Vimeo link: http://vimeo.com/34013809
Concept: I wanted to make a simple fast food menu inspired lol shield that could be controlled using a potentiometer. It was supposed to be a bit like those old drive-by displays where you pick your food from a pictorial menu, and then pick them up in a seperate counter.
code: http://www.mediafire.com/?ksq1jrn740x7mot
sin wave visualisation
code zip: http://www.mediafire.com/file/agk56oug5gqwub5/actuallyworking.zip
Initial sketches:
initial sketches
Initial ideas were a pumpkin with leds embedded on the rind to create an ‘inverted’ lit up face and a disney-esque magical castle pumpkin where if you walked past it it would light up to form a shooting star (starting from the star, and then spreading outwards like the barograph example)
After thinking a long time, I decide to come up with a pumpkin pie idea:
pumpkin pie and slice
It works like this: inside the pie slice would be pin13 led and the pir motion sensor to ‘lure’ unsuspecting people to the pie-slice….. once the motion is triggered, the larger pie-face would light up farther away. I decided to make it out of felt and aluminium foil, to keep to the handmade look
pir motion sensor
The good part about having a seperate slice and also stuffing was that it helped hide the sensor and decrease sensitivity. Here is the shield I made for the sensor, underneath the orange felt is a thin layer of aluminium foil.
Initial tests:
pie slice lure test
The giant red leds from mad scientist kit lit up really brilliantly and well
serial monitor checking
I used the pull-up switch method for the pir motion sensor which was always on ‘high’
full test setup
Full test setup with both the pie slice and pie face – I had a lot of problems with the pie face because the leds weren’t bright enough to see through the fabric!!!! I should’ve gotten the larger leds like that red one instead of the smaller leds which didn’t really show up as well. In the final video I lifted the covering a little so you could see the leds underneath.
Final video:
Final code:
http://www.mediafire.com/?btjqyta3wyqorpb (zipped)
Maker Faire was really fun! actually I spent most of Saturday looking at stuff with fellow classmates, then Sunday my housemate wanted to go so I went to try the rides I missed like the Water Swing and stuff cos the queues were much shorter the next day. My favourite item from the Arduino tent was Ember:
ember hack
Maker website: Ember Kit|| Lower East Kitchen
It’s conceived by this engaged couple; he’s a plasma scientist and she’s a writer and they worked together to come up with this really cheap yet effective arudino kitchen appliance hack. Basically it’s a box controlling the heating/cooling of an appliance precisely so you can achieve perfect sous vitae temperatures (I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s infinitely useful) This really really really excites me because I used to be a backyard chemist, and maintaining temperatures on a consistent level was one of my greatest difficulties (the other one is humidity). Most of the examples listed on the blog/website are developed for Heston-esque cooking techniques, but it can be easily applied to things like distillation of alcohol (70C), 1st stage polyermisation of thermoplastic (85C), making resins/epoxy (104C), bain marie (40C) etc etc… I really want to get one!!!!!!! I think you could even hack to get higher temperatures by combining it with a pressure chamber, which would be really good if you’re trying to maintain temperature in a non-conductive element.
I also really like it ’cause it’s very reasonably priced compared to some of the other items at Maker Faire…. like some of the 3-d printers cost thousands while the more complicated circuits could run into hundreds! Here, it was a complete kit with prices ranging from $50 (the total DIY) to $80 (pre-assembled, just drill and affix)
Anyway I really enjoyed going to Maker Faire, I hope they have another one next year!
Background
Hello! My name is Rachel, and I’m originally from Singapore. I grew up in HongKong for 7 years, moved back to Singapore for secondary/highschool, then moved to China for 6 months for internship, then to Japan for another 3 months and finally settled in University of Melbourne, Australia for bachelor degree majoring in media studies.
In terms of work experience I’ve done quite a lot of legal (and some barely legal) jobs, mostly because I started exhibiting (fine arts) when I was 16 and needed the money for shows/supplies. My foundation is in fine arts, particularly classical oil painting then photography in university and finally to performance and digital interactive art.
NYC has so far been pretty cool, and last week I tried my first funnel cake!!! I plan to try all American foods while I’m here
My Interest in this Class
Even though I have a bit of experience with physical computing, I feel like there’s lots of learn more and also I really want to learn it properly instead of being half-baked about it. Mostly I really like physical computing and circuitry, and it just seems wonderful to be able to create these little toys – almost gifts, that can make people feel happier. It’s like, I don’t know why but the idea of having a blinking LED pin is both cute and cool and whoa awesome, you just can’t help but think it’s wonderful. I’ll like to be able to learn the skills to make these things so that other people can enjoy them.
Favourite Toy(s)
I’m hypoallergic to many things; one of them being synthetic hair (esp. in dolls’) so I spent most of my childhood playing Lego with my siblings. Actually we got really good at it and there was a period of time that my sister, brother and I were entering Lego juniors’ competitions as a team to win money. My favourite type of Lego was called Lego Technic:
After Lego (and to a lesser extent, Tamiya racing) my siblings and I moved on to digital/console games. We pooled our cash together to buy a Playstation when I was 10, and from then onwards it was mostly gaming. My siblings and I are still gaming addicts though, it seems that you never grow out of childhood only now with a ‘professional’ job you earn more money to buy all the games you want without a parent scolding you (hah!)
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Making Toys 
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