Interactive Device DesignCornell

Certificate Program

Interactivity, by definition, is reciprocal activity, as interactive devices are designed to enable input and response between a user and a system. This course gives you firsthand experience with the basic building blocks that make up interactive devices. You will begin by walking through a course kit and identifying the function of each component. You will then explore step-by-step methodologies for analyzing circuit diagrams, physically assembling circuits, and programming interaction.

Through activities, you will practice analyzing circuits, assembling electronic circuits, and writing code, acquiring tools and best practices along the way. By the end of this course, you will have the necessary foundation to build and program the electronic circuits critical to interactive devices.

In this course, you will begin by physically connecting components to a microcontroller board then sort out the code needed to make the microcontroller and the external components communicate in a fluid way. This will introduce you to the world of libraries and sample code, and you will have the opportunity to expand your coding skills by adapting existing code written by others. You will set up timing and communication functions as you become skilled at deciding when to choose the most applicable approach.

You will also design interactive behaviors using state diagrams, because behind every great user interface is a well-conceived and well-implemented diagram of what states the system gets into and how it transitions from one state to another as the user reacts to the device. This practical work culminates in a final project where you will design and construct a simple game involving the Arduino with your choice of input and display components.

The circuit-building activities in this course will be focused on external components that involve various kinds of display, with other classes of external components to be considered in subsequent courses.

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Designing a Simple Interactive System

In this course, you will attach sensing and input components to your microcontroller board. Your knowledge of state diagrams will be expanded to include more sophisticated interactions, and you will become familiar with the variety of sensing components available to you when you want to design a new system.

The core project in this course is a data logger device, so another new skill you will explore is the management of the data storage capabilities of microcontrollers. Related to this, you will develop greater fluency in the use of software- and hardware-based modules, which will enable you to approach new components that come onto the market and understand how to use them and their associated software.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Designing a Simple Interactive System
• Expanding Interactive Systems With Devices and Libraries

In this course, you will go beyond output devices that simply display information and move on to output devices that involve physical movement. You will apply your knowledge to servo motors and other actuators that can be incorporated into your interactive devices. You will also discover some of the basics of power management and design — a crucial element of your project's success.

Through practical activities involving the Arduino and various external components, you will deepen your prototyping and debugging skills. These activities help support your skills for the final project, in which you will design and build a physical interactive device of your own choosing.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Designing a Simple Interactive System
• Expanding Interactive Systems With Devices and Libraries
• Designing Complex Sensing and Functions in Interactive Systems

In this course, you will integrate the Raspberry Pi into your framework and discover how it is possible to add webcams, microphones, speakers, displays, touchscreens, and other devices to the Pi. You will also practice the critical skill of finding and incorporating the associated software to drive these elements. In your main project, you will add software to the Raspberry Pi that allows it to understand simple speech commands and respond to them with output. By the end of this course, you will have the applied skills to think critically about your design and implementation to build more complex interactive devices.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Designing a Simple Interactive System
• Expanding Interactive Systems With Devices and Libraries
• Designing Complex Sensing and Functions in Interactive Systems
• Building Actuated Interactive Devices

In this course, you will develop an interactive Raspberry Pi device that communicates with other devices across the internet. This opens up a wide range of possibilities, like building one Raspberry Pi that fits in your pocket and communicates via the internet to another Pi at home, which could be monitoring the cats, your front door, or the weather. For the final project of this course, you will build one such system: an internet-connected doorbell – an entry into the world of Internet of Things.

The course brings together all the skills you have studied in previous courses as you experience the complex process of designing, prototyping, and debugging a system with distributed, networked components. You will experience the process of moving a device from conception to full functionality, with all the internet connectivity expected of marketable devices today, setting you up for success in your future projects.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Designing a Simple Interactive System
• Expanding Interactive Systems With Devices and Libraries
• Designing Complex Sensing and Functions in Interactive Systems
• Building Actuated Interactive Devices
• Designing Advanced Interactive Devices