- UC Santa Cruz
- The Arts
- student research
This collaborative research cohort will create tangible user interfaces for interactive art and design to expand the multi media art platform sonicSENSE (http://www.sonicsense.net). Artists Barney Haynes and Jennifer Parker created sonicSENSE in 2008 as an evolving site for art, culture, new technologies, digital media, collaboration, and participation. SonicSENSE uses the creative diversity of computational media with traditional visual art practices to cultivate space for sharing, questioning, and exploring interdisciplinary frameworks, methodologies and experiences. Driven by a myriad of data sources often specific to the installation site, the environment, and the body, sonicSENSE aims to build collaborative endeavors of art, information and experience.
SonicSENSE has adapted a systems based approach for fabricating functional experimental art devices that combine principles of kinetics, electronics, motion control, sensors, actuators, motors, and other control devices with Arduino Boards and Make Boards with Max/MSP/Jitter and Processing as the primary programming languages. The fabrication methods include, woodwork, metalwork, mold-making, and rapid prototyping to build and advance iterations of the mechatronic platform.
The project group will focus on the design and prototyping of tangible user interfaces to create meaningful correlations between user gestures, the controller interface, and the output of that controller. Interaction design concepts include perceived affordances, translation of physical action into digital information, and user observation. Prospective students applying to the project group should have skill in 3D modeling and animation, art, music, gaming, programming, video, engineering, robotics, or design. Please indicate your interest in “Mechatronics” in your application.