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Archive for the 'Physical Computing' Category

06.29.08

Pneumatic Muscles Instructable
Here’s an instructable on how to build your own pneumatic muscle for ~$30.
06.01.08

Dreyfuss Bluetooth Handset
This is a one-off hack to retrofit a genuine Western Electric Dreyfuss Telephone Handset into a full fledged Bluetooth handset. A single button at the center of the mouthpiece controls all the functions (pairing, answering calls, etc.), while a blue and red LED indicator glows from within. The handset recharges via USB and [...]
06.01.08

Momo wins Art Hacks 2008
Momo won the Art Hacks division at Libelium’s 2008 Arduino Contest.
Here’s our entry video.
Momo from che-wei wang on Vimeo.
05.10.08

Feedback Playback 2
FeedBack PlayBack is a dynamic film re-editing and viewing system. The users’ physical state determines the visceral quality of scenes displayed; immediate reactions to the scenes feed back to generate a cinematic crescendo or a lull. We use material that is rigorously narrative, formulaic, and plentiful: the action movie series Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis. [...]
04.13.08

Tetherlight
Tetherlight is a hand held light that perpetually points at its sibling. Two Tetherlights constantly point at each other, guiding one Tetherlight to the other with a beam of light.
Tetherlight: Prototype 02 Rotation from che-wei wang on Vimeo.
The devices are each equipped with a GPS module, a digital compass, and a wireless communication module [...]
04.13.08

Feedback Playback
FeedBack PlayBack is an interactive, dynamic film re-editing/viewing system that explores the link between media consumption and physiological arousal.
This project uses galvanic skin response and pulse rate to create a dynamic film re-editing and veiwing system. The users’ physical state determines the rhythm and length of the cuts and the visceral quality of scenes displayed; [...]
04.13.08

GSR Reader
Galvanic skin response readings are simply the measurement of electrical resistance through the body. Two leads are attached to two fingertips. One lead sends current while the other measures the difference. This setup measures GSR every 50 milliseconds. Each reading is graphed, while peaks are highlighted and an average is [...]
04.08.08

Soft Pneumatic Exoskeleton
03.30.08

Drum Space
Drum space is a percussion instrument that transforms environments into drums. Participants are immersed within the space of drums as beats are created from the surrounding surfaces. The audio experience of the space is negotiated by each participant as they add and remove beats from sequences previously constructed by other participants. Will the [...]
03.27.08

Ornos: Prototype 01 Test
Here’s the first test with Ornos. The compass readings are behaving pretty well considering it’s right underneath a spinning hard drive. The 1.2Ghz processor and 512 RAM don’t seem to be enough to download and render the image quickly enough, so I’m going to have to figure out how to speed things up.
03.13.08

Etek EB-85A GPS Example Code
Here’s some example Arduino code for getting a Etek EB-85A module up and reading latitude and longitude (will probably work with most GPS modules). You can purchase a module from Sparkfun.
The module only needs power, ground, rx and tx. Most modules like the Etek start sending NMEA strings as soon as it has [...]
03.12.08

Ornos : Prototype 01
I was going to cover the lasercut masonite with a leather sleeve, but I’m going to go with cnc milled RenShape with a painted finish for the next prototype. The compass needs to be calibrated to the offsets caused by the magnetized computer hardware and I need to tweak some code to get the [...]
03.01.08

Ornos : Prototype Shell 01
Here’s a rendering of the custom housing for all the components of Ornos (HP TC1100, Arduino, Digital Compass, and a mouse). Hopefully everything fits and doesn’t overheat. The first version will be lasercut masonite. The final version will be some combination of stainless steel and leather.
02.25.08

Stabilize : Accelerometer + 4 Servo Motors
So far, the Arduino reads the x and y tilt values and translates them into motion across 4 servos to maintain a horizontal platform at the top. Next, I need to get the z tilt values to reverse the x and y tilts, so you can tilt the whole thing up side down and [...]
02.24.08

Ornos : A View from Above
Since the first hand drawn maps of the stars to satellite imagery and GPS navigation today, our frame of reference and our perception of space has been molded into a view from above. Our understanding of place is often linked to an abstract representation on a map rather than a physical relational comprehension. [...]
02.20.08

Micromag 3 Axis
Here’s some modified code from Sensor Workshop to get heading values in Arduino from the Micromag 3 axis magneto sensor. Next up, accelerometer calculations on the magneto sensor to get tilt compensation on the compass readings.
02.06.08

Laser Tether : Sketch
Here’s a sketch of how the parts might fit to get the laser to freely point in any direction. 4 servo motors work in tandem to tilt the laser head. Batteries and the circuitry is stored in the bottom half of the cylinder. I was going to have a mechanical gyro to have [...]
01.30.08

