Working their magic

Science fiction writer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke once said, 'Any sufficiently complicated technology is indistinguishable from magic.' If that's the case, then there was plenty of student-developed 'magic' on display at the sixth annual Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) Design and Project Fair on May 3. The magical world of Harry Potter inspired the engineering project developed by Nicole Flett, S.B. '18, an electrical engineering and East Asian studies concentrator, and Raphael Rouvinov, A.B. '19, a computer science concentrator. The game they designed incorporates a laser pointer onto a magic wand (a souvenir Flett picked up during a trip to Universal Studios), which aspiring 'wizards' use to shoot sensor-based light-up targets embedded inside Ping-Pong balls. 'Getting each component of this project to work together seamlessly was a real challenge,' Flett said. 'We drew on the skills we learned in many different courses and labs. It is very cool to understand how all these parts work together.' The project, which the team developed for The Joy of Electronics (ES 52) , was one of about 75 featured projects under the Science Center Plaza tent at the annual SEAS showcase of student design and engineering acumen.