Documentation of Development

DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

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DOCUMENTATION OF DEVELOPMENT

PROTOTYPING INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES

Juliana Vélez Duque / 40130960 / Napier University

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

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DOCUMENTATION OF DEVELOPMENT

PROTOTYPING INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES

Juliana Vélez Duque / 40130960 / Napier University

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

THE ARDUINO KIT/ COMPONENTS 44

TUMBLR : JUNTERACTIVE 5

CREATING THE FIRST CIRCUIT/ 1 LED 50

INTRODUCTION TO THE MODULE 6

BLINKING LIGHTS WITH ARDUINO 52

BASICS OF PROCESSING 10

RONALD THE LIGHT BUG 54

50 EXAMPLES OF INTERACTIONS 12

ASSESMENT: TANGIBLE TIME 58

INTRODUCING “INTERGERS” 16 WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER 18 OTHER ASSIGNMENTS 20 ADDING SOUND TO PROCESSING 21 5 INTERACTIONS WITH SOUND 22 ASSESMENT: GENERATIVE ART INSTALATION 26 BACKGROUND RESEARCH / SITE AND USER IMAGERY / CONTEXTUALIZING THE SOLUTION PROCESSING / USE OF TECHNOLOGY AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE / THE USER INSTALLATION / PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

28 30 34 36 38

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TIME AS AN ILLUSION 60 BRAILLE EMOTIONAL CLOCK / CONCEPT 62 WHY BRAILLE? 64 SOFTWARE 66 HARDWARE 68 PROTOTYPE 70 EXHIBITION 72

DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

TUMBLR : JUNTERACTIVE

The following portfolio has a complete documentation of the course “Prototyping Interactive Experiences”.

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Almost all of the contents reviewed in this document have javascript application and video outputs, which are not possible to display in this particular file. To see thes additional inforamation please look for the following icon: See this on TUMBLR

And it will take you to a direct link for the entry in the Tumblr blog.

http://junteractive.tumblr.com/

“Junteractive” is the sketch of this portfolio and can also be visited to see the entries.

It has been constructed throughout the semester and has essentially the same information you may find in this booklet.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

INTRODUCTION TO THE MODULE

In the field of contemporary digital design it is essential that designers consider their role exists in both the virtual and physical world. This module will give you a broad and detailed knowledge of both the tools and principles of experiential design for both the screen and physical space.

The relationship between the user and object, audience and artwork can form some memorable and impacting experience. To successfully produce an immersive designed experience we must employ more than just technical skills.

You will study and analyze technical tools for interaction, interaction and

experiential design precedents, and critical interpretation in relation to contemporary practice that will support your own practical visualization and modeling methods.

You will engage with developing skill in the visualization, application and function of interactive tools and experiential relationships in contemporary design practices in 2 & 3 dimensions, while gaining an understanding of the value of immersive interactions in digital art & design both culturally and contextually.

Analytical skill, visual understanding and practical knowledge will underpin the development of creative interactive, immersive and visual relationships in a range of design genres.

The range of projects given will include the application of interactive, designed solutions to screen, space and place.�

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Taken from the module description: “The Prototyping Interactive Experiences module will provide you with an introduction to the use of interactive softwares and hardwares, basic electronics and the development of skill and knowledge in the practice and visualization of interaction and experience design in various design genres.

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DECODE - Digital design sensations

RAIN ROOM - Random international

Technology is able to create organic relationships with users, such as sensations. Being able to program this interactions gives us the possibility to expect what the user can gain in return for their experience.

Interaction design is focused on the experience the user gets from the installation o product that it perceives.

The responses we get from them are a result of the understanding and purpose we put into our designs.

SOFTWARE / PROCESSING GUIDED DEVELOPMENT AND SELF DIRECTED EXPLORATION

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

BASICS OF PROCESSING

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In the beginning we started the module, the first topic was about the meaning of an interface.

