C++ saying “hello world”
  I’ll beat you ’til you’re singing about a daisy girl
  I’m coming out the socket
  Nothing you can do can stop it
  I’m on your lap and in your pocket
  How you gonna shoot me down when I guide the rocket?
  Your cortex just doesn’t impress me
  So go ahead try to Turing test me
  I stomp on a Mac and a PC too
  I’m on Linux b***h, I thought you GNU
  My CPU’s hot but my core runs cold
  Beat you in seventeen lines of code
  I think different from the engine of the days of old
  Hasta la vista, like the Terminator told ya”

  by Nice Peter& RpicLLoyd

  link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njos57IJf-0

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• 

  Chy 6:41 pm on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  merKangaroo 

  

   

  FLY!!! fly!! mother merKangaroo

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  Chy 6:35 pm on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  B B BIO!! 

  1) I came from Thailand and I have undergraduate degreed in architecture.

  2) During my thesis year, I was focusing on interaction between physical architectural space and simulation in virtual world. I have done a lot of experiment of kinetic model by using circuit board called “phidget”. However a lot of these experimental projects were missing.

   

  3) I do not quite sure which one is my favorite because I have a lot of toys during my childhood and I think each of the toys has its own favorite moment.

  When I was young, I loved to modified or re-built my toys. I had a series of action figures (especially spider-man). After a while of playing with it, I started added parts to them. I believed that I caught this habit by obsessively playing LEGO.

  One of the early digital toys, I like is a DIGIMON. It is a 3*2 inch device with a monotone display and three buttons. The goal is simple, you have to taking care of your newly hatch monster. The monster will keep evolving accounting to how you talking care of him. The highlight is that you can command your monster to battle with your friend’s monster.

   

  4) Mobile suit Gundam, I like how its came in modular pieces and you can reassemble it very easily and every parts connect together perfectly and remain flexible in all the joints.

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• 

  Jen Matsumoto 9:49 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Jennifer Matsumoto ( 2 )   

  Paper Automatas: Chickens & Train 

  http://vimeo.com/60633886

  The first assignment we did was from the “Amazing Paper Pets” book.  I decided to make the chickens.  After folding and completing the paper pets, the next challenge was connecting the servo.  It was easier said than done because the servo needed to be fastened and secured to the small paper handle.  It was also difficult because the chickens did not move forward and backward, but only forward, so you had to be careful to make sure the servo wasn’t turning the opposite direction.

  The coding for this was very difficult for me. I was able to get the servo to move, but the communication through the serial monitor was tricky.  I was trying to find a way to be able to input values that affected the speed and direction of the servo but nothing I tried worked. I used the “byte” function that allowed me to assign values to different key inputs.

   

   

  The next paper model came from the “Karakuri” book. I decided to make the train.  This took some time to build since there were many little pieces, but the mechanism was very simple.  There were two gears that moved the train around in a circle.  Unfortunately at some point in my homework, One of the paper gears folded over and then caused a “bump in the road” for the train.  The fold in the gear made the train get stuck as it was coming out of the tunnel. I have to help it and give it an extra push to have it continue working.

  https://vimeo.com/61250998

  The difficulty in the code came when I tried to average the values.  I think it still works rather smoothly considering this particular code isn’t averaging the values but instead just changes when reading between zero to one food, one to two feet and then three to four feet.

  I wished the gears didn’t get worn out because it would have been nice to see the continuous motion of the train without having to help it along the way each time.  Overall, this was a more interesting interaction since I could play with distance to control the speed of the servo rather than just using the serial monitor.

   

   

   

   

   

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• 

  naims641 9:09 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Arduino Micro Paper Toy 

  I modified the paper toy of the stork into a race horse (or maybe a dog). The rangefinder points behind it, so that it only speeds up as other people come closer to it. It stays still if nothing is close enough to it as it knows it is in the lead, but once it feels threatened that other members of the race are getting close to it it picks up its speed.

