Month: February 2007

everyone in the class was in the lab last night. i spoke to people about creative ideas. 5 of us decided to make an application that would allow each person to use a sensor to create a different colored line onscreen. the coding was an issue, since essentially only one of us is a strong coder. we were successful in having our application work for two sensors, but getting the others to read and draw as we hoped they would was more difficult that expected.

additionally, i met with dave and bob a few times about our project. the action for our project will take place on a stool using a bike wheel and animation with a strobe. the goal of the activity is to create an interactive piece of art referencing marcel duchamp’s work. the observer or user would stand next to the object and use a hand to spin the wheel. the strobe would adjust to the speed of the rotation and animate a gate or specific position on the perimeter. the person would need to be balanced and focus their attention on the gate to witness the animation. this person could also be observed by a third party as a piece of artwork. it is engaging because it takes a piece of dadaist work and continues in my opinion on a dadaist theme, as seeing a person spin a wheel and watch an animation isn’t necessarily aesthetically captivating. but what keeps the idea interesting is that we are taking a static object and adding physical and visual motion, as well as programming, light and interaction. it is much more dynamic and a learning tool. we have not yet recorded the action or created the prototype, but when we do, i’m sure we’ll be able to observe some patterns. also the medium is inviting as a wheel asks to be spun. with attachments and lights involved, a person who notices the object has little choice but to run up and spin it. prototype to come…

got my jameco catalog yesterday! i feel a little more like a true ITP’er now.

building the board and inputting the code to arduino/processing was simple enough, and i’m reminded of etch-a-sketch by this sample program. the design of the code seems very clean to me– i look forward to taking programming classes in the next term to advance those skills. as for pcomp, hopefully i’ll come up with something creative and interesting by wednesday’s class.. and get our midterm ideas pulled together to. ay!

video
i made a motor move today. yay. i was messing with the code a little to see how the numbers would change the motion of the motor versus the potentiometer. i didn’t notice much diffence though honestly. the motor just seemed to sound a little different and would only rotate 180 degrees. i was hoping to move it several rotations… maybe it’s just a problem with the motor itself. anyway, i decided to make a version of the popular drinking game: spin the bottle. glass is dangerous… ha.

The basic lab was straightforward. Here’s my individual video.

The creative portion was less simple. Tim, Florica, and I worked on the a project together again. We are a nice little team. Our idea was to use Tim’s joysticks as the variable sensors and produce some sort of flashy light display. But we decided instead to modify the code and make use of the monitor feature in the Arduino environment to make a text based “love meter.” Figuring out which sensors corresponded to which pins was tedious. The code also gave us several problems, but Tim’s expertise helped us be successful. See this video here.

I need to remember to bring in my own wire cutters and remember to ask Greg about ____ (something) drill bits.

Observation- Part 1

So I noted several people using technology this weekend . . . Saturday the 10th.

– I wake up to my roommates’ noise… alarm, cell phone ringtone, television, music.
– Laundromat at Frankin and St Johns. People are watching tv, purchasing tokens, and using washers and dryers.
– Franklin stop in BK (2/3, 4/5 lines). People using machines to charge their MTA cards. People swiping their cards. One machine not in service.
– Train not too full. 3 people in my view listening to portable music devices. 1 person seemingly checking text messages or playing a game on his cell phone.
– Atlantic/Pacific station in BK. Switching to the D to Manhattan. Radio announcement says something I cannot understand. People are using Ipods.
– East Village. More people using cell phones and Ipods walked in the street. Streetlights, walk/stop signs. Cars driving around.
– Friend’s apartment. I use the buzzer to say “Yee.” Door automatically unlocks and I take elevator up. Television, music, wireless internet.
– Nothing new after 19:00h.

Observation- Part 2

I’m in Manhattan on the northeast corner of Houston and Broadway. There is a woman standing on a sidewalk facing west. She looks uptown, straight ahead, and around. She waits. Cars begin to slow. She steps forward, looks up and stops. The sign she watches changes – red hand becomes a white human outline. She steps forward and looks at the moving car closest to her. It stops. She takes a small, quick step back. She crosses the street. Meanwhile, she is wearing earbuds and carrying an Ipod. As she steps from the street to the sidewalk across the street, she looks down at the Ipod, adjusts it with her hand, and continues walking.

~7 Steps
. look around and at light signal
. wait
. step forward
. look at car
. react
. walk
. adjust handheld device

There are three devices (street signs, car, Ipod). The car “listens” to the street signal once and the woman once. The woman “listens” to the street signal twice, the car once, and the ipod once. The ipod listens to the woman once. The street signals do not listen to their surroundings. They are not interacting since they are preprogrammed?

After further reflection, it seems to me that perhaps the street signs are not so interactive, or that there are too many bodies included in this observation. There are two people, one of which is in control of a car. This person responds to a predefined light signal. The other person responds to a light signal as well, but moreso the car, since a reaction to safety takes priority over a reaction to a light indicator. The ipod also plays into the equation as it could potentially have disrupted the woman’s attention to the walk light signal and the vehicle.

The improvement for the scenario I think would be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps we could remove the poles and signals for walking, and insert devices in the actual crosswalk. As cars have red and green lights, people would too, but they could simply view downward instead of up and around. Also, these lights would be triggered not only in sequence with the traffic lights, but also by the speed and weight of oncoming cars, thereby also indicating to the passenger if it is safe to step into the street.

so florica, tim, and i had a couple ideas with our working arduinos. we first wanted to set up two lines of led’s that would race. with the limitations of resistors available and the probability of getting it working in time, we decided to go with a similarly competitive idea, but more practical, and one that lends itself to interactive play, involving three people even. we have a total of four “battling” lights, that respond to our red-button inputs and two led’s that indicate start and stop. in my mind, this is essentially a combat video game, but with a very, very limited graphic display and controller interface. please check out the video below. the sound effects were done spontaneously through voice. maybe we’ll incorporate audio into a later project for real.

battle light fun video

so i needed to reinstall the arduino environment, after a fellow itp’er pretended to install it for me. o nonsense..hehe. the installing w the drivers was simpe though. worked fine. setting up the breadboard was pretty straightforward, although the leds were extremely dim when i used the resistors. a little odd. so i took them out. the switch and arduino program worked just fine. i’m looking forward to getting this blinking light to work without the delay function, and coming up with a creative application. however, i have to run now and watch some football game and consume food and beverage.

see you tomorrow or tuesday itp lab. and new! –> video