Dec 21, 2009 0
Dec 14, 2009 1
Control surface for Google Maps
By Mr. V & Miriam Lerkenfeld
The aim is to make a more fun and physical experience linked to google street view, where the user through movement controls the direction and view of the web service. Furthermore we wanted to stir away from the traditional keys and make a dynamic and fun way to see new parts of the world: Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris, you decide where to go!
After few different concept ideas, we created an interactive controller for Google Maps. It consists of an Arduino board, an old keyboard, two kinds of sensors; accelerometer sensor – measures tilt and motion, ultrasonic sensors -measures distance and eight switches. Basically, the programme reads the values from the sensors and these control the keyboards’ pre-defined keys. The accelerometer control the camera’s pan and tilt keys(w,a,s,d), whereas, two different sensors (Ping))) ultrasonic sensor) control the horizontal movement in the the street (arrow keys).
Keyboard and sketches
Distance measurement controlling forward, back, left and right
Setup: circuit between arduino and keyboard with the switches
Schematic Drawing of Google Maps project
Dec 3, 2009 0
Flash player connected to Arduino via Processing
slide_demo_v2_analogwrite_read
- Socket policy uses port 1843.
- Actual data communication uses port 6666.
Some references to set up a policy server for Flash player.
Nov 13, 2009 0
Final demos from Designing Interaction with Electronics 2009 at Media lab Helsinki
- Control surface for Google Maps by Miriam L Smith and Väinö Toppinen
- Tangible communication by Liisa Tervinen and Anusha Lyer
- Elle E. Dee & The Electrotastics by Jonathan Cremieux & Juha Salonen
- Paper Plane Pilot by Heidi Holm & Daniel Suominen
- Interactive shadow theater by Svetlana Maras and Leyla Nasibova
- Cycle Experiment by Ben Dromey and Simon Morris
Nov 13, 2009 1
Cycle Experiment
A.: Wanted to use a MIDI keyboard as the output device hooked up to a bicycle, with a variation in sounds depending on cycing style used. The plan was to trigger events using hall effect sensors detecting magnets connected to pedals and wheels hence rotating past the sensor at speeds specified by the cycler.
Went to the recycling sensor to find a MIDI keyboard. Couldnt find one but found an old exercise bike bought for €5.
The plan now is to get output from cycling action on the exercise bike to manipulate images and sound.
B.: Fitting bike with sensors and creating first schematic using MAX/MSP. We used neodymium magnets, salvaged from broken hard-drives and mounted them on the rim of the rear wheel. As the wheel rotated, the magnets passed through the magnet sensor and output a digital signal via a micro-controller.
The incoming sensor data was sent to Max/MSP and enabled us to determine the number of rotations per second, i.e., the number of times the magnet passed through the hall sensor. From this data, we were able to calculate speed and distance. We also used the rotational sensor data to control the playback rate of the film sequence as well as the audio playback rate. As the cycler pedaled faster, the playback speed increased . The result was a “Cycling DJ” allowing interaction with both the visual and audio environments.
C.: Recorded cycling journey
D.: Callibration of cycling movement and video action.
Max/MSP code. More info email: simon@therealsimon.com
Nov 12, 2009 1
Charlie Interactive Shadow Theatre
by Svetlana Maras and Leyla Nasibova
Concept
After we have been introduced to the possibilities of creating interaction with electronics working with Arduino board, we decided to reconsider the thought of the object of interaction. What comes naturally is to think about visual object on computer screen with which interaction happens through designed interface or in some other way. Being inspired by some of the old means of interaction like in the puppet theatre we decided to put the accent to this mechanical aspect of work and make interaction simple. As a basic concept, we used the idea of shadow theatre (see more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_play). We wanted it to be portable, so we chose the form of a small TV-box. The main object in installation is the paper cutout figure of Charlie Chaplin.
What it does
Screen on the TV remains blank until ultrasonic sensor which is placed on the front side of the box gets the information of object (person) on a distance smaller than 2 meters. Distance corresponds to a scale that gradually switches on/off the light (and sounds) and therefore makes the image on screen visible – as you approach the TV, shadow of moving Charlie becomes stronger and stronger, and vice versa. Motor which makes Charlie move arms and legs, works without stopping.
How it works
For this installation, we used one Arduino, servo motor, very strong LED light and PING ultrasonic sensor. We programmed everything with Pure data, and used Simple Message System library.
Construction :
Led light is putt inside of the box, opposite to screen. What we needed to calculate and what determined the size of a box (installation), is the distance between the light and the object which influences the size of a shadow.
Ultrasonic sensor is in the front of a box and has to be visible in order to measure the distance correctly.
The motor rotates in both ways by assigned values. Maximum rotation is given and inside of it, movement of the motor is randomized in time and the amount of rotation which contributes to the spontaneity of Charlie’s moves. Like in a puppet theatre, he is attached by strings to a rotating tape.
Onthe inner frame, the scenery is fixed.
Pure data patch
Schematics
Nov 11, 2009 0
Tangible communication
Our group: Liisa Tervinen and Anusha Iyer.
