Blue Flower

Blue Flower

Michael Ang

An electronic flower which lives off magnetic flux.

http://www.michaelang.com/a/category/school/living-art/

Classes

Materials and Building Strategies, Living Art

Keywords

physical computing, sculpture, inductive power

Description

Blue Flower is an electronic sculpture based on the principles of an "electronic ecology". If nature were based on electronic principles, this is a flower it might produce. The flower provides an attractant in the form of blue light and lives off "nutrients" in the form of magnetic flux provided by the vase. When the flower is removed from the vase and its magnetic field, the flower dims and wilts.

Personal Statement

This project seeks to explore how principles of nature and electronics can be combined.

Audience

Everyone.

User Scenario

User is attracted by blue light and approaches the flower vase. Upon direction the user removes the flower from the vase and sees the LEDs dim and stalk "wilt".

Implementation

Acid etched copper sheet, surface mount LEDs, magnet wire, microcontroller, muscle wire, glass vase.

The inductive charging is working and the prototype has been seen by Todd Holoubek (see pictures from Living Art midterm).

The physical presentation will be a table with the vase and flower.

Conclusion

Electronics can be pretty. If you use copper sheet instead of copper clad board, you can make a printed circuit board without the board!

Additional Documents