Created by Jaime Chu and Robert Rudolph

Ideation was inspired by the students in the Physical Computing class in IDeATe. We wanted to create a project that represents all innovation occurring in IDeATe’s basement studios. While we were doing this project, we also realized that many people were not  aware of IDeATe as a program, so we wanted to expose them to it in a unexpected and creation interaction by bringing Ideation to them.

We chose to place our installation in the stairwell because it is acousting and visually interesting as a space. It was also the only place in the library where it is acceptable for students to make noise and for this installation to capture that noise. Lastly, this ties the IDeATe program in the basement to the rest of the world in a way that wouldn’t be possible with an installation on a single floor.

Ideation responds to naturally occurring in the stairwell such as footsteps, door closes, voices and the elevator. However, it also provides unique interaction when users clap, play music or even whistles. Each light bulb corresponds to a narrow band of frequencies. The lower the frequency the lower bulbs (closest to the basement) will light up and vice versa.

Implementation

Hardware – Light bulbs became the main feature of the installation because they universally represent ideas. Our main focus in design and implementation of any frame or light shade was to highlight the light bulb and the light shining from it. The minimal shades echo the lines of the light bulb from the inside, while projecting the edge-lit geometric structure from the outside. The shades are created from clear acrylic with the edges sanded down and pressed to fit. The light bulbs are powered from the base of the structure and hung with flexible coated steel wire ropes. All of the cables span 35 feet and begin at the base of the third floor, then anchored at the basement floor with cement blocks. In total there are eight light fixtures which create a 3ft x 3ft box within the 5ft wide stairwell. Each light fixture is spaced approximately 4 feet apart.

Software – Using two four channel DMX boxes, an Arduino and Processing, we were able to control and dim the lights depending on the noise levels within the stairwell to express all of the activity that happens. When the noise levels increases, the light bulbs light up according to the different frequency levels. The bulbs closer to the basement correspond to the lower frequencies while the bulbs closer to the third floor correspond to the higher frequencies.

Rhino files can be found here.
Code (Arduino + Processing).

Special thanks Zach Ali, Ignatios Alexander, Ali Momeni, and the Facilities Management Services for all of their help and support throughout this entire project.

YouTube / Bob Rudolph – via Iframely

Inspired by Bernie Sanders. Created by Jaime Chu and Robert Rudolph

The BernBand is powered by the people through Twitter. Whenever anyone tweets #FeelTheBern, the user is able to physically feel a hot pulse to their wrist allowing them to stay updated with the campaign trail anywhere and anytime.

With the 2016 election coming up, we wanted to create this device to stay connected to the political community. We noticed an increasing trend in #FeelTheBern and found it connected to the application of the Peltier element to enhance the presidential race. Ideally, we would like this to be worn by Bernie’s competitors so they can feel the burn from the BernBand.

YouTube / Bob Rudolph – via Iframely

Implementation

Using a peltier cooler from Pololu, we were able to generate hot and cold temperatures with a 11.1V Li-Po battery. When a voltage is applied across the device, a difference in temperature will build up between the two sides, making one side hot and one side cool. In our initial proof of concept we were able to create a cooling sensation on one side of the cooler and use a large heat sink to draw the heat away from the other side. Using a fan also helped us cool the heat sink faster, making the cold colder.

When a voltage is applied in the opposite direction, the hot side becomes cold and vice versa. In order to apply this knowledge, we used a DRV8833 Dual Motor Driver to control the direction of the current. This gave a larger range of temperatures from cold to hot, rather than just cold or just hot. For the BernBand, we were able to control the pulses using a SparkCore. We chose to use a SparkCore because it had WiFi-enabled capabilities to scrape Twitter for specific tweets. The SparkCore is powered through a 5V input through a 5V step-down voltage regulator.

The packaging was inspired by one of Bernie Sander’s issues on climate change. In order to be more sustainable, we used 100% recycled materials for our shell and decided on a 70’s and retro look.

Previous Iterations
We went through a variety of different iterations with the Peltier cooler. We first started with the concept of recreating Wristify, a technology from MIT labs. Once we were able to successfully recreate it, we thought of multiple different applications this device could be used in. We came up with using it in a virtual reality setting, as part of weather monitor, or even as a reminder tool. We decided not to go with the other methods because they were not entirely connected to the application. to the Ultimately, we thought this would work best in a more relevant application to today’s society.

Download code to scrape Twitter here
Download code to control the pulses here
Download solidwork files here

By Jaime Chu, Bob Rudolph

The idea for Weather Watch first came to light when we saw Wristify, a technology which came from the MIT labs. We wanted to recreate the idea as a proof of concept and then find a different and unique application for it, rather than just for personal cooling and heating. Instead, with this project we want to create awareness. We marketed the project as a general reminder of the cold Pittsburgh winters, but really we wanted to remind others that there are less fortunate children out there who are starving during these cold times. Sending a hot pulse about every thirty seconds signified the death of two children who died from malnutrition in the world. We are quite fortunate to be where we are in this world with heating and cooling, and things to help us survive these cold winters, but just keep those hungry children in the back of your mind. Read more about the aid for starving children cause here.

Implementation:

Using a peltier cooler from Pololu, we were able to generate hot and cold temperatures with a 11.1V Li-Po battery. When a voltage is applied across the device, a difference in temperature will build up between the two sides, making one side hot and one side cool. In our initial proof of concept we were able to create a cooling sensation on one side of the cooler and use a large heat sink to draw the heat away from the other side. Using a fan also helped us cool the heat sink faster, making the cold colder.

When a voltage is applied in the opposite direction, the hot side becomes cold and vice versa. In order to apply this knowledge, we used a DRV8835 Dual Motor Driver to control the direction of the current. This gave a larger range of temperatures from cold to hot, rather than just cold or just hot.

Download code here .

For this assignment, we were given a Pololu 3pi Robot, and since it was a fun environment, we wanted to create a fun project to match. We had the concept to make our 3pi draw using its movements and decided it would be interesting to recreate the Magic 8 Ball with improvements.

The Magic 8 Bot has all the answers to life’s questions and even spells it out for you.  Includes added suspense when delivering responses and the future with the Magic 8 Bot is never clouded.

Like many other projects we split up this project into three different sections, the mechanical work, hardware and the software. The mechanical work included the parallel plate modeling, the shell modeling, and the pen lifting mechanism. The hardware included the wiring of the servo and photoresistor. Finally, the software included the integration of all the physical parts as well as the actual motor drive.

Mechanical: Each part was created from different machines. The parallel plate was laser cut, while the dome was 3D printed and then hand painted. The lifting mechanism was created using a servo and a lift attached to the pen. The lift was created using a rigid edge found from the lab and attached using two O-rings. This was designed so that when the servo dropped the pen, the downward force comes from only gravity itself.

Shell model
Plate model

Hardware: The servo was connected with a digital output pin IO_D0, Vbatt, and Gnd (see image right), while the photoresistor was connected with an analog input pin IO_AD7 (see left image). The photoresistor was wired with a voltage divider of a 2K ohm resistor and the photoresistor connected to Vcc and Gnd. Alternative sensors could also be used in order to get different responses.

Software: For each of the pieces, integration for the servo and photoresistor was done by using the example codes provided by Pololu. However, the actual motor driving code was done with manual calibration. This task was the most difficult because it required that the battery voltage maintained constant voltage or the drive would act differently.
Servo code
Photoresistor code
Motor code

See the ad:

YouTube / Jaime C – via Iframely

See the use of the Magic 8 Bot:

YouTube / Susan Zuo – via Iframely

Group Members: Jaime Chu, Craig Morey

This is an update from our previous post: One-in-one-out: Conductive Acoustic

From our initial experimentation with the conductive rubber we had a couple of findings.

1. Conductive rubber rarely goes back to its original state.
2. Our speakers were not creating the kinds of sounds anticipated from rubber.

Craig and I ultimately took our learnings from our last experimentation and used it to our advantage in creating this project. With this new knowledge we set out to put our musical instrument idea aside and come up with an installation piece. We still wanted to keep our conductive rubber inspiration, but this time contain it in a box.

This time we used Midi (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) connected serially through our laptop and Arduino to be our speakers and laid out our rubber pieces all over the box in order to symbolize noise. With the help of Hairless Midi and Ableton Live, we were able to create the perfect sound for our project. Coming from an electrical engineering background, I thought of the idea of how signal travels through wires and how easily noise can disrupt it when we came up with the concept of a noise box. We wanted the disturbance of the strings to showcase propagating “noise” through the sounds.

Implementation:

We used 6 strings total as part of our implementation because of the 6 total analog inputs in Arduino’s limited capabilities. To the right is a schematic of how each conductive rubber was put together. The second resistor used as the voltage divider will vary depending on the length of the conductive rubber.

MIDI signals are sent from the Arduino over USB as serial messages. The serial messages are converted into MIDI commands on the computer using a tool called “Hairless MIDI<->Serial Bridge” which can be found at http://projectgus.github.io/hairless-midiserial/. The MIDI input is then used to produce our output sound in Ableton Live. Ableton Live is a digital audio workspace, where the user and combine different sounds to produce different audios. For our specific project, we used the Sine Wave in order to continually produce sound from our box.

See source code: https://github.com/T0B0R/noise-box/blame/master/midi_control.md

YouTube / Jaime Chu – via Iframely

Coming from a musical background, my teammate Craig and I decided to take some input and create a sound output. We decided to use conductive fabric specifically, to create an electric instrument, after seeing its capabilities earlier this semester . Using an Arduino to take in the analog inputs from two string, we were able to stretch and pull at the rubber to create some noise. After hacking away at some digital outputs and sifting through the box of speakers, we were able to come up with a working prototype with two strings.

Jump to the Noise Box post to see what we did with this idea next.

YouTube / Jaime Chu – via Iframely

Ran out of detergent? Don’t worry the Dash Button is there for you. The Amazon Dash Button, recently released earlier this year, when connected to your WiFi and pressed will automatically send the user the specific brand of what they requested. Imagine a user having a separate button for his/her detergent, mac and cheese, coffee filters, or even diapers. The user would need a separate wall to hold all of these buttons. While one or two of these may be handy, a simple subscription to the user’s favorite product could also do the same and possibly save the user money.

See for yourself if you think it’s worth the buy: 

YouTube / amazon – via Iframely

The Song Board is a “multi-sensory interactive installation, located in at the entrance to King’s Cross Station”. With possibly thousands of balls as part of the installation, a user could rotate the ball from yellow to black or from black to yellow and possibly experience a sound or two. Not all of the balls are connected to sound, which makes the experience into somewhat of a treasure hunt. Although this may not change the way any user lives his/her life, it may bring some joy while travelling in a notoriously gloomy city.

View their site here: http://www.songboardlondon.com/

The Nest Thermostat was the very first product that introduced me to the world of the Internet of Things. A product developed by Nest Labs, acquired by Google in 2014 is a smart thermostat that learns about the user’s preferences in terms of their temperature in their home. It also learns when the users are not at home, and reduces the energy consumption to save money. However, this proposes one of the largest problems in smart products, which is security. Imagine if someone hacks into the Nest Thermostat and learns specific times when the user is not home. Things could get disastrous. How can we ensure that the value of these types of products in our home outweigh the safety concerns?

To meet the Nest Thermostat: https://youtu.be/L8TkhHgkBsg