Final Report Growing Light System - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen - s109229 - 0743683 - B2.2 Out of Control - Growing Systems - June 2014 Coach: Gabriela Bustamante - Assesor: Jonas Vorwerk
Introduction The introduction Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Unda is a growing light system and is integrated into the ceiling system. Every ceiling tile will contain a lamp. The lamps will influence each other’s behavior. Unda is inspired by water ripples, when you throw a rock into the water the movement starts spreading through the whole pool, as well will the behavior of the light systems.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Table of Content Introduction From blank to concept
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Team composition Project description Project interpretation First iteration Second iteration Third iteration The system Personal concept Making Co-reflection sessions Final exhibition
Research Evaluation Future steps Acknowledgements References Appendix
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Introduction This report describes Unda, a growing light system integrated into a ceiling system [5]. The aim of the project was to design a meaningful interaction for the system that would be created, while taken into account the openness and unpredictability of the system that is implied by the growth of the system.
In this report you can read about the steps and decisions that where made to design the system of Unda, and the design steps that where made for the individual actuator or lamp that has been designed for the system.
The system should have several different actuators that would all have their own product behavior but at the same time, share each other’s product behavior.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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From Blank to Concept In the upcoming paragraphs there will be explained what steps in the design process are followed, and what decisions are made to come to the final concept. At every paragraph you can see a process graphic, which you can also see on the right of this page. This graphic explains the position of the steps in the design process. This graphic has been made according to the reflective transformative design process of the faculty Industrial Design (see: ‘Eindhoven designs , volume two, Developing the competence of designing intelligen systems’ [26]). The different colored rings indicate whether the design steps where in corporation with the team or individual.
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Team composition The project was initially kicked off with a group of four, but quickly this number came down to three due to personal reasons of the individual. The other three started by studying the project brief and created their own interpretation on the project. The whole first iteration has been done with three persons. After the first iteration one individual got permission to proceed to the next semester and stopped with the project. Then there were two groupmembers left.
Unfortunately one of the two group members wasn’t able due to personal reasons to finish his semester in a half year. He will proceed with the project a half-year longer. The two group members worked together on the system, only one created a finished individual lamp. In the process graphics is visible what has been done as a team and what has been done individually.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Project discription The aim of this project is to design for meaningful interaction in a system context that recognizes the growing system as the next frontier of design. By designing this meaningful interaction the focus is on sharing product behavior.
These lamps need to be functional and act as a system together to a level that: They are capable of expressing a certain behavior, they can learn certain behavior, and they can accept behaviors from other lamps.
The design challenge is to design a lamp and its behavior. There will be worked in a group where it concerns the system, but each student also has to design and make his own lamp.
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Project interpretation 1. The group started with designing from a context, but realised this was they wouldn’t get to the purpose project. After the first week the group agreed that for the project they shouldn’t think too much about the ideation, but they should follow a process in which they leaned by exploring, making and testing. They thought this way the process of creating a growing system would be much more natural. For the group it was important that the system would have a natural appearance.
The group even considered using biomimicry [4] to relate the system to an existing natural system. There was given an opportunity by the space coordinators to use the Oocsi system [16] in order to make it possible to share variables between different lamps over Internet. However the group choose to make a mechanic working system. For them it would make the system stronger and more unique if the lamps would react on each other’s output instead of on variables. This way there would be a possibility of incidental consequences
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
of the output on the other lamps, which would be more natural. For the group it was also very important to focus on the design of the system instead of starting with designing individual lamps. Finally for Charlotte it was important that the project would match her vision. For her connecting people in order to help each other is a very important aspect of her vision. So for her it was important that the project would have a social value in bringing people together.
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Fist iteration During the first iteration the group worked partly with three members. At the start of the semester the group set some deadlines. Around the first Demodays [7] they wanted to have chosen a concrete context and they wanted to have a mock-up of the system. Then the individual group members would have the weeks after the mid-term [14] to work on their individual lamps for the system. 2. The group ideated to find possible contexts, functions and applications
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of light systems. They concluded that they had to focus on the light instead of on the lamp. Then the group gathered the personal findings to find what were essential parts for the system in order to narrow the scope. They concluded they could go for an artistic approuch, or they could choose a clear context for their system. They decided to go for the clear context. The group came up with a first direction. The idea was to create a system that would make it possible for sport teams all over the world to train together. With the
help of camera’s, screens and projectors the training exercises would be projected in the different training fields. 3. After some conversations with other students about this first direction the group had the idea that this was not the right interpretation of the project. When the group asked Joep Frens to clarify the thoughts, he confirmed that this was indeed not the direction they were looking for. The group had focused too much on a specific context while the goal of the project was to create an open light system
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
where the context and target group was a secondary concern. So they should have chosen the art-object direction. 4. The group analyzed how to go further. They decided that a way to create an open light system was to start experimenting with light and lamps. And investigating what kind of behavior is possible. The group used the overall understanding of the light behavior they gained form the first experimentation to proceed the next steps.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Second iteration After realizing that the direction with the concrete context wasn’t the good direction the group went on to work out the open light system. They concluded that they had to start experimenting with light objects and light behavior. Now only Ruud and Charlotte were left. 5. The team challenged themselves by giving themselves the assignment to create a lamp with a certain interaction and that could influence each other’s lamp. The two team-members went working individually on their lamps.
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After a week they came together to interact with the lamps, to evaluate each other’s experiences and to discuss similarities, differences and possible opportunities. The experiment was meant to be experiential to increase the overall understanding about light behavior, and design possibilities.
light intensity and the difference in light intensity in the room and relating that to the movement of the tubes. The behavior was: the more activity in the room, the more movement of the tubes. With a potmeter the color of the leds was adjustable.
6. Ruud made a lamp that shows personality in light by shining led-light [11] trough tubes with different personal contents. The lamp would also reflect the atmosphere in the room by sensing the Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Charlotte made a lamp that helps her to express her emotions. With pressure sensors [18] around a wooden stick that are all linked to different colors and brightness’s in the light, you are able to adjust the light by pressing the stick and slapping with the stick. (See paragraph ‘Making’ to see how the stick is made.
7. These explorations where presented during the peer-session [17] meeting with the other growing system groups and some coaches. The comments that were given was that it was nice to survey light behavior in this way. The survey question now is: how do we create meaningful light behavior? A tip we got was that from abstract thinking it stays abstract and superficial, but from experience you can go abstract later and then it will be meaningful.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
The conclusions from the experiment were that Ruud focused more on the light effect and is interested in how to use textures in light and Charlotte focused more on the interaction and the expression with light, and that the interaction is open ended. For the next iteration Charlotte and Ruud will focus on the values of the light that they want to explore. They both searched for their own personal interest within the light, later they will combine these personal values in order to come up with a light system.
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Third iteration After the individual lamps were made and analyzed, the team decided that it was time for them to research possible scientific light solutions that they could use to create the light behavior they planned on. The team concluded that they had to enhance the differences and use the similarities they had concluded from their experiment during the second iteration. 8. Charlotte researched the scientific possibilities within light (see appendix B). After doing a little questionnaire [19]
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where Charlotte and Ruud rated the scientific findings from zero to 10 on how interesting every possibility in their eyes was (see Appendix G). They decided together on using one or more or more of the scientific possibilities: lenses, mirrors, prims and refraction of light. These possibilities seemed the most interesting to research further.
After all these iterations Charlotte suddenly came up with the idea to integrate their light system into a ceiling system. Since ceiling systems [5] where very old fashioned and aesthetically unpleasant in here eyes it would be interesting to see what they could do to embellish ceiling systems.
Charlotte and Ruud went into the city to find all kind of materials that they could use to make special light effects with. They experimented with all kind of transparent materials. Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Together Charlotte and Ruud iterated on possibilities for lamps integrated into a ceiling system, and how they could influence each other. They had several ideas of a transformable ceiling that the user could transform in order to focus the light. A way the lamps could influence each other was in a very mechanical way. The team was inspired by several movies (see ‘References’ inspirational links). For the mid-term demo-days the group make a scale model to show the possible working of the light system. In the model wasn’t used light, because the team wanted to put the focus on the cooperation between the tiles instead of the light behavior.
9. During the mid-term [14] demo-day [7] the scale model of the possible ceiling system was presented to the other students together with the process that was followed. The feedback that was received during the mid-term was: - The context of the space is needs to be taken into account when creating a light behavior. - With an intelligent system you will increase the surprising effect of the system. - The system could react on
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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smartphone use. For the final exhibition [8] it would be strong to make a scale model while keeping into account what has to be communicated so can not be too small. The surprising effect of they system is strong, Inspiration from nature is a very strong statement. It might be built in the elevator. It is nice to have some inspiration from nature.
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The team discussed this feedback. They agreed that the context had influence on the behavior of the light system, they decided to find possible space for the system. The surprising effect was important for the group they decided that they would find a way to make the system be surprising. Because the team wanted the system to work mechanical and not with the help of variables they decided that they didn’t wanted the system to react on smartphones in the environment. It was a good tip to make a scale model as long as it communicated the system well. The team considered the context of an elevator, eventually this context was to much a limitation for possible systems. After the input of the mid-term demo-day,
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Charlotte went on developing the system, and her possible lamp. She got back the interpretation the team had on project and wanted the system to be based on a nature effect. Together with Ruud she had already discussed the effect of water on light. Charlotte decided she wanted to use the effect of throwing a stone into the water to create ripples that will fill the whole pool. She wanted to create a system of lamps that would mimic each others behavior in a way that the effect the light and will eventually fill the whole room. This was the moment Charlotte came up with the final concept. You can read more about the concept in the paragraph ‘Personal concept’.
