ARDUINO
Critical Design, Motors: Super Sumo Cash Dash
One of my favorite Arduino projects of mine to date: Utilizes one motor, a creatively taped Sumo Mandarin, and engaging gameplay to communicate how privilege and inequity can impact individuals’ pressure towards hyper-productivity.
So. It's here. The MUCH anticipated Super Sumo Cash Dash is not just a game about making money, it's also a game about .. NOT needing to make money. The object of the game is simple. At the very beginning, someone random will choose who is Player 1 and who is Player 99. This only determines which coin slider you use, and what target you're aiming for.
You place the coins through the slider and aim for your side of Sumo's helicopter hat. Depending on how many of yours stick, you might get a bonus quarter to play with during the next round.
The truth is, unless you're Player 1, you are going to have a tough time getting a quarter to stick on a moving helicopter hat. But why, exactly? Well, Player 1's coin slider is narrower at the release so it's a better aim, and the side of the helicopter hat that Player 1 is aiming for has additional support (a quarter) underneath. Because of how easy it is for Player 1, the game might never end! But hey, Player 99 still has a shot - You just have to show some work ethic!
Player 1 might not need to try hard after a while though... With that many quarters, it doesn't really matter if they botch a round or two!
Motion Detection: ‘Get To Work’ Productivity Sensor
To go along with the “Get To Work” Processing project (I recommend checking it out in the Processing section if you haven’t yet!) I wanted to make a “Productivity Sensor” to add to the hectic User Experience.
Productivity sensors have been used in many remote work environments to ensure employees are “online.” While this accountability with employees can be good, it also could add to a pre-existing high-stress environment and deteriorate work relationships.
Since I knew my project would not be have a long enough duration to have activity sensors on the page itself and create the same stressful effect, I decided to create a physical apparatus using Arduino.
My first iteration used a temperature sensor. My thought process behind this was that in a productivity sensor, it’s most intrusive when the action cannot be as easily mimicked by a machine. However, when I created this it was very finnicky and not a convincing prototype.
In my second and final iteration for this project, I used a light sensor. While covering a light is fairly easy to do and so it wouldn’t be that hard to ‘fool’ the sensor, it communicated the sense of urgency and the need to be “always-on” much more clearly.
While still a relatively low-fidelity prototype, I incorporated bright colors; emulating a toxic culture some corporate environments promote, hidden underneath vibrant packaging.
To continue this project, I would like to connect the Productivity Sensor to the Processing Sketch and have the player lose points if they are away from their sensor at any time.