These are some ideas from a brainstorming session I had about my final project. Usually this is the part of any project I like the most, because there is room to explore and be curious about new possibilities.
Some thoughts about my final project for the Fab Academy. It is fun brainstorming about project ideas. Many ideas so far, not one definite 'winner' as of yet.
When I think about the final project, I think it should be something I enjoy building. I enjoy things that make people curious, are playful, make people smile, touch people's hearts. Not sure where that leads right now. It will probably be something in art, design sooner than a tool or something 'useful'. But that might change..;-)
Update: while brainstorming, I had the need to be able to weigh ideas against each other. 'Just pick one' does not work for me in this case.
Here are some of my favorite ideas so far:
A steampunk-inspired artefact that produces sounds by dialing knobs, gesturing, speaking into it, pushing buttons. Purely to enjoy the act of creating without purpose for whoever uses the Tink Tonk machine.
This could be a little creature living on your desk or on your window sill that cites and creates haikus from various inputs, at random and at awkward moments. There might be more than one of these haiku bots that are connected through the web and exchange (fragments of) haiku between them.
The machine freely generates slow shutter digital pinhole snapshots.
A family of small objects that welcome you home with a harmony (well...) of light, sounds and gestures. Adding or removing them from the group affects the harmony. Just like flowers and paintings contribute to the mood in your home, so do these creatures.
A pair of keychains in the form of two hearts that each record the day of a couple and reproduce a combined visual experience of their day when these keychains are reunited at home.
Bringing the old idea of the shoebox with a scene inside to the digital, interactive and connected smart age. It might not be in a box.:-)
A modular totempole that takes your input and outputs visual and audio 'wisdom' from it. The idea is to make it a modular system and by changing, adding sections in between, this affects the output that the totempole produces.
A poetic ritual that brings the lost art of letter writing, sending, receiving, reading and responding to the 21st century. I'm thinking about a collections of interactions people need to perform in order to create this experience. No simple mouseclicks, but poetic, meaningful gestures.
Quantifying and observing bird nesting behaviour through a smart bird house. Data is sent to cloud for comparison. A citizen science project.
A wearable that takes biometric triggers (heartbeat, breathing, other...) to record an impression of the location where the wearer is at that moment. Gain insight in places and moments that bring joy, flow, stress, etc. A home device is used to re-create the moods, e.g. on your desk while working.
Hide messages at GPS spots and find messages your friends left for you.
A collection of wearable sensors that trigger music making devices when people move.
A carry-on kit to collect samples of the world. Things you see, smells, small details, whatever.
A modular smart plant grower. Modules added to the grower affect what happens to plants.
Modular action figures. Fight your friends over the web.
An annoying device that sits on your desk and gives you input for ideas whenever you (don't) need it.