Clown Fiesta- Joyce Tam- Gottfried Haider
CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
I would not say that the Group Research Project impacted or inspired my midterm project in anyways because of the different steps it took to get to each. In the research project, we read a few articles and researched existing interactive exhibitions, however, the midterm project mainly was based on creativity and applying what we learned in class to a particular project. Although, I got a more concrete understanding of interaction after those projects because prior my definition was “the communication between two things”, which isn’t very specific. Currently, my new definition is “ a set of actions that relays reciprocal communication between the user and the opposing entity”. This definition is more specific than the last, but it doesn’t truly convey my own understanding of interaction because I am still in the process of learning it. My partner and I never discussed who the primary target audience was, but based on what we created, it definitely is not meant for people who are scared of clowns or loud, sudden noises, which was our balloon pop. Nevertheless, if I were to define a target audience, it might be children who like surprises because the elements of our project resemble that of a haunted house.
CONCEPTION AND DESIGN
Our original idea did not include the balloon pop, but later on, we thought that wouldn’t be interactive enough, so in the end, we decided to add it.
My partner’s idea did not include the motors but mine did, and while we were discussing what to create, we chose to add the motors as hands, which the user will take the money off of. The materials we used for this midterm project included- a lot of wires, resistors, LED lights, three motor sets, a distance sensor, ac pressure sensor, a buzzer, cardboard, and paint. We chose the distance sensor because we needed something that would set off the entire project, and a pressure sensor to ignite the balloon pop. These two were our best options because they felt the most interactive and compatible with the theme we were going for, which was luck. Luck being that, it was based on the user’s luck if they would find the correct positioning for the distance sensor and whether or not the balloon would pop was also based on luck. We also considered the touch sensor but that was not as entertaining as a pressure sensor because, with this one, the users had to slam the two money bills onto the box, placed on top of the pressure sensor.
FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION
The most significant part of this project was combining the circuits into the same two breadboards and the same two Arduino, and the coding portion. My role in this project primarily involved building everything made of cardboard, painting everything, and fixing up the miscellaneous details, like using electrical tape, and taping things down. I traced and cut out the clown head in my partner’s room at night, built the motors before class, and painted a lot throughout our few working sessions. We each both tested the balloon popping to ensure that it was functioning properly, also for both of us to experience it. During User Testing, we had to explain our project and the instructions many times because we were told it wasn’t self-explanatory at all, and a fellow suggested that we create an instruction stand, which I did prior to presentation day. We had a couple of hours to spare before class that day, so we made a “Test Your Luck” sign to create a scarier atmosphere, more circus and scary clown-like. Also during testing, we only ran the project completely through, two times because popping a balloon is really loud and we didn’t want to disturb the whole class.
CLOWN MECHANISM (first page // main code)
const int trigPin = 12;
const int echoPin = 7;
int led = 5;
int led2 = 6;
int led3 = 10;
long duration;
int distance;
#include
int DIR_PIN = 2;
int STEP_PIN = 3;
