joecameron1 / touchfreequizexhibit

This project demonstrates a museum exhibit where visitors can participate in and interact with a multiple-choice quiz without touching anything. This exhibit was inspired by the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and was created by me for an assignment in the Interactive Software & Hardware (CS5041) module at the University of St Andrews.

Touch-Free Museum Quiz Exhibit

This exhibit was inspired by the circumstances presented during the COVID-19 global pandemic and was created by me, Joseph Manfredi Cameron, for an assignment in the Interactive Software & Hardware (CS5041) module at the University of St Andrews.

A report of this project's details, software and hardware specifications, and creation can be found here.

Abstract

This project’s aim was to create a museum exhibit where visitors can participate in and interact with a multiple-choice quiz without having to touch anything. Visitors can achieve this solely by showing their hands to a camera to answer questions and by hovering their hands over a photoresistor sensor to perform confirmation actions. The main motivation for creating this exhibit to be touch-free and to not require any contact with buttons or the like was to develop a museum exhibit that can reduce the potential for contamination spread. The need for this type of exhibit in busy public settings such as museums has been highlighted by the COVID-19 global pandemic where it is necessary to limit the spread of the virus. This exhibit was developed using the p5.js JavaScript software library and the Arduino Uno microcontroller. The software developed in p5.js acts as both an input and an output for the exhibit, where a screen displays the quiz screen as an output, and a camera collects images from which the software can detect the number of fingers a visitor is holding up. Similarly, the hardware controlled by the Arduino also serve as inputs and outputs of the exhibit.

How to run the Touch-Free Museum Quiz Exhibit

• Arduino Code: First, upload the ArduinoCode.ino file to an Arduino Uno micro controller connected to the circuit specified in the project report.
• Exhibit Browser Code: Run the index.html file on a web browser. Make sure to run this application on a local server (ie. using http:// rather than file://) in order to correctly ensure access between all the Javascript and JSON files. NOTE: 1. You must also have p5.serialcontrol running at the same time in order to allow the serial connection between p5.js and the Arduino to work. 2. Also, you must update lines 8 and 50 in the sketch.js file with your computer's details (as your computer will be different from the one I developed this on).

Video

A brief video demonstration of this touch-free museum quiz exhibit can be accessed by clicking on the preview image below or by clicking here.