Internet of Absurdity

Course Goals

The course aims to flip the dialog to what can devices do for you! Learn how to make your own whimsical or useful prototypes with this course. 🎛 The cohort will cover technical prototyping, ideation, sensors and coding, and communication tools to use to connect your device.

The course cost includes around $60 of hardware preconfigured and shipped to you based off of Seeedstudio's WIO terminal and some sensors.

Missed the course preview and want more context? Here are the slides.

Requirements

• Interest in prototyping an internet-connected device
• Some previous experience coding is recommended (course will be conducted in python)
• A laptop with accessible USB ports and the ability to run a python text editor and mount USB devices. (Need to be able to install programs)
• The ability to store / receive a small box of parts (around 4x6x2") in the mail (can ship internationally)

Structure

• Each week on Tuesday 7:30pm EST for 1.5 hours.
  • First 45 minutes: lecture-based
  • Second 45 minutes: discussion-based

First 2 Weeks:

Introduction to the class, talking about IOT in general, and getting started with the ideation process for a project. Will be shipped physical hardware for week 3 during the first week.

Middle 4 Weeks:

Build your prototypes and learn the technical process for building an Internet of Things prototype.

Last 2 Weeks:

Document your work and prepare your project to present. Finish prototyping and any final touches that need to occur for the prototype to be complete. Finally, share your project with others in the final course session.

Final week:

We'll host a public session for your friends and family to see the final project and hold a Q+A.

Artifacts

You'll produce a prototype using a internet-connected device with custom code that integrates the internet into a part of your physical world.

Who Should Sign Up

Someone with an interest in internet connected things or anyone wishing to delve more into the corporate world of the future of electronics and reuse.

You don't have to be an engineer to take this course, but a willingness to learn tools and prototype is important for the second portion of the class. We're looking for people interested in making something as a prototype and will provide tools and help along the way to make that possible.

About the Hardware

We will be using the WIO Terminal Product by Seeedstudio to develop our projects. Wifi code will be provided and setup on the device when being shipped and the board will be programmed with micropython. Sensors and the WIO Terminal will be shipped to each cohort member during the first week of the course.