6.810
Engineering Interactive Technologies (fall 2020)






Class content: Provides instruction in building cutting-edge interactive technologies, explains the underlying engineering concepts, and shows how those technologies evolved over time. Students use a studio format (i.e., extended periods of time) for constructing software and hardware prototypes. Topics include interactive technologies, such as multi-touch, augmented reality, haptics, wearables, and shape-changing interfaces. In a group project, students build their own interactive hardware/software prototypes and present them in a live demo at the end of term.
Previous Offerings: If you are interested to see the course schedule for the previous offering, you can find it here fall 2018 (note that I was on sabbatical fall 2019 so the course was not offered last year). While 2020 will build onto this material, we are significantly revising the materials and will post updates here soon.
Requirement to be on Campus in Fall 2020:
Note that this is an on-campus lab course. What this means is that some course activities, such as fabricating prototypes, will happen on campus. Thus, in fall 2020 this course is not open for students who cannot be on campus or who do not feel comfortable coming in to participate in workshop activities. We are sorry that there is no option to participate remotely but the learning objectives for this course cannot be achieved without hands-on activities done in a workshop environment. For the students who are on campus and are considering taking this course, our current plan is that all the lectures will be done online and all labs will be done remotely from your room, but that whenever you need to fabricate something for a lab or pset you will come to the workshop for short periods of time, then take the fabricated parts and return back to your room. When you come in to fabricate parts, there will be a member of the teaching staff with you in the workshop to explain how the fabrication process works. For students who need to quarantine for short periods of time (e.g. 1-2 weeks), we will fabricate the parts for you according to your design file and bring them to your dorm. Lectures will be synchronous. Labs will be asynchronous, i.e. you work on them from your dorm room and come to an OH in person or virtually if you need help. For the group project, we will continue social distancing, i.e. you will mostly work on the group project individually from your dorm room and reach out to team members via zoom, slack and other communication channels. If the prototype only has low-cost parts, each team member will build their own copy. If the prototype involves expensive parts, there is an option that only one or two team members build a hardware prototype and the other team members work on the software for the project.Communication
- In class: Zoom and Slack (workspace: 6810-2020)
- Outside of class: Piazza
Grading
- Lab Check-Offs and Home Works (20%)
- Problem Sets (40%)
- Open Ended Project (40%)
- no exams or nano quizzes
Tutorials:
|
|
|
|
Schedule
Week | Date | Room | Class | Notes |
Sept 2 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363, dorm |
Lecture: Course Overview ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: Printed Electronics: Fabrication ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: Finding Future Interactive Technologies ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
||
Sept 4 (fr) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363, dorm |
![]() Lecture: Sensing (Buttons, Sliders, Multi-Touch) ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: Laser Cutting: Materials, Tips & Tricks ![]() ![]() ![]() Introduce Yourself: 1 min per person (all slides here) ![]() ![]() |
||
2 | Sept 8 (tue) |
no lecture (first day students on campus) |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
Lab 1 + Lab 2 | no lecture |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
||
Sept 11 (fr) | no lecture |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
||
3 | Sept 16 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
Lecture: review of homework business card ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: review of lab1/2 inkjet printed card ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: review of reading inkjet printed circuits paper ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: Sensing: Rotation, Elongation, Shape ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
Sept 18 (fr) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363, dorm |
Lecture: Printed Electronics: Displays ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
||
4 | Sept 23 (wed) | no lecture, spray at IDC |
![]() Lab 3: Spraying and Control of EL Displays |
|
Sept 25 (fr) | no lecture |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Fall Career Fair | |
5 | Sept 30 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363, dorm |
![]() Lecture: Review of homework spraying displays ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: Printed Elect.: Actuation + Communication ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: 3D Printing for Making Interactive Devices ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
Oct 2 (fr) | no lecture |
![]() ![]() |
Add Date | |
6 | Oct 7 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: 3D Printing continued |
|
Oct 9 (fr) | no lecture |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
||
7 | Oct 14 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
![]() Lecture: Multi-Touch Technology History and Future ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
Oct 16 (fr) | no lecture |
![]() Lab 6: Conductive Textiles |
||
8 | Oct 21 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
Lecture: Brain-Computer + Electro-Muscle Interfaces ![]() ![]() ![]() |
virtual UIST |
Oct 23 (fr) | no lecture, team meetings |
![]() ![]() Staff Feedback for Project: 8 teams x 20 min per team |
virtual UIST | |
9 | Oct 28 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
![]() Lecture: Haptics and Force Feedback ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
Oct 30 (fr) | no lecture, team meetings |
![]() Staff Feedback for Project: 8 teams x 20 min per team ![]() |
||
10 | Nov 4 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
Day after Election Day. Avoid assignment due dates. Lecture: How to Pitch your Group Project to the Press |
|
Nov 6 (fr) | no lecture, team meetings |
![]() ![]() Staff Feedback for Project: 8 teams x 20 min per team ![]() |
||
11 | Nov 11 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 | Public Holiday, no class | Veterans day |
Nov 13 (fr) | no lecture, team meetings |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Nov 19: Drop Date | |
12 | Nov 18 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
![]() Lecture: Health Sensing ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
Nov 20 (fr) | no lecture, team meetings |
![]() ![]() ![]() Staff Feedback for Project: 8 teams x 20 min per team |
||
13 | Nov 25 (wed) | students not on campus | no class, Extended Thanksgiving Break | no assignments can be due |
Nov 27 (fr) | students not on campus | no class, Extended Thanksgiving Break | no assignments can be due | |
14 | Dec 2 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
Lecture: Augmented Reality Technology ![]() ![]() ![]() Lecture: Sound Interfaces ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
Dec 4 (fr) | no lecture, team meetings |
![]() Staff Feedback for Project: 8 teams x 20 min per team |
there may be max one assignment due between today and the end of the last class | |
15 | Dec 9 (wed) | Zoom ID: 954 5595 1363 |
![]() |
last day of classes: Dec 10 |