Making and Inventing Interactive Devices

  • Create your own multitouch sensors from scratch. [Pourjafarian, et al. Multitouch Kit]
  • Make an inflatable actuator that moves [Cui, et al. MiuraKit]
  • This class will take place at Make Reality Space, CSIE's makerspace.
  • A lot of hands-on projects in this class.
  • Learn digital fabrication techniques, and invent your own interactive devices!

開課學期 Semester： 114-1
課號 Class number：CSIE5647 資工系大學部選修（歡迎外系與研究所加選）
授課教授 Instructor： 鄧善元 Shan-Yuan Teng
上課時間 Time： 星期二 Tuesday 789
上課地點 Location：學新 523 (CSIE Make Reality Space)
上課語言 Language：中文（英文教材）Mandarin (English materials)
開課人數 Student Quota：30

Synopsis

The lecture covers fundamental principles of interactive devices and fabrication techniques, along with state-of-the-art research and applications in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The course will involve hands-on instructions to create custom interactive devices (e.g., touch sensors, haptic actuators, circuits) using digital fabrication machines (e.g., 3D printers, 2D routers). Based on the knowledge and inspiration, students are guided to invent new interactive devices in their final project (e.g., wearable devices).

Expected workload

The goal of the course is to learn through doing, i.e., heavy hands-on assignments. The grade of this course depends on individual assignments and group projects, which are evaluated by in-class presentation, demonstration of physical prototypes, and submitted reports.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites but basic programming skills are recommended.

Syllabus

Week Date Content
1 9/02 Introduction
2 9/09 2D fabrication
3 9/16 Mechanisms
4 9/23 3D fabrication
5 9/30 No class (UIST 2025 Conference)
6 10/07 Mid-term presentation (demonstration)
7 10/14 Circuits & microcontroller programming
8 10/21 Understanding and making sensors I
9 10/28 Understanding and making sensors II
10 11/04 Understanding and making actuators I
11 11/11 Understanding and making actuators II
12 11/18 Invention process and brainstorming
13 11/25 Final project sprint
14 12/02 Final project sprint
15 12/09 Final presentation (demonstration)
16 12/16 No class (SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Conference)

The schedule is subject to change due to material/equipment availability.

Policies

  • Safety training will be provided and students should follow the rules of Make Reality Space.
  • Students should prepare their own laptops (if needed, please contact the department).
  • The class contains dexterous hand-eye coordination. For special needs, please contact the instructor.
  • Other detailed policies will be explained in the first class.

AI policies

  • Feeding assignment requirements into online AI models (e.g., ChatGPT) is strongly prohibited. You should not share content outside of the class.
  • References should be cited and manually checked (“ChatGPT” is not a valid reference, just like “Google”).

Otherwise stated, the copyright of the materials in the class belongs to Shan-Yuan Teng.