The Phidget Project Gallery

People have done some very creative things with phidgets. Here are some samples; most include video demonstrations as well as pictures.

Published Papers / Videos

Project / Link Video Paper Citation

Phidgets Greenberg, S. and Fitchett, C. (2001)
Phidgets. Video Proceedings of the ACM UIST 2001 14th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. November 11-14, Orlando, Florida.

Customizable Physical Interfaces Greenberg, S. and Boyle, M. (2002)
Customizable physical interfaces for interacting with conventional applications. Video Proceedings of the ACM UIST 2002 15th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. ACM Press.

Buddy Bugs McPhail, S. (2002) Buddy Bugs: A Physical User Interface for Windows® Instant Messenger. Western Computer Graphics Symposium (Skigraph’02), March.

Projects

Most of these projects and accompanying videos were created by students registered in Computer Science 581, an advanced course on human-computer interaction instructed by Saul Greenberg. A few were also created by graduate students and research assistants experimenting with Phidgets, either for fun, for learning, or to supplement their actual research. Most projects were done within 1 to 3 weeks (including learning time).

Name Video Description Author

Graduate students and research assistants projects

MSN Slider A simple slider lets you quickly set your on-line status from online, to busy, away, offline, and so on. Michael Rounding

Privacy Preserving Media Space An experiment in how physical devices can mitigate privacy controls in always on video. Michael Boyle

Pumpkin Phidget Pumpkin decoration gets out of hand when Chester appears on the scene. October 2001. Chester Fitchett
Saul Greenberg

Undergraduate projects, Winter 2001

Flower in Bloom A flower blooms under program control Susannah McPhail

Light Wheel An ambient display where one can control patterns of lights on a circular wheel. Michael Durrant

Missed Calls A cell phone cradle and gauge tells a person how many phone calls were missed. Raul Nemes

Nerf Email A tongue-in-cheek email notifier that shoots nerf disks at you when email arrives. Carman Neustaedter

Phidget Eyes Eyes blink and light up. Debbie Mazurak

Power Dimmer and Lamp A lamp's light level changes and its lampshade rotates. Brant LeClercq

Waterfall Harp A water harp plays musical chords as people 'strum' the water Olive Au

Undergraduate projects, Winter 2002

Cuckoo Clock A person sets this computer clock to make the cuckoo appear. Jacelyn Campbell

Disharmony An abstract conglomeration of loosely related themes designed to provoke thought. Mike Polowick

Ele-Phidget An elephant faces you when you receive an audio message. Push its stomach to play the message. Squeeze its head to send a message. Shivaughan Warwaruk

Magnetic Dessert Silvery rocks moving around a desert reflects the motion in one's surroundings. Kari Basaraba

Marble Mail Ambient display that moves marbles between 3 bowls as email arrives and is read. Shannon Goodman

Mathletics Children race skiers down a mountain by correctly answer multiplication questions. Russell Kruger

Messenger Frame A contact's photo reflects their on-line activity. Send a message by touching the photo. Mike Hornby-Smith

Monster Phidget Monster greets people as they walk by. It says jokes if they linger or touch him. Edward Tse

Mood Table A table reacts with different light patterns and poetic sounds as people press its surface. Eric Pattison

Parking Assistant A traffic light helps someone park their car in a garage. Kashama Willms

Picture Frame Touching a picture makes lights to blink on its partner's picture. Kathryn Elliot

Planetarium none Different constellations project onto a ceiling as one presses silver stars controls Kathryn Elliot

Rusty Barnacle - the show A computerized puppet show telling the pirate tale of adventure in the Caribbean. Kevin Foster

Rusty Barnacle - the making This video shows how the above puppet show was made Kevin Foster

Simon the SunFlower Children repeat a pattern played by the flower by squeezing the leaves in the correct order. Nancy Lopez

Time Tracker A doll house where the figurines move according to the time of a user-set location. Erin Wallace

