Everyone is the subject of fear. From common apprehension about making it to a location at a certain time to full blown fantasies of what lurks in the darkness, everyone experiences nervousness. Sometimes, this uncertainty can prompt us to make more cautious decisions and lead safer lives, but other times, such fear and insecurity can weigh us down.

The weaver is a device that visualizes that fear by wrapping sticky goo covered thread around a light source, eventually blacking it out. The light will pulse in time with a person’s heart beat, symbolizing the strain that these inhibitions can cause.

Weaver prototype:

Introduction(!):

Quick! Look up at the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No!….. It’s coming for us!! RUN!!!!

“Abducted!” is an instrument that puts the player in the place of an alien abduction victim. When the victim is caught in the space ship’s cylindrical tractor beam, they are ambushed with a wave of different noises from the mothership, signaling their final moments of freedom. On the slow rise towards abduction, the player is able to control the different sounds using four proximity sensors. Some sensors add white noise, others control the pitch of the chaos, but they all have one thing in common—they are the final noises the victim will hear before their fate is decided at the hands of the captors. What a nightmare!

The Device(…):

….utilizes servos that twitch and rotate based on the proximity sensors

…produces sounds of chaos while spinning (due to its free floating nature)

…is better viewed with accompanying abduction lights

…scarrrrry(!)

Technical (Stuff):

Roles:

Tutor: Marc-Daniel Julien, Designer: Gwen Sadler, Integrator: Duncan McIsaac, Scribe: Lauren Valley

Overview:

 
—A watched pot never boils, and the tardy bell always rings sooner than the bell for the end of class.
When waiting for some event to happen, creating more events before the objective event makes it happen faster—

Our perceptions of time seem to have a strangle-hold on our minds—and so we rush, because in the end, there was never enough time—What if instead we took a step back, realized how absurdly complex and inconsistent this variable of time is?

Our device, The Time Out is a tool to spark the viewer’s questioning of the role that time will play in their life, and give them more time to reflect. In order to operate it, the user is instructed to sit and think while the sand in The Time Out slowly dissipates. However, this isn’t any ordinary hourglass. The Time Out’s clever sensor is programmed to detect an approaching person, and as the person moves closer, the sand slows to a stop. Little does the user know, attempting to watch time only slows it down, but when the person is able to take a step back and reflect on their situation, the passage of time is returns to normal and The Time Out is able to provide a sufficient amount of reflection time.

Video:

The Hourglass:

Technical Notes:

The Time Out utilizes a servo motor with a magnet attached to the arm to enable a moving magnetic field. The servo has two positions—one at 87 degrees, stops the iron filings from flowing, while the other, at 45 degrees, allows the iron to flow. Because the proximity sensor has a range of about 1 meter, and isn’t very stable, we chose to use it as a binary indicator as to whether someone is there or not. When the sensor is activated, the servo sweeps slowly to 87 degrees, restricting the rate of flow. If the person then leaves, the servo sweeps back slowly.

Schematic Diagram:

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