As we began coding in Proccesing, we used the traditional interfacing that we knew already.

The result of this was creating fast prototypes using the mouse and keyboard to get an interactive response.

In the beginning we started giving static values to the shapes and backgrounds me programed in processing.

With this tools we were able to create not moving sketches that responded to a certain location in the screen, and that were filled or stroked with a determinate color.

As certain variables of the code are changed with non-static values, such as the position of the mouse, the result you get in the sketch is more interactive.

The user can get a sense of control or randomness depending on where the variables MouseX and MouseY are positioned

DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

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See this on TUMBLR

Relating differente shapes and colors to the mouse position can give a very chaotic result.

In this case, the ellipses are control with the mouseX and mouseY. Some variables relate to their fill and opacity, and others to the size and proportions.

By using comands like “Mouse Pressed�, processing is able to recognize this action and act in response.

In this example when the mouse is pressed the fill and the background of the ellipses are changed to a light green.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

50 EXAMPLES OF INTERACTIONS

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We were asked to create a video about 50 examples of interactions between humans and mobile technologies, humans and space, and technologically enhanced spaces. After we have done the video, we analyzed one from someone in our class and created 5 prototypes that emulated some interaction that we saw on the video.

After reviewing the video from http://msuarezo.tumblr.com/ (50 examples of interactions), 5 prototypes were created using Processing. Each interaction takes an example of the video and tries to reproduce it.

PLASMA GLOBE The Plasma Globe gives an illusion of constant beams of light which focus on your hand when you touch the globe.

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See this on TUMBLR

SUBSTRACTIVE COLOR MIXING

COLORING LASER

Subtractive color theory is used in many applications. The challenge here was to create the 7 colors that are possible.

As light was coming from different directions, it was a little bit tricky.

The laser beam is used to make drawings on a screen.

To draw use your left button. To start over press right button.

Drawing in different areas of the screen creates different colors.

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

MIRROR CAMERA

KALEIDOSCOPIC DRAWING

A mirror camera reflects the image that it captures, thus creating an illusion of mirror image.

Kaleidoscopic drawing creates an illusion of multiple reflection as you trace your mouse around the drawing area.

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Being the last one to create, the kaleidoscopic drawing sketch was the most successful among the blog’s followers.

Some of them (meaning: my friends) sent me their creations.

A good development for this sketch would be to make it able to record th e drawings people make once they have finished.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

INTRODUCING “INTERGERS”

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An integer (more commonly called an int) is a number without a decimal point. By using “intergers” in the programming of our sketchs, it is possible to create a variable that is related to a certain number. Giving the variable a name gives us the hability to manipulate it’s value along the sketch.

In the example above, the interger“diameter” is given a value The “diameter” value is constant in this moment, as we that then relates to the size of the circle and its coloring. defined it in the beggining of our sketch. Changes in color and size are related to the mouseX position.

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See this on TUMBLR

However, the interger of “diameter” can be modified throughout the sketch as we add a “diameter = diameter + 1” line in our programming. This means that each time the program reads the code, it is going to increase the value of diameter + 1.

Creating more and more intergers in our programming gives us more control in our prototyping. By adding “if” conditions and “Switchs” it is possible to change the interger is being interpreted by the program. In this example, the value of positionX is increasing until it reaches the limit position. A switch is trigered by this coordenate and then the value of positionX will start to decrease.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER

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Doing some reasearch around campus, it was easy to find a lot of interactiones between humans and machines. One of the most common situations is the response you get from the automatic door as you push the button. However, this experience is not very engaging.

The purpose of the prototype was to create a more direct interaction between the user and the door itself. For inspiration a fragment of the movie “Aladdin” (Disney) was used.

What if the door suddenly wanted to know who you are?

When we start analyzing how people relate to technological objects in the faculty, it was very easy to see that routine makes people unaware of the object or elements that surround them. As a conclusion, I determined that the best way to design the interaction was to take people out of their normal routine

Taking the clasical scene from the cave of wonders, when Alladin is asked by the entrace “Who disturbs my slumber”, as inspiration for this design.

