ILXO/projects

Grassroots experimentation

What effects do various things - spaces/locations, people, projects, structures, procedures, events - have on the running of a grassroots group? When we make guesses, we're documenting them in the form of hypotheses and following through the course of the scientific method to find the result, with the intent of capturing these experiences in a way that's useful to other grassroots groups. This isn't particular to the ILXO office, by the way; we welcome and encourage other grassroots groups that want to do the same. (more...)

Power peripherals

This project explores different possibilities for off-the-grid power charging peripherals for the XO. This includes evaluating the performance, lifecycle, human factors issues and feasibility of existing power options for the XO and expanding this list to include other existing peripherals. Chris is also working on the development of new power generating peripherals, particularly focusing on using appropriate technologies to allow users to develop simple power generating systems from scratch with minimal need for imported components. Results from this summer will be compiled into a “power generation” guide to help both XO users and developers learn from these findings and continue to help develop new power systems for the XO or for other applications. (more...)

Possible Deliverables for Project

1. Comprehensive guide to alternative power options 2. Deployment guide for establishing power infrastructure (calculating power requirements, needed equipment & projected costs) 3. Simple voltage regulator for attaching power options 4. Report on ways to store charge 5. Prototype bicycle generator 6. Test and report of a simple XO solar system setup at Factor E farm 7. Prototype thermoelectric generator

XO Accessibility

How can the XO be used by children with various learning and physical disabilities as a tool that they build themselves in order to differently interact with the learning environment that surrounds them? This research project will explore the usability of the XO and its various activities and modes from the perspectives of various types of "differently-abled" users. We will also be creating inventions and adaptations to make the set of core activities more usable by children with special needs. (more...)

Miniprojects

Language learning through RPGs

Melanie Kim is building an RPG for learning foreign languages (using Spanish as the test case). The game will involve sending the player on "Quests". For example, if there were a quest for the player to search for objects for a birthday party, they could search for typical objects found at a birthday party (balloons, cake, lights, etc.) while learning the names of these objects in Spanish.

Environmental impact of XOs

Mia Kato is exploring the environmental impact XO usage at an individual school has (how much more power is consumed? how much energy goes into making one laptop? how much more waste is produced due to broken laptop parts, etc?) and coming up with ways to minimize this impact and educate pilot schools about it.

Science kits in a box

Prototyping and packaging "lab kits" with curricular materials and devices to teach chemistry, physics, optics, etc. so that teachers can buy or create prepackaged "activity boxes" to go through with their students.

Everything is a sensor input

Not all the sensor inputs to the XO are easily accessible via high-level software. For instance, getting power/charging data from the power-in plug port is currently a nontrivial process; it's also unclear whether data from the hall effect sensors mounted on either side of the screen is available, and so forth. The challenge here is exposing all these sensor inputs to a Python library that can easily be loaded and used in other applications.