Khalil Klouche, a masters student at Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design (HEAD) Geneva, has designed a playful and interactive calculator for kids formed of a wooden block and the four key arithmetic symbols: add, subtract, multiply, divide.
The gadget, Knock Knock, has been created using an Arduino board, contact microphones and solenoids, and was first showcased at the exhibition ‘Touch!’ for Museum of Design and Contemporary Art. To calculate a sum, the user must knock the number corresponding to the sign – so to multiply by two, you must knock twice on the ‘X’ symbol. The total of the sum is then ‘answered’ by the calculator with knocking sounds via the speaker.
It’s a simple, touch-activated way of stimulating a number of the senses, and an innovative redesign of a classic piece of technology.