Interactive Media Arts @ NYUSH
In this lab we constructed a replica of Braitenberg’s attractive and repulsive vehicles. Using the behavior of prowling cats and fish schools as inspiration we created a system where bot A runs away from bot B.
Continue reading “Braitenberg Vehicles || Kennedy Cambra-Cho”
For our final project, Kevin Dai and I created robots to simulate the behavior of baby ducklings. The main idea of the project was to take two robots and have them imprint on an object which they would then follow on their own.
The materials we used for this project consisted of two kitten bots, and 2 ultrasonic sensors per robot. We used arduino ultrasonic sensors because they were small and thus allowed us to place them in the front of the robot.
We started by adding the ultrasonics to the front of the robot by attaching it to a plate. We initially placed the ultrasonics closer than they currently are. However, after some testing, we realized that by placing the ultrasonic sensors farther apart, we could prevent the robots from veering off as often as the robot has more available distance to turn the farther apart the sensors are.
After building the robots, we worked on the algorithm. Although we had code that did effectively what we wanted to do, we noticed that the past code would frequently have the robots fall out of line. After some experimenting, we realized that we not only had to check the values of the ultrasonics alone, but also, we had to check their relative distances. This way, if one was greater than another, we could correct the orientation of the robot before it would turn to far. We also added a minimum value which helped further the similarities between our robots and ducklings as ducklings also keep some distance between themselves.
Overall, I really enjoyed working on this project for the final because, although it was difficult to figure out how to best implement the code and have the bots run fluidly and continuously, to actually represent an animal as opposed to a robot, it was rewarding to see them run smoothly and mimic the behavior of actual ducklings. I also enjoyed demonstrating the robots at the IMA fair at the end of the year and it seemed that many people enjoyed having the duckling imprint on them as well.
If you would like to read more about the research and an even more detailed review of every step of the process, please read this paper written by Kevin and I: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uyzA88VI6YVixFFd-j42QGfMkUiLtyTW35_XHtpDS_M/edit?usp=sharing
Finally, here are the bots in action:
For this lab we will make a bot that imitates the locomotion of an organism found in nature. We chose to study the movement of caterpillars in particular. Using our basic understanding of locomotion, we will develop a mechanism that mimics the inch-ing movement of a caterpillar.
The objective of the lab was to investigate potential differences in patterns of circadian rhythm among genotypically different specimen of male Drosophilia flies. The circadian cycle is a biological feature of animal species, including humans, in which daily activity is chemically administered by a mechanism that corresponds with the daily cycle (for example the light intensity of the sun).
In this lab, we collected 10 specimen of male fruit flies without any genetica mutations into separate test tubes, and then proceeded to collect 10 specimen of male fruit flies with a genetic mutation. We incapacitated the flies using CO2, then used a metal rod to isnert them into tubes partially filled with sugar paste, then covered the tubes in cotton to let the flies breathe.
Over the duration of one week, every hour, on the hour, the number of flies active vs asleep has been measured.
The sample results are available here:
The aforementioned results clearly show that there is a difference in terms of how many flies are active between different times of the day. Looking further into the results, it does not seem to be an anomaly, as many more flies tend to be visibly active early in the morning. However, this did not apply to all test tubes, as in some no activity has been detected for a long time (potentially some fruit flies died), and in others the patterns have been not as clearly visible as in columns 1. and 4.
This lab has provided us with a useful experience of following clear laboratory procedures, as well as of collecting and processing results. Even though further research could show the differences more clearly, it seems that our preparations enabled to at least partially show how various organisms follow circadian rhythms.
The initial plan for our group was to build a 3-robot swarm mechanism, in which robots distributed separately would clump together, one by one. In the mechanism, numbered and labelled robots would be distributed so that they have uneven distances from each other. Then, the software would look for the two robots that are closest to each other, and make one of them (the one with the lower order number) go towards the next one, and then both of them would proceed to the one that’s the farthest.
2. Materials
Microbit x 3
Robotbit set x 4 (optional)
HD 920c Logitech camera
Mac mini
Aruco markers
3. Production
We started with setting up the aruco repository on our computers. I set up a separate forked repo for that, and gave instructions so that the entire group has access to the code. At first, our concerns were mostly mechanical – we didn’t know how the robot would figure out its rotation angle, and how we would send the data to the swarm.
We figured that we have to use one microbit as an antenna, in order to then send data to the other robots.
We successfully figured out how to send serial data to the antenna. However, we ran into issues when trying to send them forward to the other microbits. We still did not quite end up understanding how to make the robots move in a specific direction and to give them specific angles of rotation. This could be the next step of the lab.
4. Code: