1.Write a 200-word blog post that reflects on the presentation and the reading, and builds on your project proposal idea.
Reflecting upon the presentation and the article, my understanding of a responsive environment is an interactive installation artwork that reflects and depends on the performance of each audience. It uses various technologies and media within a space, to create an artistic experience for the audience. Just like what Krueger said, for this kind of artwork, the audience is the performer, the environment is the instrument, the computer is the orchestra conductor, while the artist merely provides the score or the composition.
One thing about Kruger that resonates with me a lot is his resistance to the traditional notion of “content” and technological determinism. For me, the purpose of technology and design doesn’t have to solve a specific problem or be conventionally “meaningful”. Art and design can be purely for aesthetic purposes that manifest the artist’s concept and philosophy. So does technology. What we create might be crazy, stupid, and useless, but it might ultimately shine lights on future concepts and works.
Kruger’s essay emphasizes heavily the interactivity between the audience and machine. To sum up his idea, responsive environments are ultimately exploring new ways of human experience and interactions, based on abstract and innovative relationships between action and result.
2. In pairs of two, identify an environment/space that is missing of interactivity/responsiveness. Create a sensing system with Arduino (+2 sensors), that resolves the issue you identified.
Responsive Fitness Center
The environment we identified missing of interactivity and responsiveness is gyms. At least in the US, working out at the gym has been a daily routine for contemporary people. It is an essential and even indispensable part of their lives. In recent years, a growing community of all ages develops the habit of working out in China. However, all the fitness studios or gyms in China lack both technologies and aesthetics. The rooms are dark and unpleasant filling with cold weights and out of date machines. Just like what Kruger said, the next generation of technology should enter our daily lives and intercede with the experience we received. We propose to create a theoretical fitness center that is intelligent, interactive, and artistic.
- Screens that reflect people like mirrors using cameras attached on four sides of the wall and the ceiling
- The room is lit up by the screens, but completely white.
- Displacement sensors detect motions of dumbbells, project colorful light beams on the screen to motivate users, count the repetitions/weightlifting movements and show them on the screen
- Detect the temperature of users using a temperature sensor or a temperature scanner installed on the screen. Bring delightful effects around the user on the screen that the user is facing to power users
- Detect the heartbeat and breath rate with a smart bracelet
- Smart Dumbells: Force sensors installed in each dumbbell handle detect whether the user is resting or not. If the force sensor value is low, which indicates the user is resting, count the time in seconds.
Arduino Sensing system
We experimented with three sensors on Arduino: pressure sensor, temperature sensor, and displacement sensor. For this assignment, we focus on the concept more than physical production, so these sensors are simply connected to Arduino UNO. However, each sensor has experimented individually and we make sure that all of them work.
CODE:
int val1 = 0;
int val2 = 0;
int val3 = 0;
long duration, cm, inches;
void setup()
{
pinMode(A0, INPUT);
pinMode(A2, INPUT);
pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(12, INPUT);
pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{
val1 = analogRead(A0);
Serial.print(“pressure: “);
Serial.print(val1);
Serial.println();
delay(10);
if(val1<=100){
digitalWrite(2,HIGH);
}else{
digitalWrite(2,LOW);
}
val2 = analogRead(A2);
Serial.print(“temperature: “);
Serial.print(val2);
Serial.println();
delay(10);
digitalWrite(11, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(5);
digitalWrite(11, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(10);
digitalWrite(11, LOW);
pinMode(12,INPUT);
duration = pulseIn(12, HIGH);
// convert the time into a distance
cm = (duration/2) / 29.1;
inches = (duration/2) / 74;
Serial.print(inches);
Serial.print(“in, “);
Serial.print(cm);
Serial.print(“cm”);
Serial.println();
delay(250);
}