10. When the concept of the system was there, Charlotte discussed with several fellow students and some staff members, in what way she could best make the scale model. You can read more about building the lamps in the paragraph ‘Making’. There have been done some co-reflection sessions to come up with possibilities for the interaction with the lamps and for the aesthetics of the lamps. In the paragraph ‘Co-reflection sessions’, you can read more about the co-reflection session. Eventually the last input for the system was gained during the final exhibition.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Pictures by: Ruud van Reijmersdal Page 15
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
The system The system was achieved in the first nine steps of the process. Functionality The light system is integrated into the ceiling system [5]. Every ceiling tile will contain a lamp. The lamps have movement sensors and light sensors [12]. The movement sensors [15] detect when people walk underneath the lamp. If so the lamp starts spinning and the light starts shining for two seconds. By spinning the light shines on the lamps around the spinning lamp. By the help of light sensors the other lamps will detect the light and
will start spinning and shining light for two seconds as well. This way all the lamps will mimic each other’s behavior.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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The reason the light shines for only two seconds is because at some point the system eventually needs to stop moving to keep it interesting. The speed of the turning lamps will have a big influence on the effect the system has on people. It needs to be calm and not disco like. At the same time you can adjust the speed to the environment. If you put the system in a environment where the speed of the people using the space is very high, for instance a train station, the speed of the lamps could be much higher. Upcoming semester there will be added a new kind of lamp. This lamp will respond on the movement and the light of the already excising lamps and will also trigger the lamps. This way the growing of the light over the room will remain. Only the light effect will change. Technology Every individual lamp contains a separate Arduino [1]. Three light sensors will detect the light from the other lamps. A certain value on one of the light sensor will actuate the Led [11] and servo [21] in the lamps for 2 seconds. A possible new lamp could also detect the movement of the first lamps to use as input for actuating that lamp.
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Form There has been chosen for a big white space with white ceiling tiles, white lamps and white light. There has been chosen to make everything white because this way the system will have a calm influence in the room and won’t cause a disco effect. Overall white is an aesthetically calm color. Another reason to make everything white is that it will reflect the light the best, and it will make the whole space more light when people will entre. This way apart from creating an aesthetic light effect, it will also have the function of lighting up the room.
Material The scale model has been made out of MDF [13] because that was the cheapest and easiest to work with for the first model. A real model will probably need to be made out wood together with metal to carry the weight of the lamps. This need to be tested before it will be made for a real ceiling system.
Semantics The system is inspired by water ripples, when you throw a rock into the water the movement starts spreading through the whole pool, as well will my light system. Once a person enters the room on one side and another person enters the room on another side of the room, they both trigger a lamp to start spinning and shining, and so will create a growing ripple of spinning lamps. At a certain point the triggered lamps will find each other. My goal is to make it easier for the users to start a conversation, this way they already have a trigger and a subject to talk about.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Personal Concept After the mid-term [14] exhibition the team started working individually. Charlotte started working out the system and her individual lamp. A cylinder shaped object, one for every ceiling tile that can turn around and reacts on movement and light. Functionality The lamps have movement sensors [15] and light sensors [12]. The movement sensors detect when people walk underneath the lamp and the light sensors the light from the other lamps. If the movement sensor or the light sensors detect something the lamp starts spinning and the light starts shining for two seconds. Technology Every individual lamp contains a separate Arduino [1]. Three light sensors, a led [11], a movement sensor and a continuous servo [21] that are connected to the Arduino. A certain value on the movement sensor or on one of the light sensor will actuate the Led and servo for 2 seconds. The values will be caused by people that walk underneath a lamp or by light that shines on one of the light sensors.
radius of 30 cm and a height of 7 cm (see figure). The scale model was a little higher which was needed to put all the technology in. Semantics The reason there has been chosen for a round cylinder shape is because the lamp turns around and the system needs to communicate a calm behavior. A round shape in this context will be the least distracting. The reason the light shines to the sides instead of down is to prevent the disco effect of light and because the lamp actuate each other by shining light on each other. Read ‘system’, ‘form’ to understand why the lamp had to be white.
Finally the reason why the radius of the lamp is 30 cm, is to increase the calm emission of the lamp and otherwise it would look a bit like a fire alarm. The height of the lamp is possible to put all the technology in, and to create the effect of the lamp shining on each others sides instead of in the room. Material The lamp has been build with layers of MDF [13]. This was the cheapest and easiest to work with. The real lamp could be made from plastic, to increase the weight of the lamp. A possible future design for the lamp could be a ground glass [10] dome to put over the technology, this way you will not see the leds or the sensors, but they will work through the glass. This way the calm effect of the lamp will be increased.
Form The lamp has a cylinder shape with a
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Making During the semester there where two moments of making. The first moment was during the second iteration which you can read about in paragraph ‘Second iteration’. The second was the final prototype. First creation In the first weeks the group had decided to all make an individual lamp that eventually could react on each other. Charlotte made several sketches of lamps she could make: - A driving lamp that you could cont rol with a remote control - A stick with Leds [11] over the length of the stick that would create a certain light effect when moving the stick through the air. - A plate with lights on it that would go up and down in order to create a light pattern - Leds that would go in and out of a tube in a way that the light would
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be divergent or more focused. A stick that would light up when you slap it against something. A box that is closed with a white fabric on which all kind of light patterns are projected. A stick with a led at the end. The place where you touch and the strength of the tough will influence the light. A construction where an Ipad will be turned around in order to create a 3D hologram.
Eventually Charlotte chose to work out the stick with a led at the and that would be influences by the way you touch the stick. This was her choice because it had a very direct interaction, but the output still had a surprising effect, which she thought could be very interesting. The stick that was chosen to create the lamp, was a wooden stich with a radius of
3 cm and a length of about 50 cm. These sizes would make it easy to interact with the lamp. The pressure sensors [18] where created with aluminum foil and velostat. [22] By making several pressure sensors all over the stick. It was possible to let every pressure sensor actuate another value of the RGB led [20]. Because of the difference in the amount of layers velostat it was necessary to use more strength for one pressure sensor that for the other to change the variables. In the pictures on the right you can see the making process.
The pressure sensors and the RGB led was connected to an Arduino [1]. The Arduino contain a program that read the values from the pressure sensors and translated it to the output of the RGB led (see Appendix B to check the code).
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
PROCESS
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Second creation The second creation was the final prototype, the final lamp together with the ceiling tile. The lamp should be able to turn around and the technology had to be put inside of the turning part because it is not possible to lead threads of the sensors and the Leds [11] outside of the lamp because then they would turn around each other and eventually get stuck. Before starting to build, Charlotte worked out the mechanism with the help of some experts. She decided to make a ball bearing [2] for the lamp to turn around.
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In the real model Charlotte would make a sliding contact for the power supply but a sliding contact was too vulnerable and unnecessary complicated to make for the scale model. After a conversation with an expert about sliding contacts Charlotte decided to put all the technology inside of the lamp including the power supply (see appendix C for the electronic circuit). Charlotte started with the programming the Arduino so it would use variable from the movement sensor [15] and the light sensors [12] as output for the Led and the Servo [21] (see appendix D for the code).
Then Charlotte started with the construction of the lamp. She first made a model from foam-board [9]. This helped her in finding the right size for the technology and for a good representation of the reality. She realized that the scalemodel had to be 1:2 in order to fit al technology inside. After the sizes where clear, Charlotte made an Illustrator file for the laser-cutter (see appendix E). For her this was the easies and cheapest way to realize the exact shape. While creating the construction Charlotte took into account the ball bearing, the construction with the ceiling tile, the places the sensors and led had to come through the side of the lamp and the construction to keep to servo in
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
the middle of the lamp. Charlotte glued the different parts together and used BB-gun balls [3] for the ball bearing. She made holes that where just the right size for the balls, but she realized this was not the good way to make a ball bearing. The next try she made one big groove for the balls, together with Vaseline [22] this worked very good.
The construction for the motor worked very well. Charlotte started with using a DC motor [6], which had a round shape to let the lamp turn around. Unfortunately this motor had not enough power to let the lamp turn around so she used a continuous rotation servo motor, that worked perfectly. Once everything was glued together and the technology was added to the lamp, Charlotte has used a sanding machine to make the side surfaces of the lamp smooth. And eventually she painted the whole lamp including the ceiling tiles and the ceiling construction white. Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Co-reflection sessions Once the final concept was clear, Charlotte did some co-reflection sessions with other students to find possible light behaviors and designs for the lamps. The structure of the co-reflection sessions where based on the method spoken of in paper: ‘Co-Reflection: User Involvement for Highly Dynamic Design Processes� [25]. On the right you can see the method, Charlotte used for her sessions. Charlotte did three different session from which she got a lot of output (see appendix G).
Exploration Method
Application Goal
Reacting the experience, and let the participants think about their personal experience
Ideation Method Creating new behavior
Confrontation Method Relating values to the behavior and looks
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Bring participants to a public space with a ceiling system that includes light tales. Let them experience the way of interaction with the light and the behavior of the light. Finally ask the questions: What do you think of the light in this room? What kind of feeling does the light give you? Is the light practical?
Make people aware of the light behavior of in ceiling system, within a room in a public space
Application Goal Show a model of the light system. Ask the quesTo get new input for behavior and looks tions: What should the light look like? What should of the lamps. the light behavior look like? What color should it have?
Application Goal Evaluate the best possibilities for Show my own lamp design and the behavior I came the looks of the lamps and the light up with by showing my prototype. Ask the question: What do you think about the looks and the behavior of the lamps. behavior of the light?
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Final exhibition The last step of the project process was the final-exhibition. On the picture on the right you can see what the stand looked liked. Many people visited the stand and provided feedback on the concept: - This concept is an interesting perspective on looking at the project. Would be interesting to continue next semester. - By adjusting some rules like: speed of the lamps, sensitivity of the sensors, color of light etc. It is possible to change the whole system. - Good we focused on the system
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and not on an individual lamp It reminds people of domino. This concept would be great for a space like ‘Seats to Meet’. It is clear that it is focused on nature and that is a very nice effect. With the rules it is maybe possible to create other nature phenomena like a tsunami. The system works environmental efficient since it saves a lot of energy, because it doesn’t have to work when no one is using it. Good for office buildings. It is nice that you can still see that
just others left the room when you enter the room and the system is still working.
Some of these points will be used to create possible future steps for the concept. vrum vitae, vestibulum eu, molestie vel, lacus.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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Research The research has been done in different ways. First by reading some articles to be able to create the project interpretation and to get a better understanding of systems. Second there has been done some material research to understand better the behavior of light, and the effect there is created when combining light witch several materials. Finally there has been a co-reflection session. In this session there has been done research to the looks and the light behavior of the lamps. Articles The first article that was read was “Setting the stage for the design of highly interactive systems” [24].
