Traffic data physicallization
This is a 2-week long class project in Actuated User interface by Dr. Ken Nakagiki offered in 2023 winter quarter. Using toio robots (by Sony), we designed a interactive system to display monthly average speed in 2019 of rural and urban areas in the U.S.
Project Background
Data physicalization offers a fresh way to make complex information more tangible and engaging. In this project, we applied physicalization to traffic speed data, using Toio robots as moving “cars” to represent real-time variations in urban and rural areas across the U.S. By adjusting each robot’s speed, viewers can intuitively perceive how traffic flows differ between city and countryside, providing an immersive, hands-on experience that goes beyond traditional static charts.
Challenge & Outcome
Our key challenge lay in clearly expressing these urban–rural speed disparities while ensuring an interactive, exploratory experience. Rather than creating a purely artistic display—with robots endlessly roaming—the design needed to let users select different data sets and actively investigate patterns. To achieve this, we built a miniature landscape with 3D-printed “city” and “rural” elements, paired with a projector-based interface for user control. The result is an engaging setup where people can visualize and compare traffic data in real time, bridging digital information and tangible interaction.
Design Process
We first build a simulation scene in Unity with the lowpoly models to illustrate the concept before we diving into the code decelopment. Using each toio robot as a "moving car" running in two loops so that we can display the differences. We divided the diplaying area into left and right to represent urban and rural areas with some decorations. Lastly, we used one toio robot as the knob, allowing user to rotate to select the month they want to explore and press to switch day/night time.
Exhibition
Our project was selected to exhibit in the MSI(Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago) Robot Exhibit 2023. Our teammater Steve did a great job!!!
