Markus Mettenleiter

Tin Can Phone

Prototype

“Tin Can Phone” is a small prototype created during a one-week workshop at the University of Applied Sciences Schwäbisch Gmünd. The idea was to build a small gadget which enables two people to send voice messages without a smart device. Because tin can phones are widely known and very easy to handle - you just have to hold the can to your ear to hear the other person and talk into the can to send a message - they are perfectly suited for a digital makeover.

By rotating the speaker of our tin can phone, the user can choose who he wants to send the message. LEDs indicate who the receiver of the message will be. Turning the phone upside down triggers the recorder and the user can record and send the message. To listen to the message the recipient has to hold the device to his ear.

The video of the prototype below shows these interactions again, though to simplify the video, the playback of the recording is triggered by darkening up the built-in photosensor.

Team

Matthias Kirchner, Barend Visser

Supervisor

Thomas Ness

Date

4th Semester
Winter Term 2016/2017
HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd