Dec

21

Single White Android

December 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment

BRIEF SYNOPSIS
My final for Intro to Physical Computing was a life-sized robot called Single White Android (SWA), created in collaboration with Jason Krugman and Scott Hoffer. He (it is male because the face is male, not because of any gender defining characteristics or attributes) was an exercise in creating an interactive object of no […]

Nov

6

Intro Pcomp: week 7 - lab

November 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Controlling a Motor
I belatedly completed this lab (midterms and the subsequent post-midterm coma kept me down a bit) and actually found it quite easy and straight-forward.
There’s not much to report except to say that I did it. I had a little trouble at first figuring out that I was not supposed to use a servo […]

Oct

30

Android Jukebox

October 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment

OUTLINE:
Our team, Jason Krugman, Karen Kuslansky and myself, created a sound/light sculpture from found and everyday objects and resources. Aside from the electronics involved, the work was made from Saran Wrap, a discarded light fixture, and a string of Christmas lights.
OBSERVATIONS:
Our project did not develop from a series of observations of an action per […]

Oct

10

Intro PComp: week 5

October 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Serial Stuff
This week’s lab is about getting more interaction between the arduino and the computer. So far, I’ve wired the breadboard:

I tried some of the code examples listed, including the one that prints the raw pot value, then the corresponding binary, decimal, hexadecimal, and octal value. Here’s a screenshot of some of the […]

Oct

3

Intro PComp: week 4 lab

October 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Making a Motor
This week’s lab was a fun exercise in analog output. First, we were asked to wire up the servo motors (that came in our kits) to potentiometers:

And here’s me manipulating the potentiometer:

The analog output of the servo nicely mirrors the action taken on the potentiometer, but I started thinking about other analog […]

Sep

26

Intro PComp: Observing Interactivity

September 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment

O B S E R V A T I O N
We began the assignment thinking with our individual observations. Our general reaction is that “interactivity” seems narrowly device-centric.
This being the case, we decided to think about the most ubiquitous interactive device (at least at ITP) — the personal computer.
We each asked several people […]

Sep

26

Intro PComp: week 3 lab

September 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Analog Inputs and Outputs
This lab worked out pretty well for me. The wiring of the boards is starting to make a lot more sense to me. Wiring it up with a potentiometer was quick, and manipulating it gave me nice analog results:

I then made the frustrating and futile effort of trying to incorporate […]

Sep

19

Intro PComp: week 2 lab

September 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Fun with the Arduino!
I liked this lab. Things are starting to make a lot more sense and I’m pleased to say that my manipulation of the arduino code worked out well. Is it clean and elegant? Uh…no. But it works!
Fate was kind and I had no issues installing the Arduino software […]

Sep

14

Intro PComp: week 1 lab

September 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Physical Computing
week 1:
I being this process in some confusion. I’d left the first class feeling as though I’d absorbed a good bit of information and that I had a grasp of what to do. It didn’t occur to me until later that I had no clue what the assignment was.
My first sobering lesson: […]