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  1. Moulinath Mangala
  2. Uday Shanker
  3. Gaurav bhushan

Our first practical assignment during the workshop Expressive Electronics required us to design a basic interaction using a simple keyboard PCB. The interaction had to be designed keeping in mind the constraints that we had to limit the number of inputs to 4 and the interaction should be based on touch.

Stage I: Figuring out the Hardware

We started by exploring the keyboard PCB. An entire keyboard was dismantled and the PCB was removed to use it for our purpose. We then tried to figure out the various permutations and combinations in the keyboard connections that meant different characters on the screen. We were now familiar with the basic hardware that we had to design the interaction around.

We then fixed our four input keys by soldering the necessary combinations and attaching them to basic switches.

Stage II: Conceptualization

Since the interaction had to be around 'TOUCH' so we tried to brainstorm different ways in which we could affect the hardware setup, keeping the 4 key/switch constraint in mind.
We shortlisted two ideas 'SPIN' and 'HOVER' and devised two basic scenarios.


Scenario 2 - Hover and Navigate

Stage III: Prototyping


Stage IV: Feedback

A lot of insightful suggestions were received after our presentation. We could only extend the metaphor and there is still scope for more innovation.
