Making Toys

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  noadol 9:43 pm on December 16, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  wallSound is a modular sound interface that can be placed on different surfaces in the built environment of a public or private space. The project leverages the walls’ limited affordances for interaction, and turns them into a surprising and playful physical experience. This encourages the body to reconsider its physical environment, and creates a potential for new dialogue with common elements of the built environment that surrounds us.

  Prototyping

  Iterations

  Final Design

   

  wallSound uses body conductivity and requires bodily contact and movement to manipulate sounds. It consists of vertical and horizontal copper stripes distributed on a clean wall, connected to speakers. Data concerning the touched copper stripes passes to Processing through an Arduino board, activating patches of sound. The body functions as the switch, affecting an electric circuit when contacting the wall. The composition of the stripes being placed on the wall is drawn from the consideration of the target audience’s height (adults, children), wall dimensions, space acoustic and the desired body movement and combinations.

  Most of the required wiring work is being camouflaged with regular ready-made objects that the eye is accustomed to when placed on walls, like wire management system boxes and wiring tracks. Hookup wires attached to the copper stripes go down to the floor, covered with white tape, giving a clue that can lead to the exposure of the structure and the apparatus driving the installation. The wires run along the floor to the far side and into a box attached to the lower part of the wall which hides the Arduino board and the electrical circuits. Above the stripes, attached to the wall, are the speakers vibrating the sound into the wall, creating the illusion there is a scene going inside or behind it.

  Patches of mp3s are being played whenever one of the copper stripes are touched. In accordance to the iteration’s concept, the sounds are being played in stereo, or amplified through different speakers. The sounds tell a story, a secret, or reveal an illusion of what is behind or within the wall. Lovers fight in “a wall between us”, synthesized sounds resonate in the “wallSound” basic installation, and the sound of water pours out in “waterPole”. After these three iterations in which the wall is being used to generate experience, it seemed interesting to put the wall at the center of attention by turning it into a living vibrating independent entity for the final iteration. Touching the wall will reveal its true personality and needs.
  

  
  The wallSound started with the assumption that, like crows, humans are drawn to shiny materials. Therefore, they will be attracted to the copper stripes with its brilliant texture, and will be curious enough to touch it for the first time. On a tiny piece of white tape, the words ‘touch me’ appears, daring the viewer to touch. The copper texture combined with the clues being spread through the wiring system and the teasing text, create new wall affordances that imply a process of playing and revealing the content through touch and movement. After the first touch is being made, followed by sound feedback, the interaction is fluid.

  The interface is modular, keeping its inclusivity: It can be set at any space, in any hight, with content curated for audience and space, and addressed to all age groups. This allows the work to always facilitate the human-wall relationship without restriction.

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  noadol 9:06 pm on December 16, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Jewelry for Geeks 

  Learn how your date goes through a pulse sensor earring connected to an RGB LED Designed using the bare electronics aesthetic:  Mini arduino pro, hook up wires, 3v Coin battery, mini breadboard, LED, pulse sensor.

  
  

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• 

  Jun Sik (Jason) Kim 8:47 am on December 16, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Moduled the multipurpose lamp 

  Moduled is a multipurpose lamp for people who are in need of different functions, forms, and colors of lighting. It is composed of trapezoidal modules. The white module is where Luxeon high intensity LEDs, heat sinks, BlinkM RGB LEDs, on/off switch, battery pack, rare earth neodymium magnets, Arduino, 3 potentiometers (one to control white LED brightness, one to control hue of RGB LEDs, and one to control brightness of RGB LEDs) are. The white module is the main part that provides the light according to the user’s desires. The black trapezoidal modules also contain rare earth magnets to stick to the white module. The black modules are supplementary to the white module so that different forms of lamps (standing lamp, desk lamp, night lamp, etc.) can be created. Now, with moduled, people can take apart or build lamps out of simple trapezoidal figures and create whatever color and brightness of light they need.

  

  The code below uses blinkM’s .h file that can be downloaded here

  
  #include "Wire.h"
  #include "BlinkM_funcs.h"
  const int blinkm_addr = 0;
  const int hue_pot_pin = 0; //pin0
  const int bri_pot_pin = 1; //pin1
  int lightControl = 2; //pin2
  int lightVal = 0;
  int ledPin[] = {
   3,6,9,10,11};
  
  void setup()
  {
   Serial.begin(19200);
   BlinkM_beginWithPower();
   BlinkM_stopScript(blinkm_addr); // turn off startup script
   Serial.println("BlinkMKnobHue ready");
   for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++){
   pinMode(ledPin[i], OUTPUT);
   }
  }
  
  void loop()
  {
   int hue_val = analogRead(hue_pot_pin) / 4;
   int bri_val = analogRead(bri_pot_pin) / 4;
   Serial.println(hue_val);
   BlinkM_fadeToHSB( blinkm_addr, hue_val, 255, bri_val);
   delay(20);
   whiteLight();
  }
  
  void whiteLight(){
   lightVal = analogRead(lightControl);
   int ledVal = map(lightVal, 0, 1023, 0, 255);
   for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++){
   analogWrite(ledPin[i], ledVal);
   int hue_val = analogRead(hue_pot_pin) / 4;
   int bri_val = analogRead(bri_pot_pin) / 4;
   BlinkM_fadeToHSB( blinkm_addr, hue_val, 255, bri_val);
   delay(20);
   }
  }
  

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• 

  Jun Sik (Jason) Kim 8:21 am on December 16, 2011 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: driving wheel ver 2, final ( 3 ), jason kim ( 2 ), jun sik kim   

  Driving wheel version 2 

  
  This project uses arduino, LOL shield, and two inputs (tilt sensors). Using its shape, it can be tilted in different directions that triggers different animations. In this case, if the cover is upright, the animation seems as if you are driving a car straightforward. If you grab the steering wheel handle and turn it left, an arrow animation going left can be seen. If you turn the handle right, the arrow animation goes towards the right. If flipped upside down, the arrow is headed up which indicates the autodrive mode.

  In version 2, I inserted a potentiometer and 2 super bright white LEDs into the analog pins of the LoL Shield. The left LED is turned on if tilted left and the right LED is turned off if tilted right. When upside down, the LEDs blink to signal auto drive. The potentiometer controls the delay of the animation therefore can represent the acceleration of driving a car.

  

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