Overview / Usage

350 technologists, artists, designers and thinkers from all around India gathered in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India for the MIT Media Lab 5th Design Innovation Workshop from January 17th to 23rd, 2015 by The MIT Media Lab India Initiative. Those awesome 7 days gave an enthralling experience to each one of us. The week long program inspired and focused on building things that matter. As part of the workshop, following tracks were covered - Civic Innovation, Synthetic Biology, Welspun Smart Textiles, Synchronous Tools, Immersive Storytelling, Sensors across Scales, Samsung Lifelong Learning, Creating engaging playful experiences, Enabling Toys and Networked Playscapes.

I was selected from a pool of thousands of applicants who applied to the workshop in the Networked Playscapes track. The track focused on making use of design thinking techniques and learn the basics of physical computing while imagining the playgrounds of the future. It also reflected on how the internet and ubiquitous computing is affecting and shaping the way we relate and communicate over distance paying close attention to scale, reach, directionality, intentionality and the senses targeted: How far can my message get and why? And yes, use of Arduinos and sensors to hack and prototype. Xbee radios were a plus in this track!

In today's chaotic world, there's a real dearth of interaction among space, nature and people. ‘Nature creates music of its own'. But people are too busy to admire the beauty of such auditory interactions between nature and music. Such auditory interactions invites a feeling of togetherness among the people.

'Drum Tree' , an engaging interaction between nature & people using music, exciting playfulness & recreation in your stressed life. Areas of the tree trunk are mapped to a unique musical beat. When parts of the tree trunk are tapped, the music of the drum can be heard by people located at different locations, invoking playful creativity and a memorable opportunity to connect with nature.

Collaborators: Abhishek(BBDNITM), Anil(PESIT), Joseph(IIT Kanpur), Koushik(IISC), Siddhant(UPES), Tanu(Samsung)
Mentors: Alisha Panjwani and Edwina Portocarrero (MIT Media Lab)