Hello World!
In January of 2025, students attending a Physical Computing course at Northeastern University worked with Chibitronics Circuit Sticker LEDs and copper tape to create personal works of glowing art. As part of the university’s coursework in its College of Art, Media, and Design (CAMD), this was a novel experience — the first time many of the students had played with paper circuitry materials.
The “hello world,” project is the introductory project of the semester, with a goal of introducing the basics of circuits. Working under the instruction of Rahul Bhargava (Assistant Professor of Journalism and Art + Design, @rahulbot), students had one week to design and share an illuminated object to help introduce themselves. In addition to having access to paper circuitry supplies, students working in the Creative Tech Lab had access to a variety of craft materials.
Inspiration
For inspiration, students were shown a variety of exemplars, including short videos of projects students had made in the past. To give students even more ideas, Kristin Osiecki (Educator + Artist + Technologist, @kristin.osiecki) was invited to showcase some of her innovative creations.
Before diving into their projects, students learned a bit about battery capacity, debugging, and Ohm’s law. They were also taught how to use a multimeter to measure resistance and current on a Chibitronics sticker, comparing their readings with those they calculated manually. According to Rahul, “I find this is a really helpful way to show them the difference between math on the paper and reality.”
The following video playlist is a feast for the eyes.
Explore the 2025 CAMD Video Playlist
Adalia Lee created a multilayered fiber cake that lights up with help from a pressure switch.
To see how this was crafted, and to learn more about the project shared below, please visit the video compilation.
This interactive origami project by Sammi Chen uses coins in a clever way! When an origami frog leaps on top of the origami lotus flowers, the flowers light up!
“I really enjoyed using the copper tape and LED stickers for the first time. I feel like the use of light really enhanced everyone’s projects The copper tape ripped really easily, which is both a pro and a con; but I thought they were really neat materials to work with.”
Sammi Chen
Ezri Abraham’s dramatic cretaceous shadow box was largely constructed from cardboard and paper!
Ruohan Li’s “Journey of My Life,” features a series of notable moments, in the shape of the Great Wall of China.
Each important event on her glowing map lights up with help from a multimeter.
Siraju Jalloh created a pair of pop-up tunnel books to showcase unique scenes in different cities.
Neil Hadap experiemented with light diffusion to create Painter’s Pallet.
Gabe Longoria combined circuitry with the conductive properties of his guitar frets!
For additional inspiration, you may want to check out the 2024 and 2023 CAMD Project Playlists!