Final Project Ideas

This past weekend I spent my time observing people and the actions that they did to change the environment around them. Two of the most interesting things that I found were the acts of pulling and zippering. The pulling motion comes into play when I see people pulling a cord to open/close a curtain or a blind, or pulling a door shut/open, or physically pulling/dragging something across the floor. It is a forceful movement at times, or may be as gentle as a slight tug, taking a more leading role than the act of pushing. Pulling is also used as an exercise technique, for when you are forced to pull up a heavy object in repetition, it stresses the muscles and causes new muscle growth. Pulling can also cause a change in the person themselves, such as pulling one's self up a cliff, or up a ladder. Pulling uses the arms, one or two, depending on the force needed or the awkwardness of the pull system. Is it a simple pulling of the metal cord that closes a blind? Is it a more advanced pulling of ropes to change the direction of a sail? Or is it the complex pulling of heavy weights (like in a gym, pulling bars with the weight in the back like a lever system). Zippering factors into this because the act of zippering is also a pulling motion - you pull the "slider" up and down to join or separate the teeth on either side. This type of pulling, instead of just moving something up or down, also creates a strong attachment between two things that were otherwise separate.

Dictionary definition of "pull:"
v., pulled, pull·ing, pulls.
v.tr.
To apply force to so as to cause or tend to cause motion toward the source of the force.
To remove from a fixed position; extract: The dentist pulled the tooth.
To tug at; jerk or tweak.
To rip or tear; rend.
To stretch (taffy, for example) repeatedly.
To strain (a muscle, for example) injuriously.
Informal. To attract; draw: a performer who pulls large crowds.
Slang. To draw out (a weapon) in readiness for use: pull a gun; pulled a knife on me.
Informal. To remove: pulled the engine; pulled the tainted meat product from the stores.

There are no actual pull sensors, but I feel that in most applications of a pulley-system, a pressure sensor could be placed at the "top" of the pulley, where the system loops back

Mike Amato: "I feel like I'm working towards getting something open or activating it."

This got me thinking - you're right Mr. Amato. This action is always performed with a particular goal in mind - to open the blinds, to close the jacket, to have the weights suspended in the air. How does this deal with why we do things? We do things for a purpose, to reach an attainable goal. We assume that there is something we are reaching towards. But what happens when we never reach that goal, or, if there is no goal to reach, just the illusion of an endlessly rising tone.

Zipper-Related Projects/Tutorials
http://www.jooyounpaek.com/ziporch.html
http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/sensors/Reports/ZipperSensor