Final Project “Tea Table”
December 18, 2007 on 3:44 am | In Physical Computing | No CommentsThe tea table was the product of our imagination and our technical learning from this course. After a lot of hard work and ingenuity, we finally realized the fruition of our efforts. We created a link between the user, the technology and the Asian culture we displayed.
There were many technical difficulties with this project. We had to paint it multiple times. We had to create ripple effects that made it look like the fish were swimming. We accomplished this with the processing switches. We learned how to do fade in and fade outs with the LEDs through the FSR value.
The problem was to make the table look accurate to our culture, and to work as well. It was interesting to see how our technical demands had an impact on the creative element of the project. For example, after much discussion, we decided to make a “pond” with LED flowers.
AMS helped us cut the table, but we made the rest of it ourselves. Working with FSR was necessary to create the effect of the fade in and outs. Our goal was to let the LEDs fade in when people start to fill a cup with water, then fade out when they lifted a cup. The LEDs were programmed to fade in and out from sensors at the bottom of the cups. This also allows people to have some light if the tea party was in a darkly lit atmosphere.
The LEDs were programmed to fade out to let people know they could stop pouring the water.
Four switches were placed at each corner of the table to cause a ripple reaction in the pond, as if fish were moving to the approaching movement of people. Then the LCD monitor in the middle of the table shows the fish swimming as a group. As they press various switches, the fish run away from the movement and cause ripples.
This tea table will be a source of pride for me when I share it with my family and friends. They will see how I combined my respect for my native culture with my technical learning in the States.
Final Project (prototyping)
December 18, 2007 on 3:39 am | In Physical Computing | No CommentsSeung Jun and I are partners for the final project. We are both Asian and we decided to come feature some Asian custom in our project. We are going to feature a traditional Korean tea ceremony.
We will note that this ceremony is a casual affair. There are few rituals. Rather the point is to relax, converse freely and enjoy beverages and snacks.
Our project will include a table with four cups at each corner. An LCD will be installed in the middle of the tea table. When people remove a cup or place it back on the table, some fact about the tea ceremony will appear in the LCD.
We will use FSR sensors for the cups. However, this raises the problem of accurately setting up the codes to interact with the cups. There might be confusion if the cup is passed between people, rather than being removed once and then placed back by the same person.
Get creative
December 18, 2007 on 3:22 am | In Physical Computing | No CommentsI made a cake with three LED candles. A microphone was placed in the cake to activate the light. I tried to make the LEDs fade out when someone tried to blow out a candle. This project was for my 8-year-old nephew. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to make eight candles, but I hope he will still like it.
Final Documentation for ICM
December 17, 2007 on 3:52 am | In ICM | No CommentsFor my final project, I wanted to create something that incorporated
the most important things I learned in this term. My idea was to
create a visual image that synchronized with music. Initially, I hoped
to link the images to live music on a piano keyboard. The colors,
shapes and sounds would all interact with each other. Different
portions of the keyboard would control what patterns and colors
emerged.
The technical demands of this were quite intimidating, however. After
all, there so many variations possible on a piano keyboard. So I
decided to link the visuals to a single piece of music.
In addition to the technical demands required, this was also a
creative project. I had to link the music to color changes, image
zooms, shifting of patterns and other visual changes.
Getting the codes right for the visuals to react to the sound was very
difficult. It took a long time to synchronize this. Eventually,
however, I was able to fine tune the technical and the creative
aspects of this project.
Week7-DC Motor Control
November 29, 2007 on 1:28 am | In Physical Computing | No CommentsThis was definitely one of the harder labs. I found it difficult to interpret the schematic. I went slowly, deciphering each step. I thought I had done everything right, but nothing happened. I went over my board again, but still no result.
The LED flickered at first, then blinked and did nothing. I redid my board, reviewed the schematic and read through the lab. Nothing. I reloaded my code many times. The LED flickered again then went out.
Finally, I asked for some help. They went over my board and checked my pins. Still nothing worked.
