Final Project: HeartBeat
I had an initial idea to create a musical instrument based around a heart rate sensor and a few other sensors and a Smile detection program in Processing to create layers of music as the user interacts. The concept behind the project was to create something from the transference of life. The shape of the...
Media controller project: virtual bike
For this assignment, my team (Courtney Mitchell, Jihyun Lee and I) was required to create a project that can control a medium and lets you see the changes in real-time as you vary the control. We found a stationary bike laying around and decided to put it to good use. Referencing what we learned...
The Making of Arduino
I am very lucky to have Tom Igoe as my professor for Physical Computing class. He’s one of the brains of the Arduino team and is mentioned in the following recent article: http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/the-making-of-arduino/0
Function Overload
As I was reading through “The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald A. Norman, it brought me back to the topic of the balance between functionality and function overload… when single controls have single functions vs. controls having multiple, hidden functions. Where do we draw the line between cool embedded features that are hidden from...
Observations of Interactions: Credit card terminals
One piece of technology in public, used by many people is the credit card terminal used at registers and in vending machines. Most of these require you either to swipe the card in a vertical direction at a consistent speed, or to insert your card about about 3/4 of the way in, hold for just...
The souls of things…
I have lately been nostalgic for the simpler days of cassette players, days when tv remote controls had only a few buttons, cameras were limited to a number of functions you can count on one hand. Toys were simple enough to take apart and put back together. What I loved most about these technologies was...
Arduino: servo motor
The servo motor is controlled using the value returned from an analog sensor. It turns between 0 and 180 degrees. Here is the diagram for connecting the servo to the microcontroller: Here is the code to upload: And here’s a photo of the setup:
Fantasy Device #2: “Aura”
It would be great to create a device that can monitor body temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and breathing rate, and visually show us these health stats during the day. We should all have better indicators to keep us informed because we are often unaware of our own body conditions. Colors are good indicators to quickly...
Fantasy Device: EM spectrum visualizer
I had the idea to create a device that in theory would read and indicate sounds/lights/radiation outside of our human sense spectrum. There are electromagnetic events such as sounds and radiation which we don’t detect using our limited senses, but they are there. Take a look at this chart to see how the ranges of...
Sensor Walk
While touching upon the topic of sensors in class, we were asked to become aware of our neighborhood and see how many sensors we can spot. Here is my list of sensors I came across in my neighborhood just on my way to the bus stop: Supermarket automated doors open and close when they detect...
Arduino: analog input
In this lab, we used a potentiometer, which is a variable resistor, and turns like a knob. Using the potentiometer, we read analog input. The LED brightens and dims in proportion to how we turn the potentiometer. We connect the potentiometer to analog in pin 0 of the arduino, and an LED to digital pin...
MoMA exhibit: Talk To Me
This exhibit highlights the interaction between people and objects. Objects that ‘listen’ and require feedback from the world in some form, in order to formulate a proper response or solution. The objects on display at this exhibit have made it here because they are great examples of both form and function. A good user interface,...