Physical Computing

Physical computing is driven by a creative combination of arts and engineering disciplines. Our students’ projects interact with their surroundings, remember information, make decisions, and generate tangible outputs like movement, sound, or light. Physical computing projects range from the tiny and plain (a blinking light on a breadboard) to the extravagant (a simulation of an alien landscape), and everything in between. They may be functional, like an assistive device for a person with disability, playful, like an interactive marble run, or exploratory, like a prototype for a future human-computer interface in a world of sentient machines.

Students gain a broad range of skills in our courses because physical computing as a field is fundamentally interdisciplinary: our projects combine software, electronics, and physical fabrication. Students in the Physical Computing minor learn how to:

• Write low-level software to computationally define a project’s behavior, usually using C or Python
• Fabricate projects using techniques borrowed from various crafts and disciplines, such as making simple assemblies with paper and tape; woodworking for larger or more robust projects; textile/fabric integrations; and creating powered mechanical linkages using motors/gears/belts/bearings/etc.
• Design, test, assemble, and debug electronic circuits to bring a project to life
• Use 3-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) for visualization, simulation, and fabrication of all of the above
• Combine digital fabrication techniques (3D printing, laser cutting, etc.) with hand craft to iterate towards creating a final, polished product

Physical Computing Minor Requirements

Physical Computing Faculty

The Physical Computing faculty represent Carnegie Mellon's expertise in Architecture, Art, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, and Robotics. They carefully oversee the collaboration of students while delivering the IDeATe Physical Computing courses. Learn more about participating faculty here.