int EN_PIN = 4;
int DIR_PIN2 = 8;
int STEP_PIN2 = 9;
int EN_PIN2 = 13;
AccelStepper stepper(AccelStepper::DRIVER, STEP_PIN, DIR_PIN);
AccelStepper stepper2(AccelStepper::DRIVER, STEP_PIN2, DIR_PIN2);
#include "pitches.h"
#define BUZZER_PIN 11
// all melody related -> credit: https://github.com/hibit-dev/buzzer/blob/master/src/movies/pink_panther/pink_panther.ino
int melody[] = {
REST, REST, REST, NOTE_DS4,
NOTE_E4, REST, NOTE_FS4, NOTE_G4, REST, NOTE_DS4,
NOTE_E4, NOTE_FS4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_C5, NOTE_B4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_B4,
NOTE_AS4, NOTE_A4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_D4,
NOTE_E4, REST, REST, NOTE_DS4,
NOTE_E4, REST, NOTE_FS4, NOTE_G4, REST, NOTE_DS4,
NOTE_E4, NOTE_FS4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_C5, NOTE_B4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_B4, NOTE_E5,
NOTE_DS5,
NOTE_D5, REST, REST, NOTE_DS4,
NOTE_E4, REST, NOTE_FS4, NOTE_G4, REST, NOTE_DS4,
NOTE_E4, NOTE_FS4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_C5, NOTE_B4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_B4,
NOTE_AS4, NOTE_A4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_D4,
NOTE_E4, REST,
REST, NOTE_E5, NOTE_D5, NOTE_B4, NOTE_A4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_E4,
NOTE_AS4, NOTE_A4, NOTE_AS4, NOTE_A4, NOTE_AS4, NOTE_A4, NOTE_AS4, NOTE_A4,
NOTE_G4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_D4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_E4
};
int durations[] = {
2, 4, 8, 8,
4, 8, 8, 4, 8, 8,
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8,
2, 16, 16, 16, 16,
2, 4, 8, 4,
4, 8, 8, 4, 8, 8,
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8,
1,
2, 4, 8, 8,
4, 8, 8, 4, 8, 8,
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8,
2, 16, 16, 16, 16,
4, 4,
4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8,
16, 8, 16, 8, 16, 8, 16, 8,
16, 16, 16, 16, 16, 2
};
void setup() {
pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(echoPin, INPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(BUZZER_PIN, OUTPUT);
pinMode(EN_PIN, OUTPUT);
pinMode(EN_PIN2, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(EN_PIN, LOW);
digitalWrite(EN_PIN2, LOW);
stepper.setMaxSpeed(1000);
stepper2.setMaxSpeed(1000);
stepper.setAcceleration(1000);
stepper2.setAcceleration(1000);
}
long nextRandomPick;
int randomTarget;
void loop() {
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(2);
digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(10);
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);
distance = duration * 0.034 / 2;
Serial.println(distance);
if (millis() > nextRandomPick) {
randomTarget = random(30, 300);
nextRandomPick = millis() + 60000;
Serial.print("Picked random distance ");
Serial.println(randomTarget);
}
if (randomTarget-3 < distance && randomTarget+3 > distance) {
digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);
digitalWrite(led3, HIGH);
stepper.runToNewPosition(300);
delay(50);
stepper2.runToNewPosition(300);
delay(50);
stepper.runToNewPosition(0);
delay(50);
stepper2.runToNewPosition(0);
delay(50);
stepper.runToNewPosition(300);
delay(50);
stepper2.runToNewPosition(300);
delay(50);
int size = sizeof(durations) / sizeof(int);
for (int note = 0; note < size; note++) {
int duration = 1000 / durations[note];
tone(BUZZER_PIN, melody[note], duration);
int pauseBetweenNotes = duration * 1.30;
delay(pauseBetweenNotes);
noTone(BUZZER_PIN);
}
} else {
digitalWrite(led,LOW);
digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
digitalWrite(led3, LOW);
}
}
CLOWN MECHANISM (page 2 // pitches.h (where the melody notes are defined))