It might be a fun way to get people to show their student card at the entrance when the University is closed.

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See this on TUMBLR

The common interaction between this type of door and the user is to simply push the button and keep moving towards the door.

In the new interaction the button triggers a projection of the tiger in the entrance, and sound is activated.

The door will ask “who disturbs my slumber?�

And then people can show their ID card to the scanner.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

OTHER ASSIGNMENTS

See this on TUMBLR

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During the course we had to make other assignments to keep practicing and learning more about processing. One of them was creating a perspective and the other one was creating a sketch using Pimage.

PERSPECTIVE

MOVING CITY

Creating a perspective illusion by associating lines to a variable rectangle.

Using images loaded into processing. First attemp to create a click and drag image on processing.

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See this on TUMBLR

ADDING SOUND TO PROCESSING

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For uploading sound into processing we used de Minim.

“Minim is an audio library that uses the JavaSound API, a bit of Tritonus, and Javazoom’s MP3SPI to provide an easy to use audio library for people developing in the Processing environment.”

We started by establishing the areas of control for the music in our sketch.

After we defined the different buttons by giving them different colors.

Finally we added to music to processing and stipulated in which coordenates the sound was going to be loaded.

As a result, we get to control when the music is loaded depending on where the mouse is pressed in the sketch.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

5 INTERACTIONS WITH SOUND

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After learning how to add sounds into processing, we were asked to create 5 different interactions. 4 of them are displayed here, the complete 5 interactions are in the Tumblr Junteractive.

The processing files with the Minim library would not work on the open processing page. To view the videos of the interactions please refer to the tumblr.

I started with something really simple, that is a sound that activates itself when you press the mouse button.

In this type of interaction the user is given control with the button and the triggering action.

Another use of this is the sketch of the twilight zone which gives the impression that the sound is comming out of the door as you open it.

Left click to open the door, Right click to close it.

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See this on TUMBLR

Further applications of the sound can be used without the need to press the mouse. You can trigger the sounds depending on the position of the cursor in the screen.

The first example of this is the Rabbit hopping over the fence.

The sound will only be reproduced if the cursor is below certain mouseY values.

A more complex example of this is the Mario interaction. the coin will only apper when Mario is in the correct place. For this it was necessary to restrain the values both in mouseX and mouseY. This way the user has the impression that Mario can move across the screen and interact with its environment,

ASSIGNMENT 1 / GENERATIVE ART THE FIRE DOOR

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

ASSESMENT: GENERATIVE ART INSTALATION See this on TUMBLR

“Design a generative art installation within the prescribed space. This project will require an investigation into the space. It will require consideration for, how it is used, who it is used by, what the purpose of the space is, amongst other things.

The projected intallation should consider elements such as colour, shapes, static and dynamic elements with regard to the psychology and user/audience experience of the space.�

Supporting Designed Document Background Research relating to site and user/ audience Consideration for imagery contextualizing your solution Evidence of appropriate use of technology (Processing) Consideration for the user/audience experience(s) Evaluation of practical considerations for installation

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As stated in the brief:

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

BACKGROUND RESEARCH / SITE AND USER The site for the installation is a small passage connecting the design and music schools. As it is very narrow and enclosed, its usage is only practical. It works as a nice shortcut beetwen spaces, but nothing more.

The challenge in the interactive experience is to make this space a “must see” in the campus.

FIRE DOOR Page(28);

PROJECTION WALL

TRANSIT OF THE SPACE

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The doors that separate both spaces are marked with: “Fire door keep shut” and “ Automatic fire door keep clear”.

The ironical situation is that the doors seem to be always open.

