Creative Technologist - The Tech Academy

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Overview

In essence, The Tech Acacemy (TTA) is a social enterprise in Bangladesh that focuses on teaching children Electronics, Computer Programming and other STEM related topics. TTA is the one of the first start-ups to have ever executed something like this for children in Bangladesh.

Other than teaching, TTA also maintained a Research & Development Lab where TTA students and staff collaborated on creative projects (installations, interactive systems, games etc). These were a mix of client-based and experimental projects.

I was involved with TTA from January 2017 - May 2017.

Involvement

  • Worked with various Creative Coding/Technology platforms in the R&D lab.
  • Tutored children from different age groups about the fundamentals of Computer Programming and Electronics using open-source tools like Processing and Arduino.
  • Planned teaching strategies and class curriculum that facilitated enjoyable learning experience; Also created project documentations.
  • Developed variants of classic games like Pong to demonstrate Game Development in the classroom.

Projects

Motion Sensing Camera for wildlife photography

Here, one of the kids (Samir) attempted to design a prototype for a motion-sensing camera that can be used for wild-life photography. The prototype makes use of an ultrasonic sensor to detect anything in front of it. Once detected, the sensor triggers a program written in Processing to snap a frame off the webcam.

Processing Ultrasound Sensor Arduino Exhibition
Flappy Eggy

Flappy eggy is essentially a Flappy Bird clone with a twist - the player has to physically jump on a platform in order to navigate the bird. The "platform" was equipped with piezoelectric sensors and an Arduino read the change in voltage to detect jumps.

This was a team effort. I was responsible for implementing and calibrating the hardware part. Moreover, I initiated the development of an Android version of the game minus the sensors.

Processing Sensor Integration Arduino Client Project
Noise Box

Noise Box makes use of the Minim Library in Processing to alter the features of a sound, such as pitch and volume. Moreover, these features can be manipulated by a simple interface I created using a potentiometer, a button and an Arduino.

Processing Arduino Sound/Sonic Experiments
Sentient Swarm

A particle system that can be controlled using hand gestures via an ultrasound sensor. Documentation

Processing Arduino Physical Computing