Author: ss11133

Throughout the course, we have learned how interaction has several ways of being perceived between two or more agents. At the beginning of the class, my definition of interaction was that: Interaction begins when certain things or organisms establish a reciprocal interrelation, through a connection, one body or item influences the other and causes it to respond in a relative (understanding) manner. Although my definition may seem complicated, the essential part of my definition is the part where I mentioned that there is a reciprocal relationship. I wanted to focus and evolve more my interpretation of interaction based on this reciprocal relationship. It is important to note that when I speak of a reciprocal relationship, I mean when a factor indicates a signal and another factor receives it and emits a message of understanding or reaction. This mutual exchange of signals and responses must happen in a consecutive and “fast” manner to perceive the interaction among these two factors. For example, something straightforward; when I turn on the switch and the light does not turn on immediately but in five minutes. In this case, I do not have any feedback that my action was understood and executed. In this case, I do not perceive a signal of understanding on the part of the switch. So, it is crucial that when I create a project, I have to create some feedback so that the subject perceives that my project understood its signal and will create a strong response.

Project 1

For my final project, I first got inspired by an object avoiding vacuum cleaner that I had spotted in a store in New York last summer. I remember finding it incredibly impressive that someone builds such a smart and functional wireless device. I wanted to add the wireless element and object avoidance function in my project as well, which is why I searched for similar, yet more personal interactive devices online. On YouTube, I found a wireless robotic car that can avoid any objects, including ourselves. For my final project, I want to use these two examples as an inspiration. However, I will make it more interactive by instructing the users to put obstacles near and around the robotic car, so that the user obtains the opportunity to interact much more directly with the device.  I believe this project aligns with my interaction because the vehicle can respond in an understanding manner to other surroundings, and therefore execute a reasonable action. Also, the car can give coherent feedback by immediately avoiding the objects and look for alternative solutions

Project 2

I believe that every time I get the chance to create a new project, I want to create something that goes beyond fun something with a purpose. Although it might be challenging to create something helpful, having a plan with a purpose beyond a grade letter helps you boost your creativity and willingness to do it. Therefore, I found a video that I believe has a sizeable inspirational project that could help me create my final piece. In this interactive project, a person created a stick that when it detects an object it beeps. This stick apart from being simple has excellent use to blind people. I want to create something similar to them, but instead of making a sound whenever an object is detected I would like it either to vibrate and dodge any obstacle a blind person might have. For example, at the end of the stick, there will be four wheels that will move every time an object is detected. Therefore, the person can follow the movement of the stick and avoid any obstacles. I believe this project aligns with my definition of interaction because it is clear that there is a mutual relationship among the user and the stick (end both are codependent on each other to function).

After exploring various projects and based upon my experience in interaction class so far, one of the main things I would like to change in my definition of interaction is that based on the video showed in class (the one about the doors). Interactive projects must be prominent, meaning that the user doesn’t need any complicated explanation to interact with the project. The other main thing I would like to add in my definition is that my professor young taught us that an interactive plan must execute an instant type of feedback for the user to understand that the project is working or “interacting.” Finally, my definition of interaction comes to that, Interaction begins when certain things or organisms establish a simple reciprocal interrelation, through a connection, one body or item influences the other and causes it to respond immediately (quick feedback) in a relative (understanding) manner. Although my new definition is quite similar to the original one, I would like to add that I include two keywords: Immediately and Simple. It is essential to understand that the interaction must be a fast and straightforward process. The user should not think much when it comes to interacting, and it must also receive some feedback immediately (or within a short time).

