12/6 Final Project Process 3

After many hours of changing Piezos, switching wires, and having to deal with one of the Arduinos basically failing on me, I have come to a sort of final destination for my piece. I had to attach the Piezo to the side of a bag in order for it to detect any vibrations. However, its range is extremely finnicky and changes almost every time I plug the Arduino in. I didn't know how to deal with this. How you're supposed to have the wires plugged in apparently changes sometimes, too. Nothing was, or is, constant.

Nevertheless, at this point I have found out how to make the Piezo measure vibrations in a range. I will just have to edit the code accordingly right before class in order to match up with whatever range of values it decides to give me then. I have the space in Unity all set up, and no matter what happens, it will work to an extent. It's just a matter of having accurate interactivity. This was a pain. I am happy with what I've done in Unity, however.

Eh, sorry in advance.

12/3 Final Project Process #2

These are some screens from the space I built in Unity. It's mostly water with submerged palm trees and mountains surrounding. It's big enough to where it would make a good arena for the player to move while being controlled by the vibrations. I also played with the sound effects and music, as well as dabbled in lighting and other things. I may change a few things if I have some time.

11/30 Final Project - Process 1

My circuit for the final project is very simple: one or two piezos directly connected to the Arduino Leonardo board. They will be attached to the sides of a glass container where they will measure the vibrations from people moving their fingers and hands in the water. The code I will use will be a combination of the codes from my two mini projects: different ranges of vibrations will trigger different mapped keys that control a character in Unity. If I have two piezos, each piezo can control a certain aspect of movement.

Mini Project 2 - Process 3

I constructed the bin to hold the water and sand out of binder's board and acrylic. The water and sand sits in a plastic bag sits inside, while the LED's light from beneath through the acrylic. The lights get brighter and flash faster as vibrations increase. You can even make patterns in the sand.

The box gets heavy when full of water, but seems pretty sturdy. Unfortunately when I tested it out, it leaked a little bit. I will just reinforce the edges of the bag and make sure there are no tiny holes; I hope that fixes whatever happened. I wanted to power the Arduino with a battery so it could be away from the computer, but the battery I picked up was dead, I suppose. Being attached to the computer isn't a big deal.

Mini-Project 2 Progress #2

This is the first test I did with the water vibrations. If you can see, the numbers are very small, but there does seem to be a reaction from me moving my finger in the water. Since then, I have removed the LED's from the shift register and hooked them up individually to different pins.

I also altered the code to measure the volts from the piezo disk at a more constant rate, and with higher numbers so it can affect the brightness of the LED's. Now all that remains is constructing the basin for the water and sand, and attaching the apparatus.

11/7 Mini Project 2 - Process 1

The idea for my second mini project is to experiment with the Piezo sensor and detecting vibrations in water. My concept centers on the simple human need for curiosity and experimentation. I will build a bin out of some sort of clear, solid material and place a plastic bag inside. The bottom of the bag will have a thin layer of sand and then filled almost to the top with water.

Beneath the bin, in a special underside section, will be the breadboard with shapes or lines of LED's. On the side of the plastic bag filled with water will be one or two Piezo sensors, which also connect to the breadboard/Arduino. The idea is that the brightness of the LED's will be controlled by the strength of the vibrations of the water, caused by somebody dragging their finger through it. They are required to push and dig through the sand at the bottom to uncover the light from the LED's, which grows stronger the more vibrations they cause.

11/2 In-Class Work - Projects 23 and 24

10/31 Wave Shield - In-Class Work

10/24 Range Finder - In Class Work

10/19 Adafruit Lesson 5 - Serial Monitor

10/19 Adafruit - Lesson 4

And Brightness Control:

Mini Project 1 Process 3

I completed the setup in Unity for users to navigate when interacting with the piece. It is a small, simple maps surrounded by jagged mountains. I left the terrain a texture-less white because I liked the sterility of how it looked. At the other end of the map is a desk with a Mac computer, mouse, and a replica of my interactive box on it. There is also an office chair pushed to the side. Surrounding the player on all sides is a bunch of hovering, staring eyeballs.

Originally I wanted the eyeballs to turn to always be facing the player character as they moved, but finding a script to do that was proving difficult. So for now I left them fairly static. I thought it was appropriate for my first real attempt at using Unity, anyways. This sort of limited space with a setup similar to where the person is sitting to interact with the piece is intended to create a feeling of paranoia. This is also coupled with the person interacting having to trust the little box enough to stick their fingers inside.

Pictures of everything will be uploaded later!

Mini Project Update #2

I am currently setting up the scene in Unity for the user to travel around in. It's just a matter of positioning things, making sure textures are good, and everything is the right size. I also need to see if I can apply a script to my floating eyeballs to make it so they follow the first person camera's position. I also need a quick model of the little box I am keeping my sensors setup in.

