This was the first public experience I’ve worked on, and it meant so much to me. Building everything from scratch, including laser cutting, soldering, and setting up 10 individually powered Arduino systems, was the first time I brought all of my technical skills into a project meant to be experienced by the public.

Seeing people on campus stop by and play with the installation made me so happy. I cannot fully describe how meaningful it was when people told me they felt like they became a child again while interacting with it. (exactly the feeling we hoped to create!!)

The project was not without challenges. On the morning of the show, we ran into a major technical issue and had to restructure part of the interaction at the last minute. It was stressful making changes so close to the deadline, but I am really glad we pushed through because the experience still turned out great.

Lastly, I am incredibly grateful for all the support we received from so many different departments at CMU. And a huge thank you to my amazing teammate JOY🥹 This project would not have been possible without her.