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FIRE DOOR

CLASSROOM

DESIGN AND MUSIC

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

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IMAGERY / CONTEXTUALIZING THE SOLUTION

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

The concept behind “fire door� was to create an space that appeared to be filled with fire and the doors, being fire doors, containing it. It would also work as an excuse to keep the door closed, as it is specified in the caution words the doors already have.

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Even though that was the initial idea, the projection space proved to be very small for accomplishing this effect with only one projector. The usage of a spherical mirror could be contemplated, but they are hard to find and very expensive.

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

PROCESSING / USE OF TECHNOLOGY

For the “Fire door” sketch, PImages of the example were changed and 2 other particle systems were added as well. The emitter of the particles moves randomly in the X axis giving the impression that fire and rain are produced along the whole screen simultaneously.

The particle system changes in time to give the effect that the fire is consuming because of the rain.

The speed of the particles is controlled with the seconds of the clock from the computer, making the value smaller of bigger.

The higger the speed of the particle, the further it will get along the screen.

The rain and the fire have opposite time controls, this is why the rain seems harder when the fire is

at it’s lowest.

Changes made with the second command of processing allow the transformation of the fire to occur very quickly, making it easy for the passerby to notice the difference and engage him into stay longer.

PARTICLE 1

PARTICLE 2

PARTICLE 3

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For the programming of the interaction, the particle system example that comes with processing was used. This sketch allows the appearance of particles in random sizes and speeds, which gives the effect of light, or fire in this case.

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE / THE USER

The idea behind this concept is that the doors are to remain closed at all time. When the door is opened by someone who wants to pass by, the opening will trigger the beggining of the interaction.

This response will give to the audience a song (�I set fire to the rain� by Adele) and will inmediatelly start the projection of the fire. As a reaction to this experience the user might stay a little longer to see how the fire developes.

Since there is also a wall on the other side, two projectors can be set with the same interaction.

This way, te experience can have place no matter from which direction the user comes from.

After the song is completed the interaction will stop, waiting for the next passerby who tries to open the door to go through.

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As the first considered space was to small for the projection, a secondary location mas chosen.

The wall that is directly in front of the first space is appropiate for the projection of the sketch and gives a better visualization of the interaction.

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

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INSTALLATION / PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

After reviewing the space and the electrical outlets, the position of the projectors was decided.

Since the projectors are located in the upper part of the doors, close to the ceiling, people can stand in front of it without casting a shadow on the animation.

Although this is only from the point of view of the door frame, if the user gets closer to the wall it will disturb the light beam from the projector.

However, the interference between the light beam and the wall can create also very interesting images, and could provide very artistic photographs of the installation.

WALL

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PROJECTOR

FIRE DOOR

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PROJECTOR

FIRE DOOR

WALL

SOFTWARE / ARDUINO GUIDED DEVELOPMENT AND SELF DIRECTED EXPLORATION

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

THE ARDUINO KIT/ COMPONENTS From the Arduino page: “Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software.”

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The first exercise after receiving our Arduino kits, was to start getting familiarized with its parts.

STARTER KIT FOR ARDUINO ONE

ARDUINO UNO BOARD and its USB CABLE

“The kit includes a selection of the most common and useful electronic components”

Arduino board is a microcontroller board.

USB cable for plugin it into the computer.

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See this on TUMBLR

BREADBOARD

SOLID CORE JUMPER WIRES

A breadboard is used to build circuits allowing current to travel along every hole.

The allows the user to control where to put the current, thus creating circuits.

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

RESISTORS

LED LIGHTS

The Arduino kit comes with 7 different types of resistors.

220 ohm ,560 ohm, 1 kilohm, 4.7 kilohm, 10 kilohm, 1 megaohm and 10 megaohm.

The kit has red and green LED lights and 1 RGB LED.

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180 POSITION SERVO MOTOR

SWITCHES AND PUSHBUTTONS

The servo motor that comes with the Arduino kit is able to recognize position and give a 180 dregrees movement. It does not give complete turns.

The switches control the current passing in the circuit. They are used to engage an action with a mechanical effort.

