ETC's Project Evolve
Project Summary
The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) program at Carnegie Mellon University brings together elements of design, story, engineering, and theater and facilitates the learning of students looking to achieve Master's Degrees in Entertainment Technology. Evolve brought together artists, writers, and engineers with the goal of helping museums foster excitement for natural history topics. The students behind Evolve developed a puzzle-based, story-driven experience similar to that of an escape room, seeking to redefine the interactive narrative, and combining location-based gaming with immersive theater.
Original Concept
Before Evolve became a project in the ETC, the idea of an education-based escape room originated in OH! Labs, a part of CMU's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. The rocks/minerals maze seen here is a magnetic puzzle I developed as a part of that initial concept, although this particular puzzle was not used in the final version of the narrative.
The maze measures approximately 25" x 25" and is made from laser-cut birch plywood. The original model was developed in Solidworks.
"Viggo" the Companion Robot
My primary contribution to Evolve was Viggo, the companion robot. One of the challenges of the puzzle room is to locate and attach two modules to Viggo, who subsequently comes to life. Throughout the experience, guests interact with Viggo - asking questions and clarifications about puzzles in the room, as well as watching him drive away in the "winning" scenario.
Viggo runs off a Raspberry Pi, and is equipped with a miniature camera, microphone (with transmitter/receiver), and speaker. He is built on top of an iRobot base similar to that of a roomba. All CAD modelling was done using Solidworks, and all custom parts were laser cut, 3D printed, or machined by hand.
Project Webpage
For more information on the project and it's development blog, please see this page.
Note: Because the ETC program is intended for graduate students only, you will not find my name listed under "The Team." However, my contributions are included in the development blog.