FysaMap
Fessenden's First Automatic Route-Finder
By: Ethan Kwan, Aaron Cheng, Theo Popper
Evocative Image
We wanted visitors and new students to have an easier time getting around campus, leading us to think of this project
Thesis Statement
From researching of Physarum polycephalum, a slime mould that is capable of finding the shortest distance between two points (or more), we were inspired and decided to create a digital system that mimics this natural phenomenon.
[FysaMap = Fessy + Physarum + Map]
Conceptual Precedent
We took the idea of mimicking slime mould from it mimicking tokyo station.
Technical Precedent
We took the idea of a GPS, which shows the directions to get from points A to B in the fastest amount of time.
Prototypes/Early versions
Day 1 - Code for Frontend (Website)
<-- CSS Code
HTML Code
↓
First day - Frontend (Website) in action
Final (frontend) - Second page and more details
<-- Second page code (HTML)
Text animation -->
<-- mouse effect (like the slime)
Code for Backend Iteration 1
Main Algorithm
Problem was that it wasn't the most efficient way and it has some bugs in it that were not solvable
Set Up
Conversion function
Code for Backend Iteration 2
Main Algorithm
Path Reconstruction and Output
Setup process
Uses BFS logic, create a queue of things to check, visit the ones that have not been visited yet, mark the path that it came from, stops when it reaches the destination, reconstruct the path by getting the data stored.
Backend (Program) in Action
What we improved on using the Mid Review Feedback
After the Mid Review, we managed to link the C++ to the frontend code so it would be useable on the site (instead of separate code). We also improved visibility and sizing on other devices, allowing the user experience to be better.
AI Feedback
We used VSC's (visual studio code) internal code bot to generate some feedback, that we used to help us work on and link the frontend and backend.
Finished Code images
How Is This Biomimicry??
Some HTML Code
More HTML Code
CSS Code
Some of our Javascript Code (This is only one file with 4000 lines of code (partially auto-generated file), there are also other javascript files)
Backend Code 2.0
Initialization
If we had more time...
If we had more time, we would find a way to show the route visually (like literally mimicking the slime mould's path), but since none of us were proficient in C++ and JavaScript linking, this task proved too difficult for three 9th graders to complete in 2 weeks.
Website link: fysamap.netlify.app
FINAL
Thanks for Listening!