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

Photoresistor Potentiometer Buzzer Tilt sensor ECT

9V BATTERY SNAP The battery snap allows the Arduino board to be powered by batteries instead of the USB port.

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CAPACITORS

I have no idea what this is...

Blocking, Coupling, decoupling, Bypassing RFI for automotive

Guidance: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoStarterKit

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

CREATING THE FIRST CIRCUIT/ 1 LED

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After understanding the components of the Arduino Kit, the fist approach was to creat a circuit to turn on a LED light.

The Arduino software is not necessary in this excersise because the LED is powered by the current from the 5 volts output of the Arduino.

Two cables are connecting the breadboard to the Arduino.

These are the 5v and ground outputs.

This first two are the one that get the circuit working.

After stablishing the first two wires, we put the resistor and the LED light.

We have to assure the LED is well positioned towards the resistor.

DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

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See this on TUMBLR

Finally we conclude by closing the curcuit with a wire connected to the ground.

After the circuit is finished we plug the Arduino board to the computer using the USB adapter.

RESULT: The LED is on!

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

BLINKING LIGHTS WITH ARDUINO

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For the blinking lights exercise we used the circuit of the LED that we had already built, and then uploaded an example from the Arduino library callled “Blink”.

The blink program allows the arduino to control the time a LED is on or off wich a digital output.

After finishing the circuit we plugged the Arduino and uploaded the program “blink” from the example Library.

The blinking LED is connected to the 13 pin, wich controls the digital output the arduino is running on the board. digitalWrite(led, HIGH); The LED is on digitalWrite(led, LOW); The LED is off

DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

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See this on TUMBLR

By adding another LED to a different pin, it is possible to control both lights individually.

Both pins are set to OUTPUT, because the Arduino is sending information instead of receiving.

The final result were 3 different LED lights controlled with 3 different pins. As an excercise we were asked to program our name in Morse code. However, the video from this exercise got lost.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

RONALD THE LIGHT BUG For our first team project, we had to create an object that would interact with light.

Using a light sensor and a Servo motor, we programmed a prototype named Ronald.

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Ronald the bug stands still when the light is too bright, but when it is dim the servo starts moving and 2 LED lights are turned on (the eyes).

First the circuit for the light sensor is positioned in the arduino and a code is written to read the values that the sensor is printing.

The pin is set to be an INPUT because the Arduino is receiving information from an external element.

After we attached the servo to the circuit and powered it with the 5 volt output in the breadboard.

The servo motor has a Signal wire, which allows it to communicate with the Arduino and receive orders from the program.

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DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

For the prototype we put the servo at the bottom for it to act as a leg. In the upper part there is the Arduino board and the breadboard taped together.

For te outter shell we created a horrible box (with horrible wings) that covered the Arduino and its components.

For an actual prototype, the shell would have to be designed to make it appealing to the user.

ASSIGNMENT 2 / TANGIBLE TIME BRAILLE EMOTIONAL CLOCK

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

ASSESMENT: TANGIBLE TIME

As stated in the brief:

Considerations

“You must design a new visual experience for telling the time. It must have an element of interactivity and response with the user/users.

The key to this brief is not only how you visualise the display of time but how the users actions create a responsive, immersive experience. There are vast possibilities to how you may approach the delivery of this information. A successful outcome will be well informed, researched and tested.

Your design should be well researched, considered and informed.

A synopsis of your final design concept is required.

The final prototype must have some level of interactivity with the user/users.

You must employ the use of processing and arduino to obtain your designed outcome.

A well resolved functioning prototype of your final concept is expected.

Consider branding and placement of your design as a gallery installation.

You may incorporate external user interfaces into your design.

Using processing and arduino to achieve your outcome there are many methods and mediums and methods you might utilise to achieve you results. Remember that you are not limited by the confines or the screen, the keyboard, the mouse or even the size of the room you are exhibiting in. This is a prototype and may propose a bigger installation in both and physical and/or online space.”

