Physical Computing Weblog

We met on Monday night in order to determine how we should proceed with the project in light of the continuing saga of the shift register and the 7-segment LED. Since Scott had just delivered the file to the Advanced Media Studio and was expecting the laser cut matte on Tuesday morning it seemed important to take stock. YanYan had already plaed an order for the 4511 IC. She was also in possession of a hex inverter as someone had suggested that it might also be a viable solution to our pins problem.

Ultimately we decided to move on! And to change the design to reflect our current capabilities...

Posted by Leah Gilliam at 09:22 AM | Permalink

In addition to pointing us to a different shift register that should work with our 7-segment display Scott F. came up with a great idea for the seed input for our I,Ching program. So we have decided to adopt the antennae approach. We'll insert one end of a wire into one of the Arduiono's inputs and leave the other end unattached and free floating. It will pick up whatever electrons are floating around in the air at the time and feed them into the system. When a person approaches the device to make a reading their presence will be interpreted by the antennae and alter the seed input. We all really liked this development! It just seemed like a brilliant solution to what seemed like an alomost overly rational way of initiating a prediction/reading. Now it seems as if atleast some element of chance has been reintroduced into the system...

Posted by Leah Gilliam at 08:42 AM | Permalink

Yan Yan and I met today to begin programming the system. The first issue we discussed was the approach to the generation of the I, Ching readings. Were we creating a casting device and simply saving people the trouble of tossing three coins? And if so, how should we approach the casting process? Most importantly how did we see randomness functioning. How do you program randomness? YanYan explained that if 3 coins were tossed 6 times and the result was a single trigram that determined 1 out of 64 different predictions than what was functioning was not only "chance" but also "mathematics." We decided to use a random number generated by the Arduino as the "seed" for the generation of the I,Ching reading.

Scott's user feedback diagram: Download file

Posted by Leah Gilliam at 09:07 AM | Permalink

Here's an image map of the development of this idea. Although there is a definet beginning and end the points in between are rather murky. We all came to the discussion with differnt inspirations and impressions. None of these ideas were particularly contradictory but it still took three to four days to distill our varying notions into a workable concept and prototype.

Scott was a wizrd with turning the conversations into workable sketches and prototypes see his handiwork here: http://itp.nyu.edu/~sc1948/blogs/

The Map...

Scott and I remembered the simplicity of the plaster of paris hand print. The physicality of the pressing of the hand and the positive feedback derived from leaving an imprint of your identity on a surface to be interpreted later held a certain fascination...

The Dyson Airblade caught my eye in the Business section. The use of the hands to trigger the device seemed intriguing. As a group we had been discussing the crystal ball and other types of divination. A question arose: how do you create an electronic device that has the aura and simplicity of casting coins with the I,Ching?

YanYan was struck by the loading graphic that has become ubiquitous with flash-driven websites. We thought to reinterpret it using LED's circling a hand...

The process became rather non-linear after that...

An early sketch from a wide-ranging discussion about handprints, loading graphics and the benefits of a portable device.

From the second day of design deliberations when Scott appeared with multiple iterations of our varying ideas...
I loved the simplicity of this one which used frisbees in a make-up compact styled configuration to create a device that would enable both the boolean and i,ching-like predictions.

We struggled to find a desing that represented our desire to have both decision-,aking systems represented. Our observations seemed to dictate that a devic with two options—one short and direct and the other illuminating and open to interpretation.

We all agreed that there was a certain practicality to seperating out the two readings across the right and left hands. But it seemed really big! We struggled to find a solution that would involve one unit that would reveal two differnt readings without creating a mapping nightmare!

The ipod-like contemporary design. Representing a boolean system it features a translucent plexi "dance floor" lit up by LEDs, the reading is triggered by the placement of the hand on the "trampoline."

After a long walk in the wilderness of completely different ideas and interfaces
>>>>>>

We returned to the original design with a re-newed focus>>>

The Winning Sketch for the Early Prototype...

Posted by Leah Gilliam at 08:39 AM | Permalink

I snagged the last servo motor in the bookstore. I completed the lab fairly easily but I am still a little shaky on the whole arduino thing. If they dropped me down on the planet and I had to speak aurduino in order to survive let's just say that I might starve.ok not really.

I did get to thinking that the incremental turns of the servo motor could be put to rather obvious use as a spinning hand for a more gamelike way to indicate the outcome of an I, Ching-styled decison-making device...

Posted by Leah Gilliam at 01:02 PM | Permalink

Scott, Yan Yan and I had our first mid-term project meeting yesterday. It was a brainstorming sesion that covered everything from basic design frustrations--illogical mappings off the controls on my stove to foot pedal devices to control the flow of water when one's hands are oterwise occupied. Strange how the design frustrations disappear when you sit down to think about them.

We all seemed swayed by the Norman articles and seemed determined to re-think or pathologize something quotidian. What we all seemed to be most excited about seemed to be about was the non-assistive use of technology. Scott showed us a kalediscope sketch built in Processing that looked interesting and it provoked a rather extended discussion about the use of transducers and the realm of light/sound.

It's impossible to sum up the ideation process really. And the above narration seems problematic in some way. Somehow I am historicizing a simple meeting in which we got stuck, had idea bombs and then went out to get coffee.

So somehow we got from talking about "The Clapper" and its powers of transduction and this idea of sound triggering light. What does it mean to make an edutainment focused device. Something non-essential? We left that problem and started thinking more about non-technolgical devices that people might need. A side mirror to keep tabs on one's blind spot while listening to an ipod? We ended up thinking about a device that might console the over-technologized. the person not listening to the ipod or talking on the phone.

I described a gift I received one Christmas that was supposed to provoke my creativity. Flashing LEDs and audio beeps all tuned to the correct brain stimulating wave forms.

We waited in line for coffee. Yan Yan didn't care what kind of milk colored her latte. The woman ahead of us was indecisive. I was too. We discussed a device that would rid us of those anxious moments of indecision. Something simple and non-dictatorial that would help you think...

We discussed this... its design, usability...

and this...

Which I know little about.

We discussed the pros and cons of trying to design an interface and device that was too conceptual. We decided to observe people making decisions. Grocery store aisles, cafe queues etc.

We decide to meet again.

Posted by Leah Gilliam at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)