Code:

background(255);

point (30, 20);

fill (240);

rect (100, 50, 300, 300);

fill( 200);

rect (125, 75, 250, 250);

fill (150);

rect (150, 100, 200, 200);

fill (100);

rect ( 175, 125, 150, 150);

fill (75);

rect (200, 150, 100, 100);

fill (50);

rect (225, 175, 50, 50);

line( 100, 50, 50, 100);

line(50, 100, 50, 400);

line(50, 400, 350, 400);

line (350, 400, 350, 100);

line(350, 100, 50, 100);

line (350, 100, 400, 50);

line (350, 400, 400, 350);

line (50, 400, 100, 350);

fill(150);

quad (100, 50, 50, 100, 50, 400, 100, 350);

fill (100);

quad(100, 350, 50, 400, 350, 400, 400, 350);

fill (50);

quad (100, 360, 75, 390, 350, 390, 375, 360);

fill (120);

quad ( 100, 370, 90, 380, 345, 380, 355, 370);

fill (90);

quad (90, 70, 60, 100, 60, 375, 90, 345);

fill(30);

quad (80, 95, 70, 110, 70, 325, 80, 310);

Personally, I wanted to create something that I believe original, so I didn’t use any of the images (in the links provided). Therefore, the source of inspiration that I use was my sketch book from art class. Here I found the drawing of a cube that I thought it will be really nice to create in processing.

First, I started to draw a couple of squares with the rect function and then I used a couple of lines to connect the corners. After like an hour of doing the code I discovered there was a Code for cubes (which I found very discouraging ahaha). Second, I wanted to create a fade effect, so I had to draw more rectangles within the rectangles but this time with fill function (the colors gave the fade effect). 

Drawing in processing is more of a coding process rather than a drawing process. Although at the beginning the design came from an actual drawing, it was still very hard to actually find the exact measurements and functions to do the actual drawing. I did really enjoy learning about processing and is for sure a really nice and concrete process to assemble a design. A tip for myself next time is to first do the drawing in a grid paper, so is easier to find exact coordinates to do a precise design. 

There is a thing that I really loved about processing that I have never experienced before.  . Once you write down you “art code” you never know what to expect precisely of your outcome. So, it is really fun to see the outcomes of your design in ways you never imagined. Also, is really clear to see when you do a mistake in your coding once you see the outcome of the design

Partner: Sarah Waxman

When I went to the Simon Bolivar hospital in Bogota, Colombia, I visited children with high degree burn wounds. One of the things I noticed during my visit was that the children with burn wounds on their face couldn’t blow air with their mouth. During my research for my midterm project, I searched for the reasons behind this. Their burn wounds partially paralyzed the children’s faces, which is why they couldn’t practice out specific actions. This visit gave me the idea to create some device that would help these children. Furthermore, by working on this project, I learned that people with facial paralysis have difficulty blowing out air.

I didn’t think I was able to create something that will help people in their daily lives, but instead of creating something fun and entertaining, I did end up creating something that is yet interactive, yet a device that actually to helps certain people. For many of us, the simple action such as blowing air seems to come naturally, and we don’t even take the time thinking about that ability. However, there are people out there who physically cannot practice such a simple action, an action that many of us take for granted. At first, I had in mind to create something fun, since I thought it was more relevant at my level of the class, and from what we have learned during the recitations, to create an entertaining device. However, throughout the class, I learned that computers, coding, and some materials could replace many of the human abilities. This helped me to carry out a project that could replace a basic fact such as blowing. Besides this, I had the opportunity to see some projects of my colleagues to find inspiration. Then, ultimately, I realized that to create a unique plan, one has to look for his or her own experience and personal perception of interaction to create something unique and meaningful. Something that helped me to create this project was the idea of putting myself in other people’s situation and thinking about how a project could overcome my limitations and thus those of others as well. Even though my project might seem simple, the most challenging thing was to create an idea and turn it into something concrete. There is nothing more rewarding than creating something with a purpose beyond entertainment. My primary target audience for my project are children that suffer from burn wounds in their face which aren’t able to blow. Which might seem to be a small target audience, but, in my personal opinion, these smaller audiences deserve my attention and time just like any other audience would.  

My partner and I wanted to create something simple, jazzy, and portable. In the beginning, our first model draft for “Chacool” was made out of Legos. After the user testing session, one of the things that captivated the audience the most was the fact that it was made out of Legos.  Therefore, this not only made us realize that our final model was going to be armed with Legos but also the Legos and their striking colors were perfect for our targeted audience (kids). We wanted to design something compact and easy to carry. So, the first thing that we had to ensure is that all the necessary components should be inside the product. For example, the breadboard, the Arduino, the sensors, and the fan should all be in one piece. The second problem was that the energy should come from the product (to be able to make it portable), so we installed a battery holder on the back side. All this was easy to assemble since the Legos can be manipulated very quickly to create the necessary design. The design had to be practical and self-explanatory to create a truly interactive project. We did not want our audience to have to work hard to understand or interact with “Chacool”. So, we made a platform with the fan at the bottom indicating where the glass should go. We also put a light (on the top of the platform) to provide faster feedback indicating when the fan was working at full power and when not. One of the other options instead of using Legos was to use the laser cutter to create the design. But this option was discarded because there is nothing better for children than using Legos (and their bright colors). One of the things that I regret having not placed was some eyes or some toys that hid the sensor. Since placing another element covering the sensor would have contributed a friendlier personality to “Chacool.”

As I mentioned before, one of the things we decided in the user testing session was that we should keep the Legos from other materials. We also learned and realized that sometimes when creating an interactive project, one has to provide some kind of immediate feedback so that the person understands that the plan is working. So, with the help of Young (our teacher), we decided to place a light that indicated when the sensor perceived some kind of approach. One of the most significant problems we faced was the use of the sensor. At first, we wanted a heat sensor (to say the temperature of the drink), but then we discovered that the sensor cables interfered with the positioning of the vessel, and also the heat sensor was not strong enough to activate the fan motor. The second sensor that we used was the one of movement, this sensor in spite of which it had the power to activate the motor; it did not help us to control the power of the motor (it was or powerful or, it did not move). The third sensor we used (and our final sensor) was the distance sensor, since this sensor was enough to detect the movement, we could also control the power of the motor (the closer the cup, the stronger the fan), and even helped us that the Led light could fade with the distance of the glass. The only problem we had with this sensor was that sometimes the signal was not strong enough to activate the motor. Even though we changed the distance several times, we always had this problem. On the other hand, we had several issues with the engine, because sometimes if you put the engine upside down, it does not have the same potency that if you put it face up (given the weight of the fan). So sometimes (rarely) you just needed to move the fan to a little bit for it to activate.

My definition of interaction is: interaction begins when certain things or organisms establish a reciprocal interrelation where, through a connection, one body or thing influences the other and causes it to respond in a relative (understanding) manner. Therefore, I think that my project aligns with my definition of interaction because when someone puts a glass in the “Chacool,” the project can understand the action and respond in an appropriate manner, establishing a reciprocal relationship. For example, when putting the glass, the fan activates, and a light turns on giving immediate feedback, which allows the user to understand in a faster way the action emitted by the project. Also, the project is simple, which makes it more user-friendly, and makes the relationship more efficient. The project depends strongly on the human, and the human in a certain way depends on the project. I am creating an interactive relationship between two factors that are very easy to perceive. The project is quite straightforward which really facilitated my intervention with the audience, since my explanations of how it worked were minimal, and the audience perfectly understood the purpose of the project.

I want to take this conclusion from a different approach. The following is the most honest advice I can give you about interaction and my project. There is nothing more rewarding than having an idea, a vision, and a goal, and therefore turning it into something concrete (and even more with a purpose). With the greatest humility, I always saw technology projects, I saw how people created robots, machines, and whatnot, and never in my life did I think that I could create something even similar. I consider myself more of a finance person, so I never thought that I would end up in a class where I would have to build something based on technology and interaction. But over time of the course, and by understanding what interaction meant, I learned how much humans depend on interaction and how it can help us. Therefore, this helped me to, explore, understand, and create an idea even if it is small into something real. The moment I put the first glass and the fan was active; I had never felt more accomplished. It might be something little, but for me, it meant a lot. It is true that we need certain knowledge and certain materials to create this type of projects. But if you have an idea (even simple), try to build it, because you never know the feeling that can bring you, or how this idea can help someone. My project compared to that of my colleagues was not the most sophisticated or interactive, but for me, it had a great purpose, and I made it real, and this for me has more value than any other project. Tell me how crazy it is that with some coding, some small materials, and a computer you create a project that responds to humans, is just mind-blowing.

chacool (please click on this sentence)