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“This paper introduces the design of systems as a new challenge for the de field of design. The ‘one person – one product’ dictum is left in favour of complex systems consisting of many ‘nodes’. A recent design experience is taken as a starting point for a designerly reflection on systems design which, through a cycle of observations and reflections, leads to the identification of four design challenges: (1) designing into systems the ability to grow, (2) loci of interaction are needed, both for control but also to perceive what a system is capable of, (3) a new dynamic form language is required that accommodates actioncentric interaction and (4) the energy use of such systems is difficult to control. The four challenges open up new design
opportunities. The paper comes full circle as it discusses the quest of new design skills to meet these opportunities.” The important input that was gained from reading the article was: Systems are incredibly complicated that you’re not able to over see the consequences and behavior of the system, if you haven’t tested the system. So you have to start investigating and making to really understand a system. The results of the inputs and outputs of the system are very unpredictable, not only for the user, but importantly, also for the designers.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
The unpredictability of the system grows even further when implementing adaptive and self- learning behavior in the “nodes” or in links between them. A system behaves according it’s own rules. During the exhibition Charlotte found out that by adjusting the most basic rules of the systems only a little, the behavior of the system would be totally different (read paragraph ‘Final exhibition’). Systems impact society in a profound way. You can compare it with a flock of birds, that is more than the sum of the behaviours of the individual birds. When building a system you break the ‘one person – one product’ dictum. A system of (interactive) products consisting of many ‘nodes’, receives non-colocated inputs and produces outputs to multiple locations. Together the different parts of the system have emergent functionality (1+1=3). (see picture on the right, it explains very good what is system is).
Materials research During the third iteration Charlotte and Ruud went to city to shop for all kind of materials. They found many kinds of transparent plastics, mirrors, other reflecting materials, lenses, candles, etc. Back at the University they experimented with these materials in combination with light to create an overall understanding of the behavior of light (read more in paragraph ‘third iteration’). Another method Charlotte and Ruud used to create and overall understanding of light was by searching for already excising light systems and light artifacts (see ‘References’ for the inspirational links). Charlotte also experimented with an empty coke can. She tried to find a nice way to reflect the light by folding the can
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
in different ways. Eventually Charlotte concluded that she wanted to focus more on the looks of the system as a whole instead of the light effect of one individual lamp. Nevertheless Ruud used this input for his personal lamp and researched even more for good-looking light effects. You will be able to read more about it in the final report of Ruud on this project. Co-reflection session At the end of the semester Charlotte did some co-reflection sessions. Here she created a session (see paragraph ‘Coreflection session’) where she gained input on the way the lamps could look, or the light behavior could be (see Appendix F for the results).
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Evaluation Overall it was a very successful semester. The group succeeded in designing a growing system with a meaningful interaction. The lamps within the system share each others behavior. Together they communicate the behavior of water ripples through light, which is a natural effect. The lamps communicate in a mechanical way and the system has a social value of lower the threshold for people to start a conversation. The system grows in three different ways. 1. Once you have a ceiling system you can add as many lamps to your ceiling, tonnage wise and aesthetically the system grows.
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2. By actuating the system, the light effect grows. 3. It is possible to add more kind of lamps to the system. As long as you design lamps that interact with the variables, light and movement, you can add the lamp to the system. The only thing the group didn’t accomplished was to create an intelligent system. The final context that was chosen didn’t ask for an intelligent system. It could be a next step to find out how to transform this system to make it an intelligent system.
Even though the team members worked perfectly together they also gave each other the space to follow their own vision. They both had a different few on the concept direction. Charlotte translated the water ripple effect to the whole system and so used the inner features of a water ripple while Ruud integrated the water effect in his lamp and so used the appearances of water ripples.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Future Steps There are several direction for future steps in this project. With the help of the input gained from the co-reflection sessions (see Appendix F) and the input gained during the final exhibition [8], Charlotte was able to come up with several possible future steps. Shape For the shape of the Lamp there are several design possibilities. The final design in this report is only the first prototype. There was the idea to put all the technology behind a ground glass [10] cylinder shape. This way the technology would still be working but is not visible anymore. Also the turning of the lamp isn’t visible anymore which results in a much
calmer environment for the system. It would be interesting to test if this really increases the experience of the system. For possible shapes see (appendix F). Technology: For a new prototype it is necessary to look at other sensors. Maybe the system would work better when using infra-red leds [11] and sensors. System research Another possibility to work out in this project is the system behavior. By reading more articles about systems on how to design them and by testing the system, there will be lots of possibilities to extend the system (see paragraph ‘Final
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
exhibition’). For instance by creating other nature effects like a tsunami. Research light behavior Finally it would be interesting the research more light behavior and apply that to the light system. By testing more lights effects it should be possible to increase the aesthetics of the system. This will be something Ruud will proceed on working on. Of course Ruud is proceeding this project for one more half year. He will mainly focus on the development of his own lamp and the integration of his lamp within the system.
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acknowledgements I would like to thank Ruud van Reijmersdal for his semester-long collaboration in the development of the final concept. I would also like to thank Gabriele Bustamante, for her valuable coaching and feedback. I would also like to thank Joep Frens and some fellow students for guiding and feedback during the semester. Finally I would like to thank Jan Rouvroye, Geert van den Boomen and Chetram Bangaru for their valuable feedback and their help regarding the building of the prototype.
