Art Work References – F15 60-223: Intro to Physical Computing

‘Ping’ by Electricfoxy(2011)

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 02:57:57 +0000

Ping by Electric-foxy is a “Social Networking Garment” that connects your clothing to Facebook.By performing various gestures, you can make happen various things on Facebook. From lifting up and putting down the hood to push a status to Facebook to getting a tap on your shoulder whenever anyone sends you a message, the garment is a total Facebook life integration. The project brings up questions on how perpetually connected people should be with social media?

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“Active Exhaust” by Roush (2015)

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 02:30:05 +0000

The IoT is so exciting because of its potential to make our lives better in so many areas; everything from advertisement to agriculture can be improved tremendously if given the ability to connect the internet. IoT also offers the opportunity for one to control all the goods they use on a regular basis in ways they never have before. Roush’s Active Exhaust System allows users to turn the sound of their Mustang engine from a quiet purr to a throaty roar. The users can choose from several preset modes or create their own custom tunings by attaching their own Wi-fi dongle to the vehicles diagnostic port and using a smart phone app.

The app allows muscle car drivers to be more conscious of those around them by quieting their engine in a residential area for example. Though, it is interesting to consider whether, with this technology, neighborhoods will require muscle car drivers to quiet their famed and beloved engines. Then maybe the law requires that your engines be linked to a server that automatically quiets them in a residential area. Though this application seems common sense, at what point will regulation of what’s beloved and fun go to far When will the IoT give us too much control over the systems we use?

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“Vinduino” by Reinier Van der Lee Vineyard (2015)

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 02:06:06 +0000

With California going through its fourth consecutive year of drought, local farmers of even plants with the lowest water needs have been forced to cut back on their water consumption. Vineyard owner Reinier Van der Lee has created the Vinduino, a handheld Arduino device that takes sensor readings from Arduino based irrigation valves and water pressure sensors, demonstrating that he is surely up to the task.

Van der Lee’s goal with Vinduino was to improve upon commercial soil monitoring systems that rely upon only one sensor by instead using three to better understand how water is moving through the soil.

Vinduino demonstrates how Aruduino and the IoT are allowing consumers to not only control and view their data but to demand better accuracy then commercially available. After talking with a grad student that has worked with wearable companies and hearing her commentary on how questionable some of the information gathered by commercial wearables can be, products like the Vinduino demonstrate that the most revolutionary wearable products in the future may be those that allow users to adjust to their own amount of accuracy.

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“Portable Environment Monitor” by Radu Matisan (2015)

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 01:46:31 +0000

This project allows its users to effectively detect temperature, pressure, dust, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and three kinds of harmful radiation (alpha, beta, gamma); it even makes use of the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module (could it be any more perfect?). The most interesting aspect of this device is how it would be viewed depending on the context it was used. Say, for example, it was used in the third world; first world philanthropists would be able to use data to demonstrate how bad the situations are in the areas they are helping. Better yet, people from the third world would be empowered to collect data in their own areas and irrefutably show that they need help. In contrast, someone who acquires this device in the first world may be seen as overly cautious and obsessive. This project also demonstrates the potential of IoT to empower the masses to monitor whats around them. The project was created during the “Build Something that matters” 2015 Hackaday prize so I believe Motisan’s mission was exactly that; to empower individuals to be the change that they want to see.

Each of the portable environment monitors’ data is also streamed to a server where it can connect to the uRADMonitor network which “allows citizens around the world to collaborate on a vast, crowdsourced dataset of global air quality and radiation measurement”. This aspect of the project also allows users to demonstrate disparities throughout the country to emphasize the disparity in air quality in different parts of the world. If IoT devices continue to link our community to make change together, the possibilities are endless.

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