Gian Pablo @ ITP

It's time for a last update on my NYU blog - I finished my thesis, and and have put up a detailed write-up on my personal blog, including links to the video of the presentation, and the written document.

Enjoy!

Posted by Gian Pablo at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had an epiphany earlier this week, regarding my thesis project, and especially what I find interesting about it.

While the stated goal, to understand what makes people attribute life to inanimate objects (and vice-versa...) is of some interest to me, the truth is that I really just wanted to make an interesting sci-fi object.

When I was younger, I spent a lot of time drawing. Fortunately, my sister saved a lot of these drawings from when I was 15. I was looking over them recently, and realized that I've been very interested in science-fiction, bio-mechanical themes for a long time.

Here are a couple of drawings - click on them to see the complete set:

and another one:

Posted by Gian Pablo at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I have completed most of the physical construction of the audio probe.

A pretty key improvement is using florist's tape to wrap the wires and cables, instead of the shiny black rubber tubes I was using before. In order to be able to thread the wires through the tubes, I had to use quite thick tubes which didn't really fit. The florist's tape (waxed green crêpe) ends up looking quite organic. The color fits much better with the probes as well.

Follow the jump for (boring) pictures of the light probe, retrofitted with florist tape, and close-ups.

Continue reading "Audio probe (mostly) completed" »

Posted by Gian Pablo at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I completed my final project for Networked Objects, working with Lesley Flanigan.

Our original idea had been to retrieve weather information from the Internet for different cities, and use this as the basis for a simple melody. This basically what we delivered:

Built into a Fortnum & Mason tea box, is an Arduino-based polyphonic synthesizer, with an XPort Internet access module. The dial allows choosing any of 8 cities. When it is turned, the box retrieves the weather information for that city from an NOAA server, and turns it into a simple melody. Pressing the red button will replay the melody. If for any reason the box cannot establish an Internet connection, it will use the data it last retrieved for that city, which it has stored in the Arduino's on-board EEPROM.

Continue reading "The Weather Box" »

Posted by Gian Pablo at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Arduino is a very popular and easy-to-use microcontroller development environment - however, projects can easily grow complex, and the limitations of the AVR processor become an issue. One of the key issues is using up all the memory, the subject of this article. (The other key issue is running out of I/O ports.)

In order to make the most of Arduino memory, it is important to understand how much, and what type, of memory is available. The AVR Atmega 168 chips used in newer Arduinos have 16K of Flash program memory, used to store programs. (The older Atmega 8 has 8k.) There is 1K of RAM, used to store program variables during execution. This RAM is cleared when the power is switched off. There is 512 bytes of EEPROM, memory which can also be used to store data for programs, but which is retained even when power is turned off. Finally, it is possible to extend the memory of an Arduino project by using external memory.

I'll cover techniques for making the most of all these. This is meant mostly as a survey of popular techniques, not an exhaustive tutorial. Please refer to the Arduino website for more details.

Continue reading "Making the most of Arduino memory" »

Posted by Gian Pablo at 09:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I set up a simple test program to see how the lights responded, and what kind of color variations I could produce. Here is one set of colors:

and here is another different set:

While not as bright as I would have liked (ie. not clearly visible in bright light), they do look great in a darkened room. The clear plastic moldings gives them a weird shimmery, glassy quality which I like.

Posted by Gian Pablo at 09:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lots of progress on physical construction, and much better insight on what it will take to finish.

I've now finished constructing most of one of the light probes. It was pretty straightforward, most difficult part was rounding off the stems on which the lights and sensors are mounted, so that they will meet the trunk seamlessly. I have to say, Dremel tools are great. I was basically using it as a sculpting tool, to cut and grind pieces of wood to fit exactly.

Next steps are to run the wires through the black vinyl tubing I picked up ages ago, and connect to the circuitry inside the main gourd. Other than filling in some gaps with putty, and hiding the screws, that should be it.

The next two probes are likely to be simpler, relying on a single vertical mount for the sensors and lights, as in this picture:

The circuits are mostly assembled and tested, based on the (successful) design for my "Action At A Distance" project, but with considerably more elaborate software (and sound).

Posted by Gian Pablo at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)