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Making Sense of Sensors

2021 Edition

@SunsetSparkNYC

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Goals for the Day

Understanding the relationship between senses and sensors

Humans rely on more than the 5 core senses.
Senses are nature’s sensors, and nature made a lot of them!
New sensors are designed by research in nature.

With activities to help bring it all together!

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Common Human Senses

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Activating Hearing

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What’s that sound?

Foley artists manipulate our sense of sound to simulate sound effects.

🔊

👂🏼

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Activating Sight

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Confusing Sight with

Optical Illusions

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Activating Smell

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Activating Touch

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Activating Taste

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Receptors Lead to New Insights

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Other Human Senses

Balance
Temperature
Body Parts
Pain
Hunger

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How does it smell?

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Snakes sense odors with their tongue.

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How does it smell?

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Ants sense odors with their antennae.

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Sense Off! Who smelled it best?

🐍 vs 🐜

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Sense Off! Who smelled it best?

🐍 vs 🐜

~380 distinct odorant genes

~32 distinct odorant genes

👑

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How does it taste?

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Butterflies can taste with their feet.

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An octopus can sense light with their skin.

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Sense Off! Who sees it best?

🍤 vs🦋

Mantis Shrimp

Butterfly

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Sense Off! Who sees it best?

🍤 vs 🦋

12-15 types of photoreceptors

16 or more types of photoreceptors

Mantis Shrimp

Butterfly

🏆

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The platypus can sense electric fields with its bill.

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Bees can sense magnetic fields.

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Sense Off! Who zapped it best?

🐬 vs

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Sense Off! Who zapped it best?

🐬 vs

About the same! Enough to detect fish.

🏅

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Activity: Pixelated Butterfly Vision

Butterfly sense of vision produces a blurry, pixelated visual image. Although they see many more colors than most creatures, the “resolution” of their image is limited by their compound eyes.

On the next screen, we’ll have an image of what a butterfly might see at a park in Brooklyn. Let’s convert of camera image into what a butterfly might see.

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Activity: Pixelated Butterfly Vision

Use paper and markers or a digital drawing app.
Pick an image for the whole class to copy in Butterfly Vision
Recreate the image using dots, not lines or strokes. This helps maintain the pixelated effect.
Each student makes own copy of the image
Share to see different interpretations

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From Senses to Sensors

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Sensors in a Smartphone

Accelerometer: Detecting acceleration
Magnetometer: Detects direction like a compass
Gyroscope: Detects orientation
GPS: Detects position on Earth

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Sensors in Smarter Smartphones

Light Sensor: Detects brightness.
Moisture Sensor: Detects if phone was wet.
Barometer: Senses air pressure.
Biometric Sensor: Detects thumbprint.
Depth Camera: Detects facial map.

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Combining Sensors

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What’s it sensing?

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Flex sensors sense bending.

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What’s It Sensing?

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Accelerometers sense acceleration.

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What’s It Sensing?

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Air Quality Sensor

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What’s It Sensing?

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Ultrasonic sensors sense distances.

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What’s It Sensing?

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Radiation Sensor!

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Activity: Designing Sensors

Many new sensors are based off of research on creatures and nature.

Pick a place
Fill out a sensory chart to describe the place
Identify a problem within that space
What senses are important to that problem?
What kinds of creature senses can resolve the problem?

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Activity: Sensory Chart

What would we see?	What would we taste?	What would we smell?	What would we hear?	What would we feel?	What animals would be good to study?

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Activity: Designing Sensors

School Cafeteria

What would we see?	What would we taste?	What would we smell?	What would we hear?	What would we feel?	What animals would be good to study?
Trays of food Long lines Kids running around dirty lunch tables	Cafeteria food Some tasty Some not so tasty	Smells kind of greasy Tater tots Garbage Wet mop	People talking loud Clanging Kids being kids	Sticky floors Slimy floors Slippery floor Ketchup on table Salt or graininess on a table Wet rag humidity

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Activity: Designing Sensors

Identify problems within that space.	What senses are important to this problem?	What kind of creature senses can solve your problem?	Describe your new sensor.

Not good smells	Smell Odor receptors Taste	Strong smell Maybe a snake or catfish	We want a sensor that can detect good (pizza, cookie) smells and bad smells (wet mop, grease). Catfish and snakes might be helpful.

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What would we see?	What would we taste?	What would we smell?	What would we hear?	What would we feel?	What animals would be good to study?

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Activity: Designing Sensors

Identify problems within that space.	What senses are important to this problem?	What kind of creature senses can solve your problem?	Describe your new sensor.

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Student Outcomes

Data	As an Explorer, I can...
	Analyze:	Provide examples of how sensors are used.
	Prototype:	Select a sensor among many to achieve a goal and explain why I chose that sensor.
	Communicate:	Present potential uses of a sensor to others.

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Extra Craft Activity

Sensors with Craft Computing

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Activity: Pretend Play Sensors

Design a pretend sensor. While beginning their design, students should be planning what data from the physical world their input sensor will capture.

Consider tying the activity into animal adaptations by asking students to use traits from nature when creating a sensor.

After creating a plan, create a physical version of the sensing device using craft materials.

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Activity: Pretend Play Sensors

Part 1: Create a plan

Draw a blueprint or schematic about your sensing device.
What will it sense? What data might it capture? What will it look like?
Write or add to your drawings to help describe it.
Consider using traits from nature in your design.

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Activity: Pretend Play Sensors

Part 2: Craft it

Use craft materials to create a physical version based on your schematic.

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Chameleon Camera Earrings

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Magnetic Field Shoe Sensors

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Pet Detector