Mathletics

Mathletics is a children's game intended to provide incentive for 3rd graders to learn their multiplication tables.  Multiple-choice questions appear on the screen, and each child enters the answer to their questions using their controller.  If they answer a question correctly, their figure progresses down the mountain.  The first child to correctly answer 10 questions wins, at which time their figure reaches the bottom of the mountain, and the lights on their mountain light up.

At its heart are two servo motors, 8 digital switches, and 6 LED outputs.  Each servo motor is attached to the center of a large styrofoam disk under each mountain.  Each of these disks forms the back wheel of a sloped conveyer belt, which is rotated forward each time a question is answered correctly.  The controllers consist of 4 digital switches each, thereby allowing the child to answer A, B, C or D for each question.  The LED outputs are used to indicate which child first answered 10 questions correctly.  

see the video

The Creator

Russell Kruger created this for his short assignment as part a senior-level human computer interaction class at the University of Calgary.

Created in March, 2002

Next exhibit: Messenger Frame