Author: cl4690

This is the picture I choose. I chose this because I like the black and white line in this picture. I really like the visual effect it is creating. I think the triangle perfectly match with the square and it looks mysterious. I also like the black line and white line come across to create the effect.

First, I tried to make the line to cover the whole canvas.Since it is a square, I chose the 500×500. Then I first use the line(0,s,width,s) to do it.

This is what it is like after I make all the lines.

Then I tried to make the triangle part. At first I tried to use the repeating way to do it.

This is my final creation. It looks similar but the triangle is not as the same size and shape as the motif. It needs to be taller and thinner. I shall make the line higher and be more centered in the canvas. 

Also, I think processing is a good way to achieve the design because the visual effect of this design is by using the same lines. If the lines are not the same length, the effect is not that good and the picture doesn’t looks good. If people draw on hand, they may not create the line with same length each time so I think using the processing is a good way to achieve that.

I keep repeating the code to do this and it wastes a lot of time so I tried to use the for loop in class.

I use this code to create the same effect for the first step

But I still have problem to use the for loop to create the triangle and I may seek help because I still haven’t understand the for loop clearly.

In the first group project, we made a jacket responding to the disaster. Here the interaction is when facing the disaster, the life jacket can protect people. It can change when facing different disaster. This project inspires me that I should think of something that really benefit people. Because for the first project, it is about something in the future so what I think is to do something closer to life interacting with people while at the same time benefit people’s lives. Then at that time, I saw some boys playing the Whac-A-Mole, this is where I get my idea. Refer to the idea that benefit people to make their daily lives happier, I think this is a good idea for the mid-term project. But I want to make it more interactive and more fun, so I want to make this game into a competition between two people. Also I think by hitting the button, people can release stress from their daily lives. Then I keep on thinking how to make it into a competition. The first thing I think of is to count the time for each player then add the time to see which one use less time. But when latter writing the code, I found this one a bit hard to write so following the professor’s advice I count the number to see which one is the winner. Changing from the Whac-A-Mole, I want to make my player not only interact with the light(mole) but also interact with people to make it a competitive game. While for the user, it is for people of all age to play. The value for people is to add more fun to lives while at the same time release stress by hitting the button.

When designing the project, the first thing I think is to use something to replace the mole to pop up. Then I suddenly think the light is a really good idea, because just like the mole, it suddenly turns on and give a signal to inform the player. Then I think of how to replace the hole, then relate to what we told in class, I think the button is a great replacement to the hole because it can control the light while at the same time let user push to release stress. At first, we used the normal button to test whether this work. However, we found the normal button a bit hard to push and it is not easy to stick to a fixed position so we tried the distance sensor. This time, the light is easier to control but we recognize another problem is the layout is ugly. Also, there is another problem is that, when we cover the sensor with surface with hole which we plan to let the player hit the hole. However, when we tried this, we found that as soon as the surface is covered, the sensor sense it and the light immediately turn off. So before the player hit the hole which is on the same same horizontal plane as the surface, the light already turn off. I was stuck there. Then I got help from our great fellow Jin Tian. She suggested me to use the arcade button. It is bigger and easier to stick to fixed position, so we finally use this one. However, we can do it better. In the presentation, we got some great feedback. At that time, I know that the arcade button has lights on itself. So if we don’t use the LED but use the light of the arcade button, it would be great. If I searched more about the arcade button, our project would be better.

When building up the project, the first difficult we meet is the code. Since we want the LED play the role of the mole, we need to let them randomly light up. To do this, we use the random function. Then at first, I plan to count the time to see which player uses a shorter time. I don’t know how to do that so I asked helped then I learned the millis function. It is to count the current time. By howLongItTookToTurnOff = millis() – onTime I managed to count the time of the player. However, getting the advice from professor there is better and easier way to count is to count the number of the hit to determine which one is the winner. Once the player hit the light, player1Score++, he gets a point. After solving the rules for this game, we plan to control the number for each game. We decided each 11(to always make one player win one more point) LED turn on and turn off as one round of competition. To do this, we first int counter = 0, then counter += 1, when it reach 11, the game is over. To directly show the winner, we use the light to represent each winner, the green light for player1 and red light for player2. After the presentation, we get some great feedback on the rules. To make it more fun, if the people hit the wrong button, he will lose one point this not only make the winner more outstanding, but also make the game more competitive, because you need to prevent your competitor from hitting your button, because once they hit, you lose your point, this make the game more funny.