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See this on TUMBLR

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

“The basic intuition of our approach is that the experience of time can depend on the emotional valence of events or situations that people anticipate. For instance, when a person anticipates an event that generates a positive emotion, say spending the next holidays on a sunny beach in the Maldives, she may experience impatience and feels that these longingly awaited holidays may never arrive - that is, the anticipated duration expands. On the other hand, if this same person faces a negative event some time in the future, such as a difficult exam, she feels anxiety and time seems to fly up to this event and it feels to her as if the exam would arrive too quickly. Hence, the sensation is as if time contracts. This “time experience” is indeed supported by evidence from psycho-physiology and neurobiology.

Time, therefore, is not exogeneous to the individual, it is elastic, and this will be influenced by the emotion the person experiences.”1 1 Changing Time and Emotions, Pierre-Yves Geoffard & Stéphane Luchini, September 2007

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TIME AS AN ILLUSION

When people have a positive expectation towards an event in the future, the feeling of impatience can cause time to expand.

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Time is said to be a very accurate way to measure events and facts. However, as it is stated in the article “Changing time and Emotions” by Pierre-Yves Geoffard and Stéphane Luchini; the perception we have of time can variate according to the emotional response we have to it.

We feel as if time flows going from present to past, and on into the future. But time as a precise measure in physics is not perceived in relation to people or particular subjects. They do not express which events are happening “right now” in what we consider our tangible present.2

On the other hand, when having a negative expectation towards an event, the feeling of anxiety will cause it to contract, thus appearing shorter.

What we can conclude about this is that human beings relation to time and it’s mathematical significance are different. People cannot separate their conscious mind from their biological self.

Therefore, the experience of time isn’t detached from the emotions and expectations people feel.

With this premise we approach our design concept, understanding that when building an emotional clock, it should respond to the user and not to the theorical measure of time.

2 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-time-anillusion

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

BRAILLE EMOTIONAL CLOCK / CONCEPT

Since the concept of time can seem somehow flexible, it is only logical that an emotional clock that is linked to people should be flexible too.

As people get closer to the clock and pay more attention to it, the clock will go slower. This creates a feeling of impatience in the person who is observing the object.

However, as the clock detects someone in the distance it will start going faster. This may cause anxiety on people who do notice this.

The clock is also accompanied with a set of pulsing lights that pick on the speed of the “seconds”, making it even easier to recognize when the clock is going faster or slower.

When there is no one in the room for the clock to interact with, it will simply go on like a regular clock, ticking every second, minute and hour like is due.

NUMBER SYMBOL IN BRAILLE

FIRST DIGIT

SECOND DIGIT

For reading the clock, each disk has a set of holes and indentations that correspond to a certain number in braille.

The first line is the symbol of number, the second one is the first digit and the third one is the second digit.

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The “Braille emotional clock” is thought to interact with the space and the people that are passing. Wether the person wants to directly interact with the clock, or simply walk by it, the clock will create a response to the situation.

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SECONDS

HOURS

MINUTES

The clock is composed by 3 disk floating in a wooden base.

Their are 3 beams of light showing the corresponding secods, minutes and hours. The disks rotate to accomodate the numbers to the beam of light. The design of the clock is not made to be practical but beautiful1.

1  Beauty undestood as an aesthetical concept: That causes emotion on the beholder.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

WHY BRAILLE?

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We chose braille as the lenguage for the clock because visually impaired people don’t have the same perception of time as someone with fully functioning sight. The concept of day and night associated with the existance of light is less important and other factors start determining how they understand time. Although the clock is not thought to be for blind people it is including.

Blind people can read the disc by touching it and feeling the temperature caused by the beam of light.

In the prototype this was not accomplished because the LED lights don’t radiate enough heat, but in a fully functioning product, this problem would be solved.

The fading lights and bright colors from the protoype are thought to help people who are visually impaired but not blind. They are able to recognize changes in light and some of them are able to recognize bright colors such as orange.

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1 = 2.5

1 = 0.5

1=1

The sensor has a maximun range of 2 metters.

When someone is 50 close to the watch every second equals 2.5 seconds.

When someone is 1.5 metters or further appart, every second equals 0.5 second.

Finally, when there is no one in the range of the sensor, every second equals 1 second.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

The programming and circuits was my part of the project, the building and prototyping was assigned to my other team members. Design and conceptualization was a joined effort.

The clock’s prototype is operating with 3 full rotation servo motors that can’t be position programmed. This means the accuracy of the prototype is not very high.

Although accomplishing a precise position was not possible, recreating the movement of an actual clock was achieved.

The coding in the “Braille emotional clock” is divided into two Arduino boards, one master and one slave. The master Arduino is the one attached to the sensor, and is the one controlling the motors. The other Arduino controls the set of LED pulsing lights, and receives information from the master Arduino. To communicate both Arduino boards it was necessary to use the wire library and the SCL and SDA pins of the Arduino. In the final prototype the communication within boards wasn’t working for some unknown reason.

The strategy to get the 3 servos working together

was to relate them to one another. The whole movement of the clock is determinated by the code of the “Seconds” servo. At the end of the code there is a Counter adding 1 unit to the interger. “if” conditions were assigned to control the movement of the other two motors.

Whenever the counter is divided by 60 (minutes variable) or 3600 (hours variable) and the result of the remainder is cero, the corresponding servo makes a turn.

The movement of the motors is programmed with simple “write” and “delay” commands. To control the speed of the clock in relation to the sensor, the delay value that responds to the second was made an interger. This interger varies depending of the values that are being read by the sensor, causing the clock to slow down or speed up.

For the pulsing lights, the code was taken from the “fade” example. Again, the delay that controls the pulsing of the lights was associated to the interger of the sensor, making it pulse at the same rate of the motors. For the final prototype a problem with voltage made it impossible for the light to pulse properly.

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SOFTWARE

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DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

MASTER ARDUINO

SLAVE ARDUINO

Controls the 3 servo motors, the ultrasonic sensor and sends information to the slave Arduino board.

Reads information from the master Arduino and controls the pulsing lights. The pulsing lights are using the digital pins that can mimic an analog output.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

HARDWARE

As it has been stated, the servo motors used for this project cannot be position programmed.

This means they do not real accurate values of position and can’t write movement in degrees.

Even though the code for the servo is the same command (servo.write) the result in the hardware is different.

In this type of servo the “write” command controls the speed and direction of the rotation of the motor. Values go from 0 to 180. the 90 value is the stopping position, in which the motor should stay still. 0 and 180 are the fastest speeds, one turning clockwise and the other counterclockwise.

The motors have to be regularly calibrated to guarantee the still position at 90.

The LED light powered by the Arduino are divided into the analog outputs of the board.

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The mechanism of the clock is composed by 3 full rotation servos and an ultrasonic sensor (powered by one master Arduino), 10 fading leds (powered by a slave Arduino), 1 breadboard and 2 sets of LEDS lights (powered by AA batteries).

DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

ULTRASONIC SENSOR

MASTER ARDUINO Page(69);

SERVO 1 BREADBOARD

SLAVE ARDUINO

SERVO 3 SERVO 2

LED LIGHTS

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

PROTOTYPE

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For the prototype we used the laser cutter from the university and vector-based files. The reason why we used it is because we needed a precise position for the center of the circle and also because the complexity of the design. The explanation board was laser indented to create a texture for the braille part.

All the electronic components were attached to the wooden base of the prototype

For the disks and the outer edges of the box we used translucent acrylic.

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DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

For the explanation board we used plywood that could be laser indented

The base of the clock is made with special plywood made for laser cutting.

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

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EXHIBITION

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DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

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DOCUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCES

Napier University / 12 - 2013