Waterfall Aquarium An aquarium contains three movable sea creatures and a colored waterfall. Shannon Pokojoy

Undergraduate projects, Fall 2002
Available on CD 2

Project / Link	Video	Paper	Citation
Phidgets			Greenberg, S. and Fitchett, C. (2001) Phidgets. Video Proceedings of the ACM UIST 2001 14th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. November 11-14, Orlando, Florida.
Customizable Physical Interfaces			Greenberg, S. and Boyle, M. (2002) Customizable physical interfaces for interacting with conventional applications. Video Proceedings of the ACM UIST 2002 15th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. ACM Press.
Buddy Bugs			McPhail, S. (2002) Buddy Bugs: A Physical User Interface for Windows® Instant Messenger. Western Computer Graphics Symposium (Skigraph’02), March.

Name	Video	Description	Author
Graduate students and research assistants projects
MSN Slider		A simple slider lets you quickly set your on-line status from online, to busy, away, offline, and so on.	Michael Rounding
Privacy Preserving Media Space		An experiment in how physical devices can mitigate privacy controls in always on video.	Michael Boyle
Pumpkin Phidget		Pumpkin decoration gets out of hand when Chester appears on the scene. October 2001.	Chester Fitchett Saul Greenberg
*Undergraduate projects, Winter 2001*
Flower in Bloom		A flower blooms under program control	Susannah McPhail
Light Wheel		An ambient display where one can control patterns of lights on a circular wheel.	Michael Durrant
Missed Calls		A cell phone cradle and gauge tells a person how many phone calls were missed.	Raul Nemes
Nerf Email		A tongue-in-cheek email notifier that shoots nerf disks at you when email arrives.	Carman Neustaedter
Phidget Eyes		Eyes blink and light up.	Debbie Mazurak
Power Dimmer and Lamp		A lamp's light level changes and its lampshade rotates.	Brant LeClercq
Waterfall Harp		A water harp plays musical chords as people 'strum' the water	Olive Au
*Undergraduate projects, Winter 2002*
Cuckoo Clock		A person sets this computer clock to make the cuckoo appear.	Jacelyn Campbell
Disharmony		An abstract conglomeration of loosely related themes designed to provoke thought.	Mike Polowick
Ele-Phidget		An elephant faces you when you receive an audio message. Push its stomach to play the message. Squeeze its head to send a message.	Shivaughan Warwaruk
Magnetic Dessert		Silvery rocks moving around a desert reflects the motion in one's surroundings.	Kari Basaraba
Marble Mail		Ambient display that moves marbles between 3 bowls as email arrives and is read.	Shannon Goodman
Mathletics		Children race skiers down a mountain by correctly answer multiplication questions.	Russell Kruger
Messenger Frame		A contact's photo reflects their on-line activity. Send a message by touching the photo.	Mike Hornby-Smith
Monster Phidget		Monster greets people as they walk by. It says jokes if they linger or touch him.	Edward Tse
Mood Table		A table reacts with different light patterns and poetic sounds as people press its surface.	Eric Pattison
Parking Assistant		A traffic light helps someone park their car in a garage.	Kashama Willms
Picture Frame		Touching a picture makes lights to blink on its partner's picture.	Kathryn Elliot
Planetarium	none	Different constellations project onto a ceiling as one presses silver stars controls	Kathryn Elliot
Rusty Barnacle - the show		A computerized puppet show telling the pirate tale of adventure in the Caribbean.	Kevin Foster
Rusty Barnacle - the making		This video shows how the above puppet show was made	Kevin Foster
Simon the SunFlower		Children repeat a pattern played by the flower by squeezing the leaves in the correct order.	Nancy Lopez
Time Tracker		A doll house where the figurines move according to the time of a user-set location.	Erin Wallace
Waterfall Aquarium		An aquarium contains three movable sea creatures and a colored waterfall.	Shannon Pokojoy
Undergraduate projects, Fall 2002 Available on CD 2