For my final project, I plan to build an interactive installation called “Discover Nepal: Interactive Cultural Storyboard.” The goal is to create a small tabletop experience that teaches people about Nepali culture, history, geography, and fun facts in a playful, visual way. The project will use both Arduino and p5.js and will function like a tiny museum exhibit about Nepal.
Physically, I will create a flat board or “map” of Nepal with five labeled zones: Mountains, Festivals, Music & Dance, Food, and History & Fun Facts. Each zone will be connected to an Arduino input using either pushbuttons or simple touch pads made from aluminum foil. I will also add a single knob (potentiometer) that lets the user scroll through multiple facts within a category. When the user touches or presses one of the zones, the Arduino will detect which category was selected and read the knob position, then send this information as serial data to a p5.js sketch running on my laptop.
In the p5 sketch, I will draw a stylized interface representing Nepal, with icons or scenes for each category. Based on the messages from the Arduino, p5 will highlight the active category, display a short piece of text (such as a fun fact about the Himalayas, a description of Dashain or Tihar, information about Nepali instruments or foods like momo and dal bhat, or a historical event), and play a short sound that matches the theme (wind in the mountains, festival bells, a madal rhythm, etc.). Turning the physical knob will move through different facts inside that category, so the user can explore more than one piece of information in each area.
This project satisfies the course requirements because it is a physically interactive system that relies on a multimedia computer for processing and display. The Arduino “listens” to the user’s physical actions on the board (pressing zones and turning the knob), and the p5.js program “thinks” by interpreting those inputs and deciding what cultural content to show. The system “speaks” back to the user through animated graphics, text, and sound. My intention is to make the interaction feel like a fun, hands-on way to discover Nepal’s culture and history, rather than just reading a static page of information.