(the sensor one, not the final work)

After the cable and everything is done, we do the layout. We first use a very big box, then to save space, we change it into a smaller size. I was a bit confused when using the gravity, because the inch and centimeter confuse me and I finally figure it out. Then we hide the Arduino and all other cable inside and the work is done. We also bought two hammer to let the user better hit the button and be more funny.

One bad choice we made during the progress is changing the button into the sensor. Before we go to the user test, some of my friends suggested me to use the distance sensor because it is more sensitive to recognize when the hammer hitting so I change the button into sensor. However, when we add the layout, we found the whole thing don’t work, because once we add the surface, the distance sensor sense it and the lights directly turn off. Having this experience taught me that, we need to try every suggestion but when there is something goes wrong, we need to immediately fix it and find a better solution to solve the problem. One more interesting thing I learned is the big breadboard need to use cable to connect its middle part because the two part is separate from each other.

In conclusion, I think our project convey the idea to make people release stress and to make their lives happier. I think I can do better by improving the rules for this game to make it more interactive. Also, I think I should add the number of the button and add more round to make the game more funny. One thing I learned in this project is for each small step, I need to think is there a better way of doing this, is there a easier way of doing this. Also, when facing failure when I trying, I need to immediately reflect why this failure happen and find another better solution. Learning from failure is also important.

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(this one is the failure in the project).

Materials:

1 * 42STH33-0404AC stepper motor
1 * L293D ic chip
1 * power jack
1 * 12 VDC power supply
1 * Arduino kit and its contents

2 * Laser-cut short arms
2 * Laser-cut long arms
1* Laser-cut motor holder
2 * 3D printed motor coupling
5 * Paper Fasteners
1 * Pen that fits the laser-cut mechanisms
Paper

First we do the individual part, we build the circuit individually base on the graph.

The are many lines and is easily to link it to the wrong position. From here, I learned that when building the circuit, it is better to use same color of lines if they linked or it is difficult to examine why it is wrong.

Then we work on the code to make the motor work. 

This is the code.

Then it works

Reading response:

Q1: The machine I am interested in building is a collaborative machine that can be controlled by two people to create some interesting effects. When using the components, at first we don’t know how to make them fixed with each other because the machine always moving that the pen always fall, then later on we found we use the paper fastener in the wrong way. using the paper fasteners in the right way, we finally done with the machine. When we creating, we just keep turning the motor randomly at the same time but using different strength. We just do the random creation.

Q2:  The artwork waves really draw my attention. It also use the motor but the motor play a various role in this play. Not only turning to make effect as what we did in class, the motor is also making sound. The motor add more effect to the artwork and make it a complex one. By adding sound, the artwork become more comprehensive because it not only have the visual effect but also let the audience hearing the waves by using the sound created by the motor. I think by selecting the specific actuators, the artist is making a complex effect with the simplest device which I think it’s great. 

  Interaction is an action (communication, emotion express, feeling changing) with mental thinking which people make while can using inanimate objects, computer, technology or media to support emotion expressing then have self-reaction or emotion changing on themselves after this action.

  Before the first lesson, interaction simply means communication to me. You hear something from the others, then you have reaction showing to other. After I read first week’s reading. Two points change my understanding. One is the three steps Crawford mentioned on how people build the interactivity. In step one, after listening the girl just gather the information then assembles them into a coherent whole. In step2, the girl contemplates and cogitates. Then she develops her response to Gomer’s statement. In step 3, she turn her thoughts into words and speaks them(Crawford 5). This enlightens me that interaction needs thinking(mental work) which is a really important part in the whole process. The second point is that interaction is not just between people, but also between people and machine. Just like the refrigerator door game example. The process is simple, but it is still interactive for the small child during playing with the refrigerator door(Crawford 6). This enlightens me that interaction also contains people with inanimate objects. After the second and the third week’s reading, I realized the difficulty in using technology in interaction is how to bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual(O’Sullivan and Igoe 1). When building the interaction artwork, the artist needs to focus on both parts. He needs to care about the physical action while also how the environment will affect people’s action. Then base on this, he needs to build the output using technology to communicate with his audience. The second point hit me is the components can be used serially or in parallel or the two can both exist in the same artwork. Make good use of serial and parallel can greatly improve the project. The third point hits me is no matter computer or other technology, they are treated as a medium of communication between people (O’Sullivan and Igoe 6). They are used to support people not to dominate people’s feeling. These are the process how I sharpen my understanding.

