Recitaiion4: Group Research Project by Kenneth, Nathan, Robert, Tom and Sheldon

Group Research Project: Gone with Tea

Group member:

Haoquan Wang (Kenneth)

Zhenming Wang (Nathan)

Haochen Wang (Robert)

Liyu Chen (Sheldon)

Liyang Zhu (Tom)

Ideas of Our Project:

We were asked to do an interactive project according to our definition of interaction. Our group reached the consensus that interaction should be a dynamic process which involves two parts of input and output. As the first-week reading demonstrated,  how people interact with computers evolved from the late 20 century to now, evolving from typing keyboard and clicking the mouse to nowadays interacting through various forms of devices such as MIC, cameras or even move our body and make a sound. We were stroke by these opinions. There was an idea come to our: How people in the future interact with computers, or how to interact with AI and other high-tech devices. What we can come up with is just to think.

For nowadays interaction, what we can do is to depend on physical devices like button and screen.  It is not so convenient sometimes because for some cases what we are going to do may not match with what we really want because there is too many disturb when we when we interact with the outside world. For example, if I want to order a cup of classic favor bubble tea, I may change my mind because of the recommendation of salesmen, but actually what I really want is classic favor one. What I want to say from this case is that our interaction based on real existing behaviors are easy to be distorted. So if we can interact with the outside world by just thinking and conveying out thought to others or devices, we can really get what we need. Besides, it is obviously more efficient and convenient. 

Hence what we made for our project is a helmet which can help people in future translate their thought to a digital signal according to some specific formulas and then transfer them to the outside world. What we also had are automatic-shoelace-system shoes, bubble tea machine. We want to use the scenarios of controlling shoelace and ordering bubble tea by think to explain our idea.

For performance, Sheldon is responsible for voiceover. He roughly told the background of our story and introduced every character we have to the audience. Nathan is the main character in our performance. Robert played the brain of Nathan, which we want to single out the brain to emphasize our idea of thinking as the input part of our interaction. Tom held a bubble tea machine which can receive the digital signal sent out from the brain. I played the personal AI programme inside our helmet.  I think we did a great job in performance. It was not embarrassing. Everyone was on the role. 

Our deficiency of project is the poster. The name of our project is “Gone with the tea”, which address “tea” to the audience. That misled instructor Eric to think that our project is about an automatic bubble tea machine. Also for the introduction part, I think it will be better if we have everyone roles introduction at the beginning of the performance. That will be more clear to the audience. Besides, the question raised by our peers were pretty precious. I remembered that there is a question about the privacy protection of our helmet. To be honest, we never thought about this question before. So what I answered is perfunctory. We still need more detail consideration to make our project more rounded. 

But overall, I am satisfied with our job. 

Pictures:

Recitation 3: Sensors by Haoquan Wang (Kenneth)

Recitation 3: Sensors

I.Moistrue Sensors:

components:

1.Moistrue sensor

2.Arduino board

3.wires

Process: 

We connected all the wires and it works. That one is pretty easy.

II. Infrared Distance Sensor:

Components:

1.Arduino Board

2.Infrared Distance Sensor

3.Wires

Process:

This circuit is similar to last one and we just simply changed the code and the component. But actually it didn’t work and we could not figure out the reason of it. So we turned to the fellow. He told us that the sensor was broken. Hence we changed another one and made it.

III.Vibration Sensor:

Components:

1.Breadboard

2.Arduino Board

3.1 Megohm Resistor

4.LED Light

5.Wires

Process: 

This is the first circuit that we built in last recitation actually. It was more complicated that the two above. We took some time to learn the circuit and decided to use breadboard because there was no more analog-in pins for us connect the sensor and resistor. But luckily, the process was quite smooth, we didn’t encounter any difficulties and problems.

Question1:

I chose to build the circuits of vibration sensor, distance sensor and moistrue sensor. I want to assemble all the real things in the real world and the program, digital technologies. For example, I want to assemble the moistrue with program so that I can transefer the air condition to number to be stored in computer so that we can use those data for other practice in different fields. For vibration sensors combination, many residences in differen community will use it for a new form of reminder which is similar to what we use for door bell. When someone knock the door, LED will be lighted up so people can see. For moistrue sensor, I think many agricultural companies will use it for detecting plants. For distance sensor, it can be used in many different way. For instance, automatic door and sensor faucet.

Question2:

This question is very interesting. Actually for me, code is a kind of guidance. Because from code, I can know which pin I need to connect and how can I connect the whole circuit. Sometimes I can also get to know the aim of the circuit so that I can directly know how to connect the circuit or even come up with a better way to connect the circuits. These above are the reasons why I think code is often compared to following a recipe or tutorial.

Question3:

I think computers change human behaviour almost in all the way. First, conputers change our way to work. In the past, we wrote and talked with others to communicate, to work. But with the development of computer, we finish almost all the work through computer. Second, computers change the way we entertain. We can watch video on Youtube or Netflix. We can listen music online and also we can also play video games on computer. That is totally different from what human had before. Besides, it changes how we exchange and how we purchase things. There are many different aspects changed by computers.

Recitation 2: Arduino Basics by Haoquan Wang (Kenneth)

Materials:

1 * Arduino Uno
1 * USB A to B cable
1 * breadboard
1 * buzzer
2 * LEDs
2 * 220 ohm resistors
2 * 10K ohm resistors
2 * pushbuttons
2 * arcade buttons
A handful of jumper cables
1 * Multimeter (optional)

Circuit1: Simple fade

Process: We followed the instruction and diagram to connect our circuit and the process was quite smooth, which means that we didn’t encounter any problems. Our circuits successfully worked.

Circuit 2: toneMelody

Process: At first we thought that we need to connect the circuits in the same way of the first circut. So we connected the power pin to the breadboard, as what we did in the first circuit and it is not supreised that we failed. After the instruction and expound from instructor, we changed our circuit into the one matching the provided diagram and it worked.

Circuit 3: Speed Game

Process: We followed the simulating picture to connect the circuits. But when I connected the circuit, I forgot to connect a wire, which lead one of the resistors to the ground. It caused that the left button circuit failed to be connected as a closed circuit. We found out this problem by checking the inspector. It supposed to be shown a number of player1 on the screen but no matter how many times I pressed the left button, there was no any change on the screen. Thanks to the remind of Jingyi, we added that wire to breadboard. 

Question1: 

In my definition, interaction means a thing that involves a reciprocally active, dynamic process among people or between people and electronic devices. Taking the example of the text. The communication between human and computer is also a kind of interaction. That communication involves the input motion of human such as typing and speaking, and the output of computer such as screen change and program runniung. It is reciprocal, active and dynamic. Also from the example of the circuit of toneGame, we can see that the interaction part of that circuit involes not only two users but also computer program. According to the users’ instruction, the computer will provide different reaction back to users accordingly. That is what I think about the definition of interaction.

Question2:

If I have 100,000 LEDs of any brightness and color at my disposal, I want to make a huge led light board. It can receive different sound waves and translate them into digital signal. Then according to a specific formula, the led light board can show different colour. I want to build this program for deaf people, which cannot experience all kinds of sound in the world. I hope that I can find a way to help them enjoy those sounds that they cannot imagine.

Recitation 1: Electronics & Soldering By Haoquan Wang (Chung)

Recitation 1: Electronics & Soldering

Partner: Nathan Wang

Date: 15th February

Circuit 1: Doorbell

Components:

Breadboard, LM7805 Voltage Regulator, Push-Button Switch, speaker, 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor, 12-volt power supply, wire

Functions of each component:

LM7805 Voltage Regulator: maintain a constant voltage level.
Breadboard: provide a base for making electronic connections
Capacitor: stabilize and smooth the flow of electricity, store the current
Speaker: make sound
Switch: interrupt the flow of current through a circuit
Wire: enable the current to flow
12-volt power supply: supply power

The problem we encountered: At first we did not understand how the wires inside the breadboard are connected and work, which makes us do not know how to start. With the help of a learning assistant, we successfully compared the circuit diagram to the breadboard and made it.

Circuit 2: LED

Components: Breadboard, LM7805 Voltage Regulator, Push-Button Switch, 220-Ohm Resistor, LED, 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor, 12-volt power supply, wire

Functions of each component:

Breadboard: provide a base for making electronic connections
Resistor: control the flow of current, protect the LED from being burnt
Capacitor: stabilize and smooth the flow of electricity, store the current
LED: shine
Switch: interrupt the flow of current through a circuit
Wire: enable the current to flow
12-volt power supply: supply power

The problem we encountered: Our switch was broken at first, we put it into our circuit but it did not work for no reason. We checked our circuit over and over aging but still cannot light the led. Even the learning assistant could not figure out where the problem is. But luckily we found out that the switch was broken.

Circuit3:

Component: Breadboard, LM7805 Voltage Regulator, Push-Button Switch, 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor, 12-volt power supply, wire, Variable Resistor, LED

Functions of each component:

Breadboard: provide a base for making electronic connections
Resistor: control the flow of current, protect the LED from being burnt
Capacitor: stabilize and smooth the flow of electricity, store the current
LED: shine
Switch: interrupt the flow of current through a circuit
Wire: enable the current to flow
12-volt power supply: supply power
Variable Resistor: adjust the amount of resistance

Process:

We changed several components from the last circuit and successfully made it work.

Question 1:

I think the switches are the interactive part in our circuits. Because we can control the doorbell and lead by pushing the switch. This process includes input and output. We can get feedback from circuits by our motion input. That is a reciprocal process.

Question2:

In my opinion, for Interactive art, we need to address the reciprocal process in the physical computing design. Because interaction is at some rate a two-sided activity. Hence we can design circuits to be able to be controlled by using switches or variable resistors, which can provide different forms of interaction such as the speaker makes a sound and the LED is lighted.