• About
  • Tullpi
  • BlindPad Project
  • Digital Perkin's Brailler
  • Taund
  • Education
  • Find me
  • Creating interfaces that empower

    Adolfo Valdivieso's purpose
    I'm passionate about creating things. Nothing takes me in a more fulfilling, frustating and self-learning process. Because of this, I like to introduce myself as an inventor.
     

    I believe that interfaces have lead most of all the creative revolutions in human history. Computer terminal, screens, mouse, multitouch, etc. have changed the way we interact with information and how we understand it, improving the way we use it and giving us much more freedom to create and transform it into well-being.

     

    Now it's time for new challenges.

     

    Let me show you some stuff I've been working on these last years...

  •  Tullpi

    Rediscover the joy of learning

    Tullpi is a platform for educational games that uses a tangible interface build with bottle caps of different colors instead of keyboard or mouse.

    My father (an education specialist) and I started this project at Febrary 2014. All begin caused by our concern about the current educational situation in my country (Perú); which ranks last on the worldwide PISA's (Program for International Student Assessment) ranking.
     
    We believe that we have to search for a way to contribute to improve this condition. And we know that the solution should come from students not from teachers. They need to find how satisfactory is learning. 
     
    This way Tullpi born.



    Tullpi's technology

    This is a computer vision system based on OpenCV. It uses the webcam to detect the board and the bottle caps above it. The color and position of all the caps are used as inputs for different games.
     
    These games are developed using PyGame, and each of them has the purpose of helping a kid learn (by playing) a certain basic math concept.
     

    Because our goal is that any kid could have access and rediscover the joy of learning; no matter if the kid doesn't have a computer at home thanks to every game has an printable version.



  • BlindPad Project

    Cheap digital Braille display using electrovibration

    Display for a braille character, using electrovibration

    Electrovibration is a way of altering the friction force between two surfaces by applying an alterning voltage.
     
    Based on this effect, I built a screen technolgy using very cheap elements.
     
    Each of its "pixels" change change its percivied textures when touched, so using this capability a person it able to read.
     



    How it works?

    Each "pixel" is basically a capacitor: a copper electrode and an aluminum separated by an insulator layer.

    When an alternating voltage is applied, a periodic attractive force is induced between them. This means that the normal force between is being changed so when one surface moves related to the other the dynamic friction force is also altered.



  • Digital Perkin's keyboard

    Open hardware project for making an affordable and intuitive digital keyboard for visually dispaired people

    A better input for computers...

    A regular computer keyboard is a spacial interface that requiers knowning the specific place of any key and the relative position of your fingers.
     
    If you can see, this may be easy, even optimal but try closing your eyes and typing... not to easy, doesn't it?
     
    So, in one Hackaton (at FabLab Uni at Lima-Peru) I developed a simpĺe input interface based on the Perkin's brailler machine (a typewriter for braille code) but instead of writing on a paper; you connected by USB port to your computer and start typing. 
     
    This is much more simpler: only 6 keys for making a braille character, a space key, a backspace key and thats all. Each key is a capacitive sensor that triggers when touched.
     
     



    An open project!

    This project is open. Feel free to copy, improve and reproduce this work. 
     
    It isn't hard to build and neither expensive. It uses some copper tape, some resistences and a Arduino Leonardo (which in micro compatible presentation don't cost over $6).
     
    If you have a relative who you think could find this useful, I'd love you can build one for him or her. 
     
    You can find the source code and some info. https://github.com/adoval4/braille-keyboard


  • Taund

    A startup trying to make people remind that being together is better than being connected

    Taund - Being together is better than being connected

    I started this as a hobby and it became an startup. It was my first serious attempt in the world of entrepreneurship and it taugth me a lot. Upon all, I discovered the importance of having the right people around you and the sacrifice and dedication required to get to create value in the lives of others.
     
    Taund won a Latin American competition called Silicon Wasi at 2013.


  • Engineer/maker/hacker/dreamer

    Into the wild...
     

    Physics engineering at National Engineering University, Lima - Peru
    Hacker/maker elsewhere

    I've studied Physics engineering and thaks to it, now I have a broad understanding of the technology and how it works. This fact has gave me the freedom to jump to different technology branches like electronics, renewable energy, programming, physical simulation, etc.
     
    For my part, I was always building stuff. Making electronic tools or toys, programs, etc. was my hobby and help me learn a lot more than university itself.


  • Where to find him.

    Please send me an email to adoval4@gmail.com
     
    I'll be glad to know you.


    @adolfovaldi



    Adolfo V.



    adolfovaldi

© 2014 Adolfo Valdivieso
  • About
  • Tullpi
  • BlindPad Project
  • Digital Perkin's Brailler
  • Taund
  • Education
  • Find me