  The project doesn’t align with my definition is the Algorithmic Drive – Spectacular autonomy. The Algorithmic Drive is an interactive installation and performance inspired by inspired by autonomous cars and dash cam compilations. This project doesn’t align my definition is it is raised by vehicles that maneuver without human intervention. However, in my definition, human intend to show up in the process and is the dominate of the process. However, this interaction is to let the machine be the dominate part and to reduce human’s participation in the process. In my definition, human are willing to sometimes eagerly to participate in the interaction, but for this interaction, the project helps people live easier but don’t need people’s participation in the whole process. So interaction don’t always needs people participate in the whole process but they can benefit and get comfort from the interaction.

The project align with my definition is the Artificial Arcadia – Measured and adjustable landscapes. In this project, people can see the details of the landscapes for those part they want to. They want to see what the landscape is like, then the computer shows the details of the landscape and the picture to people, then they know the detail information of the landscape. This align my definition, because people have mental action wanting to see one part of the land, then technology is used to show the landscape to people, then people have a reaction of how the landscape is. The point this align is people are willing to participate in the process and is the dominate of the whole process which different from the Algorithmic Drive which reduce people’s participation.

  Before we develop the final idea, we discussed what is interactivity. We gave the several responses. 1.Input, processing, output. 2.Performance and conversation, dialog with the audience 3. Both parties have to be involved 4.Communication and processing → result. From the research of the two projects, I noticed that interactivity needs people’s participation while also need to benefit people from difficulties. Then base on the prompt while we need to invent a product that exist only in the future, we came to two ideas. One is the Interactive life preserver. We make the assumption that the ice caps have melted by the time of 2119. Inflates with contact to water, deflates when dried. The other is Interactive DeliPipe/Futuristic dumbwaiter. Food and any other objects needed dropped through which is a instant delivery service. For the second one, I read some news that some company have already testing this kind of the delivery service so I think it in recent years. And by research, the Algorithmic Drive can only measure and show the information and pictures of the landscape but can’t solve this problem showing that there is still huge gap between knowing the natural problem and solving the natural problem. So I think the life preserver really meet the prompt because it can deal with all kinds of natural disaster basing on measurement of the disaster which possibly happen in the future. We made a vote then decided to use the life preserver idea. Also, It needs people’s participation because the preserve is privately made for the users. It will base on different body structure to change the function of each preserver so it can protect human body from the disaster maximumly. At the same time, it can benefit people making people’s lives easier just like the Algorithmic Drive do, providing convenience to people.   

The anchor represent the life buoy which can change base on different water quality so it can have great effect in all water area. There are also fire unit on the preserver to deal with different fire. We draw some pictures to represent fire while also walking and acting around to show the interaction when facing drowning, typhoon, forest fire, pollution and earthquake about how the preserver can protect people from disaster when facing different situation.

Hardware Required

• Arduino or Genuino Board
• Piezo electric disc
• 1 Megohm resistor
• solid surface

We first tried to build the original one. We draw the picture of the circuit.

Then follow the picture, we build this up successfully.

We change the function to get better understanding of the code. We tried a quick one and a slow one.

Then we tried to add a light on the circuit. However, we made a huge mistake here. We forgot that the light shouldn’t directly connect with the power and the ground. We directly connect the light with the power and the ground. So the light was broken.

We then add a register and tried again. This time it works.

Then we tried to add a buzzer to it. However, the buzzer didn’t work. We seek help and the assistant told us that this buzzer need to add code so that it will work. He then gave us a different buzzer to let us work on which do not need to add code. This time the buzzer work.

Q1: We tried to assemble a Touch Bar. Every time, when someone touches it, it will have interaction with others. The lights and the sound is the message that showing to the communicator. I think the people who cannot speak can use it or the patient who is seriously injured with only figure moving. For the people who can’t speak, they can express their emotion by touching different sensor with different lights. Light red showing angry, light yellow showing happy. For patients, for those who are seriously injured, only finger can move, they can touch the sensor with sound to inform others when he need help.

Q2: Because code have strict logic and you need to follow that logic to create your own things. It just like recipe, you follow each step to cook a meal, and for the code, you follow each logic to make function work. If you don’t follow that, or even make a really small mistake, the whole function will not work just like the food with wrong taste. Each process needs to be followed strictly.

Q3:The computer make our life easier and can do many easy work for us like calculating and some written work. It save people’s time on doing easy work while gave people more time to work on difficult problems. It can measuring and calculating statistic faster and more accurate than human giving conveniences to people and reducing the mistake rate. It also let people communicate and share ideas regardless of time and space. People can interact with friends from different culture background and exchange ideas However, the computer also replace the workplace of some people making people lose their job. It can also make people lazier because the computer do most of the job and people didn’t use their own mind and simply rely on computer.