In a highly connected busy world of social networking, the human nuances of inter-personal communication can become lost in translation from human to technology.  The Applied Computing & Digital Interaction Design students have been rising to the challenge of developing devices that allow users to maintain meaningful communication.

The students have been learning about the emerging and exciting field of physical computing with Arduino micro- controller programming. The devices and projects on display to the public for the first time will connect human perceptions, judgments and emotions to Twitter, to give  considered and meaningful lightweight communication.

Ali Napier, course lecturer said, “Physical computing is about offering interaction beyond conventional desktop computer.

"The Arduino board makes it possible for first year students to program a wide array of sensors (distance, motion, force, stress) to build novel, interesting, meaningful interactions.

“The flexibility of this system really motivates students in this tricky subject of computer programming.”

On Friday, after showing their work to their examiners, the students will exhibit their final projects to the public in the Queen Mother Building on the university’s campus.

Chris Martin, who teaches on the course, said, “What I find really exciting is the students are enthusiastic about really quite complex programming which is traditionally quite dry.

“It’s great to have students approach you and ask about extra programming techniques they want to learn to improve their work.”