stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu – Introduction to Physical Computing

gloves that control light in an environment

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 23:50:03 +0000

My project was to create corresponding colored gloves to alter light in an environment. Initially I wanted to make something large scale where a room could detect what color clothing you are wearing and adapt accordingly. Unfortunately due to time a feasibility I had to scale down the project. I went through trial and error to incorporate a phillips hue and a particle photon but after much chagrin I had to use a RGB LED strip. Each of the gloves will trigger the lights to change to what ever color the glove is. I used imbedded RFID tags in the gloves.

In action- https://youtu.be/x_YhVYIV59Y

code- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P2NzUPkYD8tC-s_dE_-TWkOaBE09McPA?usp=sharing

final project rough draft

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 03:57:02 +0000

Just an update post as to why I was unable to turn in the rough draft. Senior show and furniture has crushed me, lol loving life. I should have the final done with everyone else. Thank you!

Project 6: Final Project Proposal Now in Technicolor

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 17:32:01 +0000

As someone who suffers from variations of moods to put it very plainly I resort to color in my day-to-day life to brighten my mood or change the way I feel about myself. How can color be a projection of you and can it really make you alter your current state? I want to make something larger scale, to the point were a person could fit inside. My concept would be a light installation that you step inside and cameras can detect what color you are wearing and once detected change the lights in the environment to match the color. I am currently debating if I should have pre assigned lab coats one would put on of simple jewel tones or if I should allow people to enter wearing what ever they are wearing and having the lights respond from there (I might not have the skill to be able to pull that off). I feel that with pre assigned colors I will have a greater degree of control of the environment.

Hardware-

Color changing light bulbs (maybe the Phillips hues bulbs because those can be programmed)
Some kind of body sensing camera
And an enclosed box I would make (thank goodness I’m product design haha)

Software- As of right now I am still figuring that out. Probably something that can also connect to the light bulbs like IFTTT or just the Phillips hues app.

Timeline-

Get the camera to sense movement and just turn 1 light on
Get the camera to sense 1 color and have it turn 1 light on to match that color
Get the camera to sense 1 color and have it turn 2 lights on to match that color
Get the camera to understand there are 3 (maybe 4) colors being worked with and have it be able to sense at least 2 and have lights act accordingly.
Camera can now detect all 4 different colors and lights act accordingly.
Get lab coats with specific colors
Build box
Attach lights and camera and lab coats
Polish!

Halloween Special Project 5

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 17:00:59 +0000

So I finally bit the bullet and watched the exorcism the other week to get in the holiday spirit. Its safe to say that movie is horrifying, so why not recreate one of the most pivotal scenes (pun intended). I decided to rig a baby doll to spin its head 360 degrees while also emitting some pretty unpleasant sounds. I found a baby doll at a local goodwill and from there took its built in button and dialog and rewired it into my bread board in order to use the switch to trigger its pre recorded sayings as well as my components. When its foot is pressed a speaker in its back will begin to let out a wailing sound as a servo begins to turn its head 360 degrees. It will spin until the sound ends. Each time you press the foot you also get a creepy randomized saying from the baby (that of which came with the doll). If I were to do it over again I would have tinkered with the speaker I added and mess with the frequency. Secondly I wish I resolved the head rotation so that every 2 times you press its foot the head will come around to its original forward facing position, now it ends where ever the sound stops.

google drive to process-https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_JEXda9ZXwvcDhtOEZuSG4ydG8?usp=sharing

youtube video-

project 5 preliminary submission

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 03:57:38 +0000

my project is going to be a baby doll with a switch imbedded into its belly. When you push on its belly it starts screaming and its head turn around 180 degrees. This video shows the switch triggering the screaming sound sans baby.

video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeGeBYht-Y4

code- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_JEXda9ZXwvcENWTDFGU1pBd3c?usp=sharing

project 4 a story through motion

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 16:03:56 +0000

For this project I wanted to tell a story through motion. I have always been fascinated with the idea of zoetropes and how they really were the first moving picture. My final iteration was that I was going to have two buttons that would control the speed of a DC motor powering the zoetrope. The faster you click the buttons (sort of like dancing with them) the faster they would go. I wanted the end experience to be as if you are dancing with them and they are mimicking your speed. However I ran into many an issue that would inturn make me question doing this project the way I did it again. First off, I had a lot of trouble with motors, either they were too fast or two slow and in the code I wanted the speed you clicked the buttons to be able to ramp up or down the motor. Unfortunately these motors would only slow down to 128 making it impossible to achieve my final goal. None the less I have a working zoetrope that starts and stops when you dance with them.

video link (the dancing in the zoetrope doesn’t translate well to video)- https://youtu.be/tVxent6FQnM

code and etc- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_JEXda9ZXwvWDh3elZyVkRmWVU?usp=sharing

Project 3 Who is she?

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 03:27:15 +0000

Shes sassy, she has a taste for the finer things in life.

Who is she?

Shes the posh PIR.

Wave at her like a normal person and you’ll only get a stuck up wave back…because you know deep down she doesn’t like your shoes.

I created a little machine that when you wave at it with will give you the cliché posh wave back. I did it by making an input PIR sensor and an output servo motion. I wanted it to have a fairly quick response time however I found that difficult to achieve, lets just say the delay adds to her aloofness. When you wave you will get back an irregular number of waves every time like a regular person. It generates from 1- 5 how many waves you get back. I tinkered with the speed and rotation and finally came to this as my final product.

Video link- https://youtu.be/SzFV096u0PA

Drive- link- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_JEXda9ZXwvSDViRUcwZnVySlk?usp=sharing

Project 2 State Machines, Switch/Case, and For () Loops

stnorman@andrew.cmu.edu — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 17:08:34 +0000

For this project I utilized my previous configuration and implemented for () loops, switch/case, and a state machine to meet the requirements of this project. My previous code was all about 5 inputs that would turn on a light if pressed in the right order as well as an analog reading from the photo resistor. I proceeded to remove one of the 5 buttons as well as the photo resistor and work from the left over 4 inputs A-D. Since I am new to Arduino coding I did a very simple configuration in which each of the 4 buttons would make the LED behave differently. InputA would make the LED flash rapidly, InputB would make the LED pulse slower, InputC would make the LED fade from off to on, and InputC would make the LED fade to off. I practiced by trying to figure out the statement to fade on and once figured out reversed that to have it fade off and then copy pasted that into my for()loop. The rest of the commands were pretty simple.

Link to video- https://youtu.be/lUm5E2ytEoQ

Project2-20170920T170753Z-001