DC Motor Control
Midterm week
November 29, 2007 on 1:15 am | In Physical Computing | No CommentsMidterm week1-Observation
I observed a man playing the bongos in a city park. Bongos are a pair of drums each about the size of a small bucket. One is slightly larger than the other. They are made of wood with a “skin,” which can be animal or synthetic, stretched tightly across the top. Metal tuners stretch the skin to create a higher or lower pitch. The pitch is also influenced by the size of the drum. Thus, the larger drum provides a lower pitch than the smaller drum.
The goal of this activity is to provide rhythmic music, or percussion. In this case, the bongos were being played solo. They may also accompany other drums or musical instruments. In some cases, perhaps, these bongos would also be accompanied by dancing. In the case observed, the bongos were being played for the enjoyment of the player. The man was sitting on a bench with the bongos on his lap. His hands struck the tops of the bongos. There appeared to be some variation between what parts of his hands struck the bongos. In some cases, the man’s palms appeared to be striking the drums. In other cases, the man’s fingers and thumb appeared to be doing the striking. The location on the drum also appeared to change according to the sounds the man desired to achieve. It appeared that a higher pitch sound came from the edges of the bongo. This would make sense. The tension would be higher in these areas because the skin was wrapped tightly around the edge of the bucket.
The man’s head, shoulders and torso swayed as he moved to the rhythm of his playing. His arms were relatively fixed from the shoulder to the elbow. His forearms provided most of the movement. They moved up and down to beat the drums. They also moved along a horizontal plane in a circular motion, as if he was also rubbing the drums. His lower body remained fixed. His legs moved up and down to the rhythm of his playing.
His attention was focused on the contact being made between his hands and the top of the drums. One set of hands and arms moved independent of the other set. Secondary focus of attention was in the motion of his arms and the tapping of his legs, although this focus could have been unconscious to the player. The most engaging aspect of the playing was the rapid striking of the bongos with the hands. This created a sharp, short sound. There was very little reverberation, or echo. The sound lasted just as long as the hand hit the drum. There was little variation in sound or rhythm. This created a trance-like effect on the player and the listener, which could lead to boredom.
After viewing a recording of this man playing the bongos, the initial observation was confirmed. Different parts of his hands and fingers struck the bongo. Also, different parts of the bongo were struck. Observation confirmed that these variations were deliberately done to get a different sound from the bongo.
Midterm week2
We have decided to add sound effects as the drums are played and the images are displayed.
Our drum is made from paper and clear vinyl.
We also bought a toy drum as our prototype. Arduino programming was uploaded to Arduino board. We tested very bright LED lights as we hit the drum.
This test required us to reprogram the Arduino board so that the light stayed on longer. This was accomplished by using the delay function. This keeps the light on longer to display the image.
The image will be created by placing a cut-out pattern on the top of the drum.
We connected the Arduino board to the speaker and uploaded the sound effects.
We have failed so far in initiating the sound and light programming when we hit the drum. We have tried several methods, all unsuccessfully. We will ask Greg and others for ideas.
Midterm week3
We decided a good idea for the drum project would be to shine an image on the ceiling every time the drum was struck. We discussed what power of light we needed to accomplish this task. If we were going to use LED or a higher-watt bulb, we decided we would need a powerful light. In the future lab, we realized we needed to use a relay or a transistor to active the higher watt bulb.
Based on the advice of Tom Igoe, we used a focus lens for our light display. He also recommended a slight delay between the hitting of the drum and the shining of the image. He also recommended that he use a light projector for shining these images.
We began work on this idea with the Arduino and Processsing programming. We also asked other students for their ideas. One idea came from Sean. He suggested an interesting interface for the images. We sprayed the drum and adorned with LED lights.
This project required a variety of skills that relate to my own interests. By observing an individual play a drum, we were inspired to make this process more interactive and more high-tech by adding light and sound effects. This required very bright lights to get the image from the drum to the ceiling or a screen. We used powerful LEDs and tried it in darkened rooms. We also added special sound effects with photocell sensors. We placed a microphone in the drum to active animation and the light and sound effects.
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