In making the drawing machine I was presented with a number of new challenges and concerns, while also being fairly familiar with the overall process. Initially we became aware of the importance of keeping the 5v separate from the 12v. This proved to be a challenge with knowing the difference between wires and what exactly is connected where. Additionally, the importance of color coding wires, connecting all to common ground, not common power sources was evident.
Initially did not need to plug into the 12v to have one, full, smooth rotation complete. The 5v was enough for movements, but not the most powerful to move the entire drawing machine.
New code that comes after: int val = analogRead(0);
val = map(val, 0, 1023, 0, 200);
Question 1:
What kind of machines would you be interested in building? Add a reflection about the use of actuators, the digital manipulation of art, and the creative process to your blog post.
I would be interested in using the interactive technology we have discussed to create art works that bring attention to environmental activism. With the new use of actuators added to what we have learned to build and interact with, I think there are more tangible ways to do this. In using actuators, specifically the stepper motor, there are better ways to create stronger machines that could do things like take input from a potentiometer that could translate into how we move and organize trash, or even how to make interactive art works that inspire people to be more cognizant of what they are using and how they can reuse more.
Question 2:
Choose an art installation mentioned in the reading ART + Science NOW, Stephen Wilson (Kinetics chapter). Post your thoughts about it and make a comparison with the work you did during this recitation. How do you think that the artist selected those specific actuators for his project?
One of the artistic pieces that specifically stands out to me in this reading is Andy Gracie’s (hostprods) Fish, Plant, Rock that creates a quasi-symbiotic relationship for plants, animals, and robots. What inspires me about this instillation are the ways in which it incorporates animals and plants into the chain of human and machine interaction. Although the concepts of this piece are wildly different form the ones we built for the drawing machine, actuators would still certainly have to be used in the creation of the robots and designing how they interact with other living things in the piece. Selecting these actuators would difficult in that they would have to be able to interact alongside water and other challenging elements in order to carry out the way in which robots would take care of these plants. This is very different to what we created because the actuators needed to be strong enough to handle the use of a pen, but not necessarily withstand any other more complex elements. What links the concepts, however, is still the idea that motors are used to do things that humans can do, but can also find new and innovative solutions for doing them other ways.