Updates from May, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • minho 11:01 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Penguin 

     

     

    PRECEDENCES

    Penbo – The Bossa Nova Penbo Interactive Penguin Robot is loveable interactive penguin that loves you and loves her baby.

    Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid – Bring home the Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid to recreate and relive the magic of the epic, intergalactic saga.

     

     

    Future Directions

    + physical and video games

    + controlling by people through internet (http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/Animals/Webcams/Penguin-Cam)

    + making a real robot can stand in south pole and helping penguins

     

  • theliztaylor 9:20 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Jellyfish 

    Here are some images of my jellyfish.

    Here are some pictures of the shell of the first iteration:

    For the second iteration, I pulled out the electronics of the first and just added a new outer structure.  I also added sound.  Here are images of that version:

    It was a fun process, and I liked using sound, which I haven’t done a whole lot of before.  I also like the idea of trying to convey different emotional states with just led lights.  That was much harder with the 8bit sound though, at least for me.  Maybe for future iterations of this kind of project I would buy a wave shield, or connect the project to a computer so that I could use Max/msp to control the sounds.

    Here is a video of the final piece:

     

     

  • theliztaylor 9:10 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Heart Box 

    My heart box is a play on the old game operation, except with this twist: you’re operating on yourself (or a friend).  First, you place the heart rate sensor on your ear.  Then you pick your instrument, and try to pull your heart out of the box.  If you’re successful, the heart continues to beat pink.  However, if you hit the side of the box, the heart turns blue and a small pancake motor (attached to the back of the heart) buzzes.  I liked working on this project a lot.  It would be fun to make a large box version with more than one body part and multiple kinds of sensors.

    Here are some images of my heart box:

    And heres a video of it blinking:

     

     

  • lizastark 9:05 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Final Project || Caitlin + Liza 

    Glowing Hoop
    Playfulness reminders for adults #1

    Caitlin Morris ++ Liza Stark

    Glowing Hoop is the first part of a series of objects designed to remind adults to be playful.

    The primary user audience are adults who are perpetually enmeshed in their professional or academic lives. Hopelessly addicted to the screen and seriousness of accomplishing a particular goal, these adults have forgotten the virtues of spontaneity and the merits of play. These objects seek to remind them of the importance of physical movement, mental breaks, and chance behavior to reinvigorate themselves and their process. Too often we become slaves to our practice: this is an attempt to break free of the entropy and shed our robot skins.

    The hoop rests in a holder which is controlled by Arduino to rotate like a clock hand. After prolonged inactivity, the hand rotates, dropping the hoop to the ground and sparking action. An Arduino Mini on the hoop communicates with the holder via XBee, causing the hoop to start glowing different colors when the hoop falls off. An accelerometer in the hoop tells the holder when the hoop is spun, indicating a period of playful activity. The holder then returns to its original position and the lights go back to a solid color. The counter for inactivity is reset, restarting the cycle.

    Iterations ++ Prior Art

    Future Directions

    In future iterations, we will focus on different types of LED behaviors, smaller hardware, and different patterns on the hula hoop itself. We would also like to explore spaces for potential installation and usage more in depth.

     

  • theliztaylor 8:58 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Wireless Toys Final / Thesis work 

    I ended up deciding to combine my wireless toys final with my thesis, and to explore more of the production aspects of my lamps.  This project is called Prisms, and its a series of small foldable lamps, that change color depending on how they are folded.

    My video is here:

    While the lamps worked well for a gallery installation, I still feel they’re too fragile and time consuming to be mass produced.  So I decided to start looking at other ways I could create them that would be faster and more reliable.  The first thing I investigated was getting pieces of Acrylic laser cut with where the circuit needed to go, so that I could either paint or embed the circuitry into the engraved areas of the acrylic.

    I also worked on designing a different PCB from the one I’m currently using.  Here is the current PCB:

    and here is the new triangular pcb and flexible joint that I designed:

    I also requested quotes for getting a batch order of PCBs (with the triangle being rigid and the joint being flexible) to be printed and populated from the following 6 places:

    but I only got two responses and only one quote.  Heres the quote I got:

    It was interesting exploring the production side of this project, I’m still not sure if PCBs if the direction I’d like to go, but I’m glad I explored it.  Also, here is a link to the presentation I made in class.

     

  • Catalina 4:27 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Day and Night – An interactive tapestry by Catalina Cortazar 

    Day & Night is a tapestry that comes together with a plush butterfly. It allows kids from 2 to 4 years old interact with a moon / sun and a the wireless butterfly. When the children puts the sun in the sky, the flower and butterfly lights up because the butterfly is awake during the day. When he/she puts the moon, the starts light up and the butterfly turns off.

    In future iterations I would like to create a book with different backgrounds and animals, for example an owl that is awake (lights) during the night, so when the moon is in the sky the starts and owl lights up.
    In this iteration I used conductive tape and it doesn’t work very good. For the next iteration I would use conductive Velcro so it’s easier for the children to put the sun and the moon in the sky.

    PRIOR ART

    WIRELESS BUTTERFLY

    TAPESTRY

     

  • Catalina 4:12 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Mood Light by Catalina Cortazar 

    Mood Light is a lamp that has 3 states.

    The first state is alarming: the lights are red and makes an alarming sound.
    The second state is relaxing: the lights change from blue to light blue / pink without sound allowing the user to relax.
    The third is a thinking mood, where the lights are blue and makes a “thinking” sound.


     

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