Final project

Submission checklist

Due: Tuesday 5/5 by the end of the day (11:59 pm)

SHOWCASE: Wednesday 5/6 from 2-3:30pm

Milestone 1 Due Thursday 4/9 before class (1:45pm)

On your web site, make sure that the following are visible:

an image, video or other deliverable of your final product
documentation of your design process
a 3-5 minute video (or slide deck with embedded audio) of your design analysis

The challenge

You will use the resources of the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab to complete an embodied algorithm design project. Your project must be a physical artifact (that could be interactive) which addresses:

Where is the algorithm?

What problem is being addressed?
- What is the input/output?
What is the instruction set?
- Who is doing the "computing"?

How is (some element of) the algorithm being embodied?

Is the artifact the output of an algorithm's execution?
Does the artifact record the steps of the execution?
...?

This final project will be graded on:

- (15%) Completion of a 90-second elevator pitch
- (50%) Design, development and documentation of the project
- (10%) Requirements met, including showcase
- (25%) Design analysis

Requirements

We estimate that this project should take you ~30-40 hours, including time for support during some lab and lecture sessions. You will submit everything through your portfolio web site, including:

documentation of your process (50%)
- articulate your goal(s)
- record your iterative approach (plan, do, evaluate)
  - lots of notes/photos/videos, especially when things don't go as planned!
- if you programmed for part of the project, please include the code (or a link to your code) that you produced
your final product (photos and video of the artifact) (10%)
a 3-5 minute analysis of your design process (40%)
This may take the form of a video (please be sure permissions are set appropriately) or a slide deck with embedded audio. You may find the following prompts helpful in organizing your analysis. Be as specific as possible, while also recognizing the limitations of the time constraint. You will not be able to walk through everything you did, but will need to nominate takeaways and important points. You will be evaluated on the clarity of your communication and the depth of your analysis.
- - How did you go about this project?
  - What parts did you find straightforward?
  - What was challenging?
  - What supported your understanding?
  - Were there embodied elements that helped you? Could you think of others?
  - What part of the process is a black box to you?

Elevator pitch

In-class: Thursday 4/2

You'll each give a 90 second "elevator pitch" to the class on Thursday 4/2. After the pitch, your peers will provide feedback through a google form to provide other perspectives on the project. This will be an opportunity to engage in giving and receiving feedback effectively.

To help you prepare your elevator pitch, here is a template adapted from Steven Schmeiser. It is framed for pitching a product to seek investment capital, so you'll want to adjust the framing with this in mind:

COMPANY - who are you? this can help us understand your "backstory" and contextualize your project
NEED - what does your project seek to provide to its user?
SOLUTION - how does your project address the need?
MARKET - who do you imagine will be interacting with the project?
BUSINESS MODEL - optional for this course context
EXIT - optional for this course context
PEOPLE - who will you pull in to help design, build and/or test your project?
THE ASK - are there resources beyond the supplies already provided in the course that you'll need for the project?

90-SECOND ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE

COMPANY

Who you are.

NEED

Explain who your customers are and the problem they face.

SOLUTION

How do you solve this problem. Don’t tell us any technical details, just tell us the same way you would tell your non-tech-savvy grandparents.

MARKET

Tell us how many dollars feel the need you described above. If you do not have a dollar amount, tell us how many people feel the problem.

BUSINESS MODEL

Explain how you make money. Do you sell the product to wholesalers for a flat fee? Do you charge a subscription? Do you split revenues with a partner?

EXIT

Explain to us how the investor will get their money back + a healthy profit (at least double their money, if not 5-10 times their money). Will you sell the company? Will you license your technology and split the royalty check with the investor? Will you sell your product and share profits with the investor?

PEOPLE

Tell us who the smart, experienced, credible people you have assembled to execute your business plan are. If you don't have them yet, tell us what you do have and that you're smart enough to be looking for the rest.

THE ASK

How much money you need and what it will let you do.

Adapted from entreclub.org

Milestone 1: design phase

Complete your design phase, documenting on your web site. This should include:

Articulated goals -- what is the expected output of your process? This should include:
- Description of your artifact's purpose
- Sketches of your proposed artifact
Your "algorithm" for achieving these goals: a step-by-step process that you plan to follow that produces the expected output.
- Would someone else be able to follow your process?
- What assumptions are you making about that person and the resources available?

Allowable resources

For this homework, you may use any resources you'd like. You must cite them appropriately (e.g., I talked with a peer about my diagram or I adapted this GitHub repo or I gave Gemini this set of prompts).

To be clear, this includes usage of AI tools, as long as you are:

appropriately documentating and citing your interaction, which should include the platform, prompt and screenshots/links of sample parts of the interaction
analyzing how the usage of the tool(s) helped or hindered your design process

NOTE: MHC's access to Google Gemini provides certain protections of your data.

Supplies request

CS 341EA S26 - Supplies Request

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