11.11.2009
We’re planning to create some ways of tactile communication, especially for people with impairments (physical or visual).
For example, a squeeze on a stress ball generates a ‘Hello’ on a display to a person along with a tactile feedback on a glove, by way of inflation. The same principle can also be used the other way, where a typed mssage like ‘Hello’ inflates the respective Braille bubbles on a surface of the receiver.
–
13.11.2009
We came up with two projects:
1. the Braille Machine
2. Squeeze to Say Hello!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/designhuone/4204813884/
Nov 11, 2009 1
Elle E. Dee & The Electrotastics
Project by Jonathan Cremieux & Juha Salonen
The aim was to create simple and fun controllers for sound and image using diverse electronic components and the Arduino platform.
Nov 9, 2009 0
Paper Plane Pilot
Course project by Heidi Holm & Daniel Suominen - Designing Interaction with Electronics workshop 2009 at Mlab, Helsinki
Paper Plane Pilot
Day 1: Developing the idea. A simple game where you pilot a paper plane through the Media Lab. The controlling of the plane involves hand gestures and blowing air from your mouth. This is achieved by using accelerometer and air sensor.
Nov 9, 2009 0
Course materials for Designing Interaction with Electronics workshop 2009 at Mlab
Aug 25, 2009 0
Introduction to Designing Interaction with Electronics workshop 2009 at Media Lab Helsinki
The purpose of Interaction Design with Electronic workshop is an “intensive hands on” workshop to learn how to turn your idea into a real physical object using electronics and microcontrollers. These tools and techniques will be useful for rapid prototyping in physical interaction design and/ or installation work.
Aug 10, 2009 0
UCIT: The Heatseeker
The heatseeker was a quickly build robot to demonstrate the Parallax Boe-Bot robot system. The robot uses two servo motors to move around and a remote sensing infra red thermometer for measuring temperatures in front of the robot.
The robot seeks heat sources by turning around until the thermometer measures a warmer spot, which makes the robot to move straight towards the spot. If the warmer spot is lost, seeking with turning around starts over.
Heat seeker from Harri Rantala for the UCIT Interaction Design with Electronics Workshop 2009 on Vimeo.
Aug 9, 2009 1
S60 Python connected to Sparkfun BlueSMiRF Silver bluetooth module
This demo is implemented with S60 Python connected to BASIC Stamp 2 via Sparkfun BlueSMiRF Silver bluetooth module.
Aug 7, 2009 0
The UnExpressiveBrush
The UnExpressiveBrush was built to test the capabilities of the ultrasound and acceleration sensors by Parallax. The intention was to build a system where one could simulate painting with a very wet brush. With it one can paint by sprinkling with vigorous brush movements in front of a canvas. However, we cut a few corners and ended up with a system that was significantly less usable than the original plan. First of all, we did not build a paint sprinkling simulation. Instead we used GIMP and its ready-made brushes for the painting. We also did not use the acceleration information from the brush for anything else except sending a mouse down event whenever a certain threshold was exceeded and a mouse-up when acceleration returned to lower values. As a result we had the ability to sprinkle paint with high acceleration movements along one axis and to spread paint by tilting the brush to one direction. The same movements were used to select colors from the palettes available in GIMP. The laptop keyboard was needed for switching windows.
The UnExpressiveBrush from Poika Isokoski and Harri Rantala.
Aug 7, 2009 0
The SonarHat
The Sonar Hat consists of a hat with a Parallax Board of Education tied on top. A forward facing PING))) ultrasonic sensor measures distances and a piezo speaker plays a tone based on the distance. The idea was, of course, to see if one could – at least in part – substitute vision by ultrasound navigation akin to what bats do.
The SonarHat from Poika Isokoski on Vimeo.
Aug 7, 2009 0
Colour Selector from UCIT course
Here are some details of the colour selector made by Jaakko Hakulinen.
The application maps data from accelerometer to colour and uses LEDs to display this colour. The x-y axis data is converted into polar coordinates and angle is then used as hue and distance as colour intensity. Brightness is always maximum. This HSB value is then converted to RGB values. In addition, touch sensor is used to switch between reading the accelerometer data and controlling the LEDs using PWM.
The system runs entirely on BS2. It does send some debug output, which can be read on PC side.
The colour selector from Jaakko Hakulinen on Vimeo.
Aug 6, 2009 0
UCIT: Vibrotactile radar using two PING))) ultrasonic sensors
This is quite simple practice work build for the UCIT Interaction Design with Electronics workshop 2009 held by Michihito Mizutani. The work consists of parts. 1) BS2 reads the distance information from two PING))) ultrasonic sensors and sends them through a serial port. 2) A PC running a dedicated PD (Pure Data, http://puredata.info/) patch processes the data and sends audio signals to left and/or right channels depending on the situation. 3) The audio output is then amplified and played through two C-2 vibrotactile voice-coil actuators. 4) The PD patch redirects the distance information to another PC via WLAN TCP connection where it’s been visualized.
Vibrotactile radar using two PING))) ultrasonic sensors from Jussi Rantala and Jukka Raisamo from Univertsity of Tampere, Finland.