// ------------------------------------------------- // Copyright (c) 2021 HiBit <https://www.hibit.dev> // ------------------------------------------------- #ifndef pitches_h #define pitches_h #define NOTE_B0 31 #define NOTE_C1 33 #define NOTE_CS1 35 #define NOTE_D1 37 #define NOTE_DS1 39 #define NOTE_E1 41 #define NOTE_F1 44 #define NOTE_FS1 46 #define NOTE_G1 49 #define NOTE_GS1 52 #define NOTE_A1 55 #define NOTE_AS1 58 #define NOTE_B1 62 #define NOTE_C2 65 #define NOTE_CS2 69 #define NOTE_D2 73 #define NOTE_DS2 78 #define NOTE_E2 82 #define NOTE_F2 87 #define NOTE_FS2 93 #define NOTE_G2 98 #define NOTE_GS2 104 #define NOTE_A2 110 #define NOTE_AS2 117 #define NOTE_B2 123 #define NOTE_C3 131 #define NOTE_CS3 139 #define NOTE_DB3 139 #define NOTE_D3 147 #define NOTE_DS3 156 #define NOTE_EB3 156 #define NOTE_E3 165 #define NOTE_F3 175 #define NOTE_FS3 185 #define NOTE_G3 196 #define NOTE_GS3 208 #define NOTE_A3 220 #define NOTE_AS3 233 #define NOTE_B3 247 #define NOTE_C4 262 #define NOTE_CS4 277 #define NOTE_D4 294 #define NOTE_DS4 311 #define NOTE_E4 330 #define NOTE_F4 349 #define NOTE_FS4 370 #define NOTE_G4 392 #define NOTE_GS4 415 #define NOTE_A4 440 #define NOTE_AS4 466 #define NOTE_B4 494 #define NOTE_C5 523 #define NOTE_CS5 554 #define NOTE_D5 587 #define NOTE_DS5 622 #define NOTE_E5 659 #define NOTE_F5 698 #define NOTE_FS5 740 #define NOTE_G5 784 #define NOTE_GS5 831 #define NOTE_A5 880 #define NOTE_AS5 932 #define NOTE_B5 988 #define NOTE_C6 1047 #define NOTE_CS6 1109 #define NOTE_D6 1175 #define NOTE_DS6 1245 #define NOTE_E6 1319 #define NOTE_F6 1397 #define NOTE_FS6 1480 #define NOTE_G6 1568 #define NOTE_GS6 1661 #define NOTE_A6 1760 #define NOTE_AS6 1865 #define NOTE_B6 1976 #define NOTE_C7 2093 #define NOTE_CS7 2217 #define NOTE_D7 2349 #define NOTE_DS7 2489 #define NOTE_E7 2637 #define NOTE_F7 2794 #define NOTE_FS7 2960 #define NOTE_G7 3136 #define NOTE_GS7 3322 #define NOTE_A7 3520 #define NOTE_AS7 3729 #define NOTE_B7 3951 #define NOTE_C8 4186 #define NOTE_CS8 4435 #define NOTE_D8 4699 #define NOTE_DS8 4978 #define REST 0 #endif
BALLOON NEEDLE MECHANISM
int SENSOR_PIN = A0;
int sensorVal;
int randomPosition;
#include
int DIR_PIN = 2;
int STEP_PIN = 3;
int EN_PIN = 4;
AccelStepper stepper(AccelStepper::DRIVER, STEP_PIN, DIR_PIN);
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(EN_PIN, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(EN_PIN, LOW);
stepper.setMaxSpeed(3000);
stepper.setAcceleration(2600);
}
void loop() {
sensorVal = analogRead(SENSOR_PIN);
randomPosition = random(60, 150);
Serial.print("Sensor Value ");
Serial.println(sensorVal);
delay(100);
if(sensorVal > 10){
stepper.runToNewPosition(randomPosition);
delay(50);
Serial.print("Needle Position ");
Serial.println(randomPosition);
stepper.runToNewPosition(0);
delay(50);
}
}
CONCLUSIONS
Our goal of the project was to create a circus-themed project with elements of horror. The results did align with my definition of interaction because once the user completed a portion of the “task”, then the project will “respond back” by performing an action. Overall, our audience was able to interact with our project by first walking back and forth until they found the random distance that we can see on the laptop screen but the user could not, so it was all based on luck. Following the successful discovery, the clown would play music and the motor hands would move, indicating for the user to grab the two “$100 bills”, Bennies as we called them, and slam it onto the red and black box, in which we taped a pressure sensor under. The pressure sensor number was also set at random but when enough force was applied, the motor with a needle attached would come in contact with the balloon, ultimately popping it. If we were given more time, I would have liked to help my partner more with the coding, instead of focusing mainly on the building. From the many setbacks we encountered, the thing of the most value that I have learned is to ask for help from the instructors, fellows, or LAs because I realized that they are all of great help. If I were to take any accomplishments away from this project, it would be that the end result of everything was worth the effort that has been poured into the creation.