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
References words: [1] Arduino: is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer. It’s an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board. [2] Ball bearing: is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. [3] BB-gun balls: little plastic bullets for toy guns. [4] Bio mimicry: is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. [5] Ceiling system: is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main (structural) ceiling. [6] DC-motor: A type of motor that runs on direct current. DC motors have better speed control and higher torque than AC motors. [7] Demo-day: a day at the faculty of Industrial Design where student show their progress and their prototypes. [8] Final-exhibition: an exhibition at the end of the semester at the faculty of Industrial Design where the students show their end work. [9] Foam board: a very strong, lightweight, and easily cut material [10] Ground glass: glass whose surface has been ground to produce a flat but rough (matte) finish. [11] Led: Light emitting diode is a semiconductor device that emits a narrow spectrum of light in a forward direction. [12] Light sensor: a converter that measures a physical quantity of light and converts it into a signal, which can be read by an observer by an electronic instrument
[13] MDF: Medium-density fiberboard is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibers [14] Mid-term: the middle of the semester at the faculty of Industrial Design Eindhoven. [15] Movement sensor: a converter that measures a physical quantity of movement and converts it into a signal, which can be read by an observer by an electronic instrument [16] Oocsi-system: a technological platform that allows you to easily exchange information through an Internet connection. [17] Peer-session: a session where several designers show there work and everybody gives feedback on each others works and will receive feedback on their own work. [18] Pressure sensor: a converter that measures a physical quantity of pressure and converts it into a signal, which can be read by an observer by an electronic instrument [19] Questionnaire: a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents [20] RGB Led: a Led that can shine in the colors: Red, Green and Blue. [21] Servo-motor: A type of motor used in applications that require precise positioning. Servomotors provide a high amount of holding torque to maintain their position accurately. [22] Vaseline: is a brand of petroleum jelly based products owned by Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. [23] Velostat: a packaging material made of a polymeric foil (polyolefines) impregnated with carbon black to make it electrically conductive.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
Articles and Books: [24]
Frens, J.W., Overbeeke, C.J. (2009). Setting the stage for the design of highly interactive systems. In: Proceedings of International Association of Societies of Design Research, Seoul, Korea, pp. 1–10.
[25]
Tomico,O., Overbeeke, C.J. & Frens, J.W. (2009) Co-Reflection: User Involvement for Highly Dynamic Design Processes, CHI 2009, April 4-9, Boston, MA, USA.
[26]
Hummels, C. and Vinke, D. (2009) Eindhoven designs, volume two, Developing the competence of designing intelligen systems, Eindhoven University of Technology (2009), The Netherlands.
Inspirational links: -
http://crypsislighting.com/ - http://www.fubiz.net/2014/03/24/the-kolo-lamps-by-pani-jurek/ - http://www.fubiz.net/2014/01/20/illuminated-data-map-of-the-world/ - http://www.fubiz.net/2014/01/30/lumio-folding-book-lamp/ - http://www.fubiz.net/usersstuff/somnambule-by-felicie-eymard-erics dottir/ - http://www.fubiz.net/2014/02/15/light-cave-restaurant-in-tokyo/ - http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/crystal/ - http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/crystal-s/ - http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/dune-4-2/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBTx87xiscs - http://www.iflscience.com/technology/streetlamps-go-green - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go9rf9GmYpM - http://www.instructables.com/id/Flexible-Auminum-Electrolumines cent-Display-No-T/ - http://www.fubiz.net/2014/03/25/water-imitated-by-a-wood-automa ton/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dehXioMIKg0 - http://www.google.nl/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=& cad=rja&uact=8&docid=3wPBsNJoyuUHPM&tbnid=LUu_6yWz McSH1M:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. artparks.co.uk%2Fartpark_sculpture.php%3Fsculpture%3D6152&ei=PH c5U7yvLIq70wXkh4HIDA&bvm=bv.63808443,d.Yms&psig=AFQjCNG M1rDTSKrYZ0EQ24dDtowrM5iUzQ&ust=1396361392078949 - http://www.bloodyloud.com/contact-lens-art-installation-haruka-kojin/ - http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=light&user=2ud pd7cec1v2w&page=2 - http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-ultimate-light-show- alan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW733Ut5zE0 - http://www.visualnews.com/2013/03/11/steampunk-inspired-light ing-by-art-donovan/ - http://steampunker.ru/index/page469/ - https://www.facebook.com/designboomnews/photos
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appendix - A List scientific posibilities - Refraction of light – solid – liquid – gas - Wavelength of light - Light vs radiation - Ultra-violet – Infra-red - When visible light – When radiation - Different substances with different exit energy - Light absorption in water - Something with sunlight - Sensitivity cone cells in the eye, deformations - Projector - Lenses - Mirrors - Prisms - Refraction - Absorption spectrum, colors of light - Fiberglass cables - Light bulb vs Leds - Lava lamp idea - Rainbow - Color filters - Mirror images - Lenses – Divergent – Convergent – Focus – Blurred image - Eyeglasses - Photography
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
appendix - B Code first creation int sensorPin1 = A0; int sensorPin2 = A1; int sensorPin3 = A2; int sensorPin4 = A3; int sensorPin5 = A4; int sensorPin6 = A5;// select the input pin for the potentiometer int ledRed = 12; int ledGreen = 11; int ledBlue = 10;// select the pin for the LED int sensorValue = 0; // variable to store the value coming from the sensor void setup() { // declare the ledPin as an OUTPUT: Serial.begin(9600);
}
pinMode(ledRed, OUTPUT); pinMode(ledGreen, OUTPUT); pinMode(ledBlue, OUTPUT);
void loop() { digitalWrite(ledRed, LOW); digitalWrite(ledGreen, LOW); digitalWrite(ledBlue, LOW); // read the value from the sensor: sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin1); sensorValue = map(val, 0, 1023, 600, 0);
analogWrite(9, val);
delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledGreen, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledGreen, HIGH); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledBlue, LOW);
// turn the ledPin on digitalWrite(ledRed, LOW); // stop the program for <sensorValue> milliseconds: delay(sensorValue); // turn the ledPin off: digitalWrite(ledRed, HIGH); // stop the program for for <sensorValue> milliseconds: delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledGreen, LOW); digitalWrite(ledBlue, LOW);
sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin5); digitalWrite(ledRed, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledRed, HIGH); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledGreen, LOW); digitalWrite(ledBlue, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledBlue, HIGH); delay(sensorValue);
sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin2); digitalWrite(ledRed, LOW); digitalWrite(ledGreen, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledGreen, HIGH); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledBlue, LOW); sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin3); digitalWrite(ledRed, LOW); digitalWrite(ledGreen, LOW); digitalWrite(ledBlue, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledBlue, HIGH); delay(sensorValue);
sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin6); digitalWrite(ledRed, LOW); digitalWrite(ledGreen, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledGreen, HIGH); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledBlue, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledBlue, HIGH); delay(sensorValue); }
sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin4); digitalWrite(ledRed, LOW); delay(sensorValue); digitalWrite(ledRed, HIGH);
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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appendix - C Electronic circuit
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
appendix - D Code final program - Code with movement sensor: unsigned long currentMillis1 = millis(); unsigned long currentMillis2 = millis(); unsigned long currentMillis3 = millis(); unsigned long currentMillis4 = millis(); unsigned long previousMillis1 = 0; unsigned long previousMillis2 = 0; unsigned long previousMillis3 = 0; unsigned long previousMillis4 = 0; long interval = 2000; int val1; int val2; int val3; int val4; int lichtsensor1=A0; int lightsensor2=A1; int lightsensor3=A2; int afstandsensor=A3; int sensor1_sensitivity = 900; int sensor2_sensitivity = 900; int sensor3_sensitivity = 900; int sensor4_sensitivity = 300; void setup() { // put your setup code here, to run once: Serial.begin(9600); pinMode(10, OUTPUT); pinMode(11, OUTPUT); pinMode(12, OUTPUT); pinMode(13, OUTPUT); } void loop() { val1=analogRead(lichtsensor1); currentMillis1 = millis(); //Serial.println(val1);
if(val1 > sensor1_sensitivity ) // als sensor triggert { triggerAnimation(); //start motor ledje wat je wil previousMillis1 = currentMillis1; // zet start tijd van de trigger } if(currentMillis1 - previousMillis1 > interval && previousMillis1 != 0) // als het verschil tussen huidige tijd en trigger tijd groter wordt dan interval { stopAnimation(); // stop ledje moter wat je wil previousMillis1 = 0; } val2=analogRead(lightsensor2); currentMillis2 = millis(); //Serial.println(val2); if(val2 > sensor2_sensitivity ) // als sensor triggert { triggerAnimation(); //start motor ledje wat je wil previousMillis2 = currentMillis2; // zet start tijd van de trigger } if(currentMillis2 - previousMillis2 > interval && previousMillis2 != 0) // als het verschil tussen huidige tijd en trigger tijd groter wordt dan interval { stopAnimation(); // stop ledje moter wat je wil previousMillis2 = 0; } val3=analogRead(lightsensor3); currentMillis3 = millis(); //Serial.println(val3); if(val3 > sensor3_sensitivity ) // als sensor triggert { triggerAnimation(); //start motor ledje wat je wil
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
previousMillis3 = currentMillis3; // zet start tijd van de trigger } if(currentMillis3 - previousMillis3 > interval && previousMillis3 != 0) // als het verschil tussen huidige tijd en trigger tijd groter wordt dan interval { stopAnimation(); // stop ledje moter wat je wil previousMillis3 = 0; } val4=analogRead(afstandsensor); currentMillis4 = millis(); Serial.println(val4); if(val4 > sensor4_sensitivity ) // als sensor triggert { triggerAnimation(); //start motor ledje wat je wil previousMillis4 = currentMillis4; // zet start tijd van de trigger } if(currentMillis4 - previousMillis4 > interval && previousMillis4 != 0) // als het verschil tussen huidige tijd en trigger tijd groter wordt dan interval { stopAnimation(); // stop ledje moter wat je wil previousMillis3 = 0; } } void triggerAnimation(){ //start motor ledje watj wil
}
digitalWrite(12,HIGH); digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
void stopAnimation(){ digitalWrite(12,LOW); digitalWrite(13,LOW); }
// stop motor ledje wat je wil
