The team Zane Brzezinski, Seth Hamlin and I constructed a device that when you put on a wrist cuff, and play with a rubix cube, it alters a processing sketch. The processing sketch is a mimim visualization that plays tones (mp3′s) orchestrated by zane. The orientation of the wrist band is measured by an accelerometer which alters the volume and panning of the sketch. The Arduino and wires were placed neatly into an ipod package.  in order to keep track of the orientation of the wrist band, we connected a three way RGB whose color values were triggered by conditionals defined by orientation thresholds. We used an old late 90s apple computer speaker to house the light and create a futuristic effect. here is a demo:

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This spring for our Physical Computer final, Zane Brzezinski, Seth Hamlin and I sought to use the varied knowledge we have accumulated this semester and attempt to realize Seth’s dream of creating a device that could change the relationship a waiter has with their customers. Call it a koolkster, call it krazykoaster, the quail, or undefined, (we could not agree on a name) the device’s intention is to record the amount of sips, the size of the sips, the number of drinks, and eventually emptiness of a drink that is placed on its platform. Consequently, due to the fear of creating an elaborate scale, we sought to take this data and make it into a drinking game. Here is the evolution of our device.

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My first arduino and processing sketch. exciting:

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No one knows how to use the MTA swipe entry. It is amazing to me how often i find myself behind people who have no clue how the card needs to be aligned or how it actually works. It is strange considering so many people use credit card swipes for purchasing products and getting their money.  It is no wonder why the MTA is investing so much into a smart card system that doesn’t require the physical swipe. The whole system is terrible.

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beware of dog.

i’ve got to say, making sounds out of that little speaker was ridiculously fun. as was moving a servo.  i think it’s time to think of making very fun r2d2 like bleeps for my next project.

Soldering is so close to soldiering as in soldiering on despite taking on fire and casualties. like my fingers, and my workbench, and quite possibly my lungs! I tried creating my own dc jack and i t hink i am missing something about how to solder. Even drilling in a set of my own helping hands did not make it any easier. It’s like it requires four sets of hands to warm the components, then coordinate the soldering gun and the solder. i had to use the 5 volt output from my arduino to power my board for this lab, which is disappointing, but it was worth it, seeing the multimeter values for voltage and current with switches and LEDs in series parallel.

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I like the idea of pieces that can dynamically change resolution based on some kind of mechanical manipulation. The hoberman sphere, that shrinking ball game from when i was younger has a unique organic movement i have always been intrigued with. I wonder what it would look like if i took that expanding/compressing movement and placed areas of an image around the surface. When fully extended, the piece would mimic an image exploded, but when the pistons are  compressed, the image would increase in resolution, and the image would become clearer. the expansion can be linked to the proximity of a viewer,or maybe a sound or noise.

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