This is the box I have designed. It is supposed to emulate the motifs I have going on in the Unity space. The user is required to stick their fingers into the holes in the box in order to press the buttons. This adds another layer to the whole paranoia setup that I have going on within the project.

8/3 In-Class Assignment - Project 28

I never got the chance to test the setup with the motor, but I took a picture of the board to show I put everything together.

8/5 Final Project Presentation

Link to the Prezi

I divided this presentation into two parts: one side for the concept and the other part for the technical ideation and plan.

The concept side discusses the setup and interactivity on the part of the user, as well as the influences I received and the subject matter of my piece. The technical side is about the sensors that could potentially work for what I want, as well as the basic idea for how I would implement everything to make the sensor-based, programming-based, and visual-based elements work cohesively.

I designed the diagrams myself and took screenshots of the Rainhouse game that was used for inspiration. Everything else was put together in Prezi.

9/28 Homework

1. A transistor is an example of a semiconductor device.

2. Silicon atoms have four valence electrons, which allow it to interlock with other silicon atoms to form a firm, gridded crystal. By introducing other elements with one more or less valence electron into this setup, a one way pathway for electrical current is created, resulting in a diode semiconductor.

3. An N-type semiconductor contains an additional element that provides an extra valence electron, thus making it a carrier of electricity. A P-type semiconductor contains an element that, when joined with the silicon material, results in an empty spot for an electron, or 'hole'. Electrical conductivity also increases for this kind of semiconductor.

4. When a P-type and N-type semiconductor are linked together, they form a diode. This forms a 'potential barrier' which allows current to only flow in one direction, from the P- to the N-type semiconductor.

5. Rectification is the property of a diode, where electrical current can only flow in one direction.

6. Colors in an LED are caused by the type of raw material in the semiconductor emitting different wavelengths. Aluminum gallium indium phosphide alloys are used in red, orange, and yellow LED's to produce the respective color light.

7. When the base current in a transistor flows, it also allows the often much greater collector current to flow as well.

8. Transistors, unlike switches, have no physical contact and thus don't wear out, reducing the likelihood of their failure. Also, since you can turn them on and off rapidly, the control can be fine tuned.

9/26 Homework - Project 14 and Reading Response

Interview with Tom Igoe 

Igoe discussed about a variety of different things with this interview, mostly at the behest of the interviewer who seemed like they wanted to get a general sense of what he does and advocates for. He definitely has the mindset of a teacher, and emphasizes the work he does with his students and the ideas he instills in them. Igoe understands that a variety of skills and knowledge are needed for the practice in his field, especially in that of physical computing. It's also nice to see another source of validation and inspiration to do projects and pieces utilizing simple techniques and sensors. Despite the technical simplicity, everything can still be very profound. And it can be applied in various ways, from entertainment to something evocative to a form of activism.

Project 14 - Light Sensor

 

Mini Project - Signal 9/25

My interpretation of signal will be implemented by creating some of control interface between the Arduino and the Unity game engine. Using this communication, some sort of control for the player character will be established. This control can be implemented through the buttons or the potentiometer that were provided by the starter kit. Whichever is easiest and/or provides the best means of control that I want.

As for the subject matter, I wanted this be something of a precursor to my final project, which was about the relationship of the physical and digital world. The environment will be fairly simple for this project. I maybe wanted to do something paradoxical: having the player character encounter a similar setup in the "game" to what the actual user was interacting with in the real world. That, or make something even simpler. Perhaps the buttons or levels that the player controls would affect some sort of signal, shader, pattern, object, etc. in the game. The environment in the digital world is altered in the physical.

Here is a video about communicating with Unity utilizing the Arduino.

9/21 Classwork - Motors

DC Motor

Servo Control

 

9/21 Homework

1. Heat that is produced when a current flows through an electric resistance is called joule heat, which in turn causes thermal vibration to occur. Heat is generated by the vibrations of the atoms within a material; these continuously moving atoms make it more difficult for electrons to pass through as the heat increases. Thus, this impedes the current's flow. It is like moving through a hallway full of people. If everyone is standing still, it is easy for you to maneuver around. But, if everyone is moving all at once, it becomes more difficult to traverse through the hall.

2. Incandescent bulbs rely on thermal emission to produce visible light. The thermal energy in the bulb is released as electromagnetic waves, producing both heat and light.

3. A superconductor is a material that has next to no impedance of electron movement due to atomic obstruction. This happens in most metals when made cold enough, though most materials need to approach absolute zero in order to achieve superconductivity. Today, superconductivity is used in digital circuits, powerful electromagnets, radiography machines, and particle detectors.

4. Ampere's law states that magnetic fields are generated in a circular pattern around the conductor of a current.

5. A current of the same size flowing in the same direction through two wires side-by-side produces a stacked magnetic field that encompasses both wires; it also creates a force of attraction between them.

6. If a current of the same size flows through the two wires in opposite directions, a force of repulsion is created and their respective magnetic fields disappear.