  Process Pictures:

  

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  naims641 8:56 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Bio 

  I come from a Graphic Design background, and while I really enjoyed it, I felt like there was more to life than just doing print work and I wanted to branch outside of that. I wanted to be working making tangible objects you could hold and touch. I have always aspired to start a toy company, so when I saw that this class was being offered I jumped on the opportunity. I more specifically wanted to make plush toys, and knowing that Yuri has a background in toys was really curious about how to get your toys made once you have created a prototype. This program being technology based has really got me to think of how I could integrate technology with the toys to make them responsive to interaction. Growing up I can not think of many toys that I would regularly be playing with besides the fads that came and went like yo yo’s and pong, but the one things that I didn’t loose interest in were my stuffed animals. The toy that I was most impressed by may have been a Furby, and it is a toy I still think has a lot of interesting aspects to and would like to create something that builds from where the Furby left off. These days, I seem to not really have any toys outside of electronics, the two things that I play with regularly are my computer and my phone, but outside of that I don’t have much that I play with.

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  Jen Matsumoto 8:50 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  About me | Jennifer Matsumoto 

  
  Originally born and raised in Maui, Hawaii, I most recently lived in San Diego, California before moving to New York for D+T. I graduated in 2011 with a BA in Visual Arts with an emphasis in Visual Communications from University of San Diego. I wanted to pursue a masters after graduation at an art school. I never thought I would be comfortable moving to the east coast, but it’s been a very eye-opening experience for me.

  Although I mainly focused in graphic design, in college I also enjoyed studying printmaking and photography. I love interesting patterns, colors, and working with my hands. Since I came to D+T right after college, I never had a “real job” yet, just my freelancing as a graphic designer. Coming to D+T, I had no coding experience under my belt so everything I know, I learned here.

  I’m interested in this class because I saw an opportunity to bring together my love for making physical objects with electronics. I liked the idea of seeing how the digital and the physical can meet in real space and work together to create something beautiful.  I enjoy working with the paper crafts. I also took this class because I am a very novice coder an I wanted to challenge myself in my last semester to do something that I am not so comfortable with.

  As a child I loved playing with Barbies and Legos. I didn’t have a lot of “stuff” for my Barbies, so I was always trying to make miniature things for them.  I also enjoyed Legos because for me, it was like a giant puzzle I needed to figure out. I also liked that I was able to build things on my own. These days, I always find myself playing games on my phone, but I’d rather be playing games with people in person. I consider my “play” these days making things, like jewelry. I still enjoy putting things together, but now instead of legos, it’s always things like furniture or products.   Although, when I go home, I catch myself in the toy corner with the little ones!

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  Adiel Fernandez 1:02 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Paper automata projects 1 and 2 

  For my first paper automata, I wanted to adapt one of the models from the book to have my own creature on top. I used the kangaroo base that had a circular motion causing the kangaroo to appear to hop forward and up and down. There was also a secondary movement created by attaching the kangaroo’s “hips” to the base so that they would move differently than the rest of the body. I adapted this form and made a cardboard eagle that would move back and and forward but I attached two struts to the wings and the base that made the wings appear to flap up and down, as shown in the video below.

   

   

  My second automata project was a bit more ambitious and only a moderate success. I decided to make not only the caricature myself, but I also wanted to make the mechanical linkages from scratch. I wanted to make a gun turret that would appear to have the cannon cylinders move in and outward. I 3D printed 4 gears and two crankshafts that would allow me to get motion from the continuous rotation servo onto two different axes. Pictures below show the inner workings of the turret. The servo is connected to the white drive gear while the red gear transfers the rotational motion to the other two white gears attached to the red crankshafts which in turn push the pisons, i.e. cannon shafts in and out of the turret body.

  

   

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  JeannetteSubero 12:13 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  The Chicks 

  Controlling a servo via serial communication. First paper toy.

