Synthesis Studios

Yesterday was day one of “Physical Computing without Computers” (H79.2584 for you NYUers), and, in my opinion, it went pretty swimmingly! My class were like kids in kindergarten as I armed them with Make Volume 7, some of the parts to assemble the Sterling engine, and Make Your Own Working Paper Clock. Why start out with those two projects? First off — any “computer” is going to need a power source, and in my class electricity is out of the question. So, given that, a Sterling engine seemed like a great way to turn heat into rotational motion. Secondly, sometime during the term, people’s projects are going to get large enough that they are going to require some sort of synchronization — hence the clock.

For those who are interested in following along, feel free to grab the class information and calendar. With those and with some time on your hands, you too can attend my class. My students are off with straight edges, knives, and even laser cutters. If you can’t tell, I’m quite excited about what’s going to come out of this experiment.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Synthesis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.