Laser Tether
The Laser Tether is a hand held laser pointer that perpetually points at its sibling. Two Laser Tethers constantly point at each other no matter where they are on the globe. If my cousin in Beijing had a Laser Tether and I turned on mine in New York City, our lasers would point [...]
01.22.08

moMo : Version 4
momo version 4 now has a sturdier lighter frame. A couple switches were added to control power to arduino and to the GPS unit. The whole unit somehow runs off 4 AA batteries instead of 8. I also realized the compass unit is not as accurate as we’d like. It has [...]
12.25.07

AGS : Haiku Shake V02
AGS aka Haiku Shake is a haiku generator. Tilting to the left begins the trickling of the haiku. Each haiku is generated randomly based on 3 haiku forms and a set of preselected words. To generate a new haiku, just shake it.
12.23.07

AGS : Haiku Shake V01
AGS aka Haiku Shake is a haiku generator. Tilting to the left begins the trickling of the haiku. Each haiku is generated randomly based on 3 haiku forms and a set of preselected words. To generate a new haiku, just shake it.
12.19.07

momo on MAKE
Make: ITP Winter show
12.18.07

nytimes.com covers momo
more coverage on the ITP Winter Show
bits at nytimes.com: Object-Oriented Objects at N.Y.U.
12.18.07

nymag.com covers momo
Here’s a little write-up on momo and the 2007 ITP Winter Show at nymag.com.
nymag.com : MoMo Isn’t Exactly the New Seeing-Eye Dog, But He Sure Is Cute
11.22.07

moMo : A Haptic Navigational Device
Momo is a haptic navigational device that requires only the sense of touch to guide a user. No maps, no text, no arrows, no lights. It sits on the palm of one’s hand and leans, vibrates and gravitates towards a preset location. Akin to someone pointing you in the right direction, there is no need [...]
11.19.07

moMo : version 2
-new compass unit calcuates true north in relation to itself and waypoint (so it points in the right direction even if you spin it)
-upgraded to 32 Channel!! ETek GPS module
-4 AA batteries powers the entire circuit with 5.6V at 2700mha
-a new skeleton ( to be outfitted with a flexible skin soon )
-updated code for smoother [...]
10.31.07

momo : Prototype V01
10.26.07

SlaHuRa : Slappable Huggable Radio
SlaHuRa or Slappable Huggable Radio is a FM and AM radio that uses an accelerometer (tilt sensor) to change volume and frequency. There are no buttons to press or dials to spin. Tilting the radio from side to side adjusts the frequency. Tilting it from front to back changes the volume.
10.21.07

HND: Shell
For moMo’s prototype shell, we’re initially cutting out cardboard sections into the egg shape. Our next iteration will be lasercut acrylic. Servo motors are counter balanced and secured throught the cutouts in the material. The GPS unit is housed at the top of the egg shape.
10.18.07

HND: Live GPS and Vibe
Slightly updated code for incorporating vibe control via serial.
10.15.07

HND: Live GPS
Here’s our Processing sketch for taking a live GPS feed of some guy in Kansas that never seems to move. The applet displays his location, our fixed location and controls MoMo, our haptic navigation device via serial connection.
[HND: Live GPS]
10.07.07

HND: Weight Shifting
Weight shifting sphere using 2 servo motors and a large weight. One servo is for z rotation, and another is for the x rotation ( or degree of weight shift ).
10.03.07

A Haptic Navigational Device
A haptic navigational device requires only the sense of touch to guide a user. No maps, no text, no arrows, no lights. HND sits on the palm of one’s hand and leans, vibrates and gravitates towards a preset location. Imagine an egg sitting on the palm of your hand, obeying its own gravitational force at [...]
10.03.07

Slappable Huggable Media Devices
Instigate change.
10.02.07

Cold Warmer Hot
Observations on navigating and searching using cold, cooler, warm, warmer, and hot.
09.25.07

LAB: Arduino 02
BlowME BlowBACK
09.17.07

Observation: Crosswalk Button
At certain intersections, the city offers a push button at the pedestrian crosswalk with a sign that reads, “To cross street, push botton, wait for signal, wait for walk signal.”
Hypothesis: People love to push buttons. It give us a sense of control. So, people push the crosswalk button. And perhaps they push it several [...]
09.13.07

Lab: Arduino 01
1st round of Arduino setups. After some struggle, I got 3 analog inputs that you can dial and try out different combinations until you hit the right code. When you do, the LED array spells out “HELLO”. . .
09.06.07

Lab: Electronics
First lab exercise. . .
09.05.07

Voltage Current Resistance
It seems like the prefered analogy for voltage, current and resistance uses water with pressured tanks, hoses, etc. The waterfall analogy was the easiest for me to understand.
If we draw an analogy to a waterfall, the voltage would represent the height of the waterfall: the higher it is, the more potential energy the water [...]