On Saturday, we had our first Central Squared Challenge in collaboration with The Community Art Center and supported by Microsoft. The challenge was an interactive and team-based technology design competition that involved high school students from Area 4 in Cambridge and winners from around the world of the “Do It Your Damn Self!!” National Youth Video and Film Festival. During the challenge, teams learned about, and worked hands on with, this year’s featured technology, the Microsoft Kinect, to solve an important community issue of their choice. Participants got a taste of various NuVu projects that put sensor technology to use in an imaginative way, explored and played with the Kinect, and then put their brains together to design a product that uses sensor technology to solve an important issue.

The projects included sensor-based devices for the blind, emergency medical bracelets, and anti-bullying devices. All teams presented their designs at the end of the challenge to a panel of judges and peers who then chose a winner. The Pink Team won the challenge having the most creative, implementable and practical idea which was then showcased at the DIYDS!! Premiere Screening which was held at the Microsoft New England R&D Center later that evening. The five winners of the challenge got Xbox 360 consoles with games and Kinects!

Getting to know how sensors work by playing some games powered by the Kinect

Teams brainstorming ideas for their sensor-based projects

Students filming their commercials for their designed products

The whole group at the end of the challenge

Finally, we have our laser cutter. It is gigantic!!!! David had to de- and reassemble the whole machine just to get it into the main door. Well, it was stuck for a few days in the neighboring theater until the disassembly was complete.

Here is our first thing made by the laser cutter.

Excited to be settled in the new space!!!!!!!!

We are inching closer towards the Fall Trimester. Construction on our new space is about to be complete in the next couple of days. A few walls still need to be painted and minor touch-ups remain to be done on the ceiling and electrical, but we are excited about all the finishes and colors and thrilled for the grand opening on Tuesday. Come visit us soon!!!!!!!

We are very happy to announce our new partnership with Phoenix Charter Academy (PCA). PCA is “the only Commonwealth Charter high school in Massachusetts that actively recruits and graduates older, disconnected, and undeserved adolescents and challenges them with rigorous, college preparatory academics and a strong school culture grounded in high expectations.” Through this partnership, six students from PCA will join NuVu this year. Last Spring, two students, Maira and Jose, participated in a pilot project during the Design for Development trimester. The students added interesting and diverse perspectives to the issues addressed in studios, especially the Food System and Cycling Solutions studios. We really cherish that difference and feel that it adds a very important layer to the learning process at NuVu.

Maira presents her team’s research findings and final design for a safe and energy efficient cooking stove for a fishing village in Malawi, Africa.

Jose works with his teammate on the electrical components of the Energy Computer bound for a village in El Salvador.

by Alexys Butler

For the past three months I’ve been given the chance to go to NuVu everyday. I’ve discovered what it’s like to build, design, create, explore and try something completely out of my comfort zone. One might wonder, what is NuVu and why do you do it? To answer such a question, I believe NuVu is the program meant for those who don’t know yet what they’re capable of. NuVu is an environment conducive to creativity, learning and innovation. NuVu gives motivated students the chance to try something new and change the world through a variety of conduits. While in NuVu one is constantly reminded that you don’t have to be an MIT PhD candidate or a genius to make a change or just do something. Having recently learned these things, I’ve really taken the chance to reflect and think back to who I was and how NuVu has changed me since we began the first week in March.
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We are thrilled to announce that NuVu Studio will be moving to a new space this coming August. Our new studio space will be located in Central Square in Cambridge, MA in the same building as the Central Square Theater. We are excited to be in a space that is better suited for our needs and, of course, we LOVE Central Square. For the past few months, we have been working with the owner (MIT) and the architect to design the studio. The space will be wide-open with a central glass cube that operates as an office/conference room. We are also adding a large workshop for larger, heavy-duty projects. We have yet to decide on colors and finishes, so if you have any suggestions, please let us know!!!

David spent the late morning session explaining how things work. He started with the transistor which is a semiconductor device used to switch electronic signals.

Here is David explaining how the circuit board of Drawdio is put together.