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Fall 2023
Arduino
Computer Vision
LLM's
3D Printing
Harmonizing Characters & Meaning
Project
Team
Tangible Radicals is an experiential interface where the ancient art of Mandarin meets the cutting-edge world of interactive technology. Here, learners are drawn into a playful yet profound exploration of Mandarin character radicals, each interaction unfolding like a dance between tradition and innovation. The interface, rich in graphical output, beckons with the promise of discovery, transforming the act of language learning into an immersive experience.
Each character radical becomes a gateway to deeper understanding, inviting users to engage with the language in a manner that is fun, intuitive, and enlightening. Tangible Radicals is more than just a tool for engaged learning; it is a conversation between the old and the new, a reflection on how technology can breathe new life into ancient scripts.
Eliza Gonzales
Abigail Chen
Vidit Bhargava
Michelle Tran
Nam Doan
Tools
Computer Vision
3D Printing
Physical Fabrication
XCode
Arduino
ChatGPT
Projector
Overview
Problem
Solution
Language learning has become a common practice for many, and there are many available platforms that place emphasis on the joy and positive reinforcement that comes along with it. However- there are not very many tangible language learning options.
Design a tangible language learning solution that allows users to interact with character based languages.
Several Iterations Later 👩🏽💻
High Level Process Overview
This project was completed over the course of a semester at Berkeley. As a result, we iterated several times based on feedback from our professor. Here is a very high level overview of the process- if you would like a more in depth explanation- reach out! :)
Ideate + Sketch
Speculate for what could be.
Before we could even start to get our ideas all together, we had to create some sort of explanation on paper. We verbally discussed our thoughts, and through excitement, innovation, and adrenaline, started getting everything down.
Fabricate
Build our base.
Laser cutting was how we decided to build our base. Unfortunately, we didn't get the pressure fit correct, so I had to finish the fabrication by sanding down our pieces and gluing the wood together. Thankfully we had time to accommodate this unexpected issue!
Program
Learning to work with code.
Our teammate, Vidit, did a lot of the programming within XCode. However, he had to leave before the demo, so Abigail and I worked overnight to finalize the code and figure out how to get it to work. Our first demo failed, but thankfully our overnight work session was successful and we were able to get the code working at the second demo!
3D Print
Create the art.
Now we needed the physical pieces for our users to interact and play with. We decided to limit the number of Chinese radicals to 3D print for the demo to 9. The radicals we chose represented the following meanings in English
土 ground
山 mountain
几 desk
幺 youngest
匕 spoon
大big
心 heart
夕 evening
日 sun
Demo!
Show the public our work!
Our final was to demo our project to the public! The exhibition was two days long, and unfortunately, Day 1 didn't go super well! We could get our computer vision to detect the characters, so I came up with a quick solution that worked for the sake of Day 1. Abigail and I worked overnight to refine and iterate the project for Day 2, and were successful with the demonstration on Day 2!
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