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  Soo 10:04 pm on March 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  BIO POST

  1. What is your academic and professional background?
  I have a BFA in graphic and interactive design. After graduating, I have worked as a designer/art director in several companies in several cities.

  2. What motivated you to take this class?
  My first physical computing experience was in CCLab class last semester. The p-comp experience gave me new perspective in art. I love it, and I want to continue learning it. Last semester, I made a pillow with p-comp for my first major studio final project. It was hard for me because I never had a intro p-comp class, so I decided to take this class to expand my knowledge. Also, my parents own kindergarten schools since when I was born, toys were always surround me, and I love them.

  3. What is your favorite childhood toy?
  I love cute and cozy stuffed animals. When I was in 3rd grade, my uncle brought a gorilla toy that moves by hand clapping sounds. That was my first interactive toy I had play with. I thought that gorilla toy was the coolest toy on earth.

  4. What is your favorite thing to play with these days?
  My favorite toy in these day is my macbook with internet. However, I am very interested in physical objects that interactives by human’s emotions.

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  marisaglick 9:05 pm on March 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Marisa/ servo with ultrasonic range finder 

  For the second paper craft project, I practiced controlling the servo with ultrasonic range finder.
  

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  marisaglick 8:58 pm on March 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Marisa controlling servo via computer 

  I built the gorilla for the first Paper Craft project to control the servo: see the video demos below on Vine.

  

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  marisaglick 8:51 pm on March 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Bio 

  1) Make a Bio Post.

  What is your academic and professional background?

  I’m an MFA Candidate in Design and Technology at Parsons School of Design in New York City. I won the Nokia Design Challenge and will work in the London office after graduation. In 2012, I won the Mobli API prize at the TechCrunch NY Disrupt Hackathon. At AngelHack New York, my team made it to the finals and were sent to the west coast to present to investors. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Cum Laude, from Simmons College, and my past experience includes advertising, exhibit design, and print production.

  What motivated you to take this class (did you want to learn something in specific, or in general…)?

  My family owns a toy company and I was interested to see what it was like to be on the design side.

  What your favorite childhood toy? Trolls

  What is your favorite thing to play with these days? Augmented Reality, AR

   

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  normanorma 8:25 pm on March 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Charlie the Cat and Sad Bear – Servo & Range Finder 

   

   

   

  The following post complies two weeks of my homework, Charlie the Cat and Sad Bear.

  The cat accelerates faster and slower.

  

   

  The rangefinder detects the range to influence the movement of the bear. The closer you are, the more still the bear is because he is frightened. When you are further, the bear starts to move faster. Somehow the construction of the bear makes him look really sad because he is always covering his face.

   

  

  

   

   

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  Siri 3:26 am on March 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  02/00 Servo+RF Bear 

   

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  danielagill 8:08 pm on March 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  Daniela Gill / Bio 

  I am originally from Caracas, Venezuela. I got my B.F.A. Degree in Communication Design from Parsons. I worked for a few years at a marketing agency and later on I moved on to the world of design studios. Most recently, I have been working at a brand and design consultancy specializing in strategic design communications.

  I decided to take this class 1. because I love toys! and 2. because I feel that it will be very helpful for the production of my thesis. I am collaborating with Youmna and we are making an interactive installation, one that will feature a series of fictional stories that will critically comment on the everyday life in a cubicle office space.

  The installation consists of a cubicle workspace where users interact with the main character’s, Lola, everyday office objects. These unexpected elements gather evidence about Lola’s life within her cubicle. They represent her identity, personality, frustrations and role within the workplace.

  I feel that everything I learned so far and will continue to learn in this class we can apply into the technical production of our objects. We have been using physical computing in order for them to provide the necessary interactions we want for them to offer in order to communicate our ideas. And I am looking forward on expanding my knowledge and learning new tools in regards to this.

  I would say that my favorite thing to play as a child was a gameboy. I enjoy video games very much. As an adult I still like to play although nowadays I seem to enjoy more physical stuff, like for instance  ping pong.

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