Yo-Yo Machines
Designing Experimental Communication Tools

For almost one and a half years, many students mainly stayed home alone. Not only were attendance classes limited, but we also rarely or never were able to see freinds and families.
In this course, we made a virtue out of necessity and developed devices that bridge the physical distance and allow for small gestures of affection or attention between two spatially separated people. With the so-called Yo-Yo Machines, students took the first steps towards physical computing and hardware tinkering.
Working in teams of two, they developed small (or sometimes large) devices/objects/machines with which two spatially separated people can send small signals or messages to each other in order to signal presence, convey moods or communicate otherwise.
The Yo-Yo Machines idea and software were developed in 2020 by the Interaction Research Lab at Goldsmiths Lab at Goldsmiths, University of London (now part of Northumbria University).
We also had a (virtual) visit from designer Ottonie von Roeder, who presented her work to us, and all the students gave micro-lectures on interfaces, curious machines and telepresence devices.

Students: Fidelis Falk, Mareike Galle, Camille von Gerkan, Claus Hahn, Max Koch, Jaromir Mayr, Malin Melzer, Robert Oberle, Raphael Rustige, Rosalie Schmuck, Chaiyoon Shin, Jonathan Stein, Louis Steinhäuser, Eden Szir, Cornelius Thomas, Fritz Breuer, Theo Lipinski, Pia Rothermund

Supervised together with Fabian Hütter