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appendix - D Code final program - Code without movement sensor: unsigned long currentMillis1 = millis(); unsigned long currentMillis2 = millis(); unsigned long currentMillis3 = millis(); unsigned long previousMillis1 = 0; unsigned long previousMillis2 = 0; unsigned long previousMillis3 = 0; long interval = 2000; #include <Servo.h> Servo myServo; int val1; int val2; int val3; int lichtsensor1=A0; int lightsensor2=A1; int lightsensor3=A2; int sensor1_sensitivity = 510; int sensor2_sensitivity = 510; int sensor3_sensitivity = 510; void setup() { // put your setup code here, to run once: Serial.begin(9600); myServo.attach(12); pinMode(13, OUTPUT); } void loop() {
{
triggerAnimation(); //start motor ledje wat je wil previousMillis3 = currentMillis3; // zet start tijd van de trigger }
if(currentMillis1 - previousMillis1 > interval && previousMillis1 != 0) // als het verschil tussen huidige tijd en trigger tijd groter wordt dan interval { stopAnimation(); // stop ledje moter wat je wil previousMillis1 = 0; }
if(currentMillis3 - previousMillis3 > interval && previousMillis3 != 0) // als het verschil tussen huidige tijd en trigger tijd groter wordt dan interval { stopAnimation(); // stop ledje moter wat je wil previousMillis3 = 0; } }
val2=analogRead(lightsensor2); currentMillis2 = millis(); //Serial.println(val2); if(val2 > sensor2_sensitivity ) // als sensor triggert { triggerAnimation(); //start motor ledje wat je wil previousMillis2 = currentMillis2; // zet start tijd van de trigger }
void triggerAnimation(){ //start motor ledje watj wil myServo.writeMicroseconds(1700); digitalWrite(13,HIGH); } void stopAnimation(){ // stop motor ledje wat je wil myServo.writeMicroseconds(1500); digitalWrite(13,LOW); }
if(currentMillis2 - previousMillis2 > interval && previousMillis2 != 0) // als het verschil tussen huidige tijd en trigger tijd groter wordt dan interval { stopAnimation(); // stop ledje moter wat je wil previousMillis2 = 0; }
val1=analogRead(lichtsensor1); currentMillis1 = millis(); //Serial.println(val1);
val3=analogRead(lightsensor3); currentMillis3 = millis(); Serial.println(val3);
if(val1 > sensor1_sensitivity ) // als sensor triggert
if(val3 > sensor3_sensitivity ) // als sensor triggert
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{
triggerAnimation(); //start motor ledje wat je wil previousMillis1 = currentMillis1; // zet start tijd van de trigger }
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
appendix - E Laser-cutter files The MDF that has been used was 6 mm thick and the surface was 700 mm by 400 mm.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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appendix - E
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
appendix - F Exploration phase
Description/observed action
Own Argumentation
Position/movement Quote: Inspiring admosfeer
He is not yet very mutch into the sessoin and he aswers something, just to give an answer
This is not very important for my session.
Position/movement This is indeed true. I have to keep that in mind while creating the light behavior.
Quote: TL-light and light from outside Position/movement
It is important for him to have enough light to see what is he doing. That is important for the final light behavior.
Quote: It gives enough light You can see what you are doing and it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t anoying, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give shadows Position/movement
I agree, it is my purpose to make it more asmospheric.
Quote: Not admospheric light Position/movement Quote: It is important that there is light in a space
This is very important for him
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
This is indeed true. I have to keep that in mind while creating the light behavior.
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appendix - F Ideation phase
Position/movement
Position/movement
Position/movement
Position/movement
Position/movement
Position/movement
Position/movement
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Description/observed action
Own Argumentation
Just one lamp for every tile, not more that one for each tile.
I agree with this aesthic choice
The lamp could have a cylinder shape
This is also my design for the lamp
There could be strings attached to the lamp that move when the lamp starts spinning
This makes the system very busy and I think it is important to lett the lamps stay clam.
The lamp shouldn’t be too big
This was interesting input. I think I agree that the lamp shouldn’t be too big.
A glass cap over the turning lamp, that makes the system more calm and sublte
The glass dome over the system is a very good idea. This will definately be one of my future posibilities for the lamp.
A boll shaped lamp
I don’t like this shape aesthetically, so I will not use it.
A half boll shaped lamp
This could be a posibility but I don’t think I will use it.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
appendix - F Confrontation phase: Why should the lamp become bigger it is already big enough, just make the ceiling tile bigger. Your design is nice and clean, nice cylinder. When it is placed against the ceiling it should look very good. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give the light any colors, than you will create a disco ball. I would make it transparent from ground glass in a way that it is not clear where the lamp and where the sensors are. You could also put a ground glass dome over this lamp.
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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appendix - G Charlotteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s results
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Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
appendix - G Ruudâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s results
Final report: Growing light system - Unda Charlotte van der Sommen B2.2
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