Abe biotopia jeroen hol jesse meijers bram naus pepijn verburg
Abe A warm, loving companion who is looking for a home. Abe is 85cm tall and was born with three flexible torsos. He is ready to enlighten your life with its photogenic body. However, he has a dark secret and anxiously tries to hide it‌
2 Module Biotopia | 12-09-2014 | Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg
Abe loves attention. Abe needs attention. Abe craves for attention.
3 Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg | 12-09-2014 | Module Biotopia
Process Overview
Drug addict
Character Traits
5. Creating Softw
T w hre ith e op Tor en so in s gs
1. Exploring Personalities
3. Initial Embodiment 4 Module Biotopia | 12-09-2014 | Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg
4. Integrating and Emb
ar
tw of /S
s ne e
g Personality bodiment
Ge
g the brain ware
Abe withouth input
Controllable
6. Building Hardware
7. Tweaking
Abe
8. Biotope 5 Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg | 12-09-2014 | Module Biotopia
1. Exploring personalities
2. Defining personality
A shortlist of 25 extreme characters and people was made to get started. This shortlist was meant as an inspiration source and gave the creation of Abe a guideline to refer back to during the design process.
From the shortlist of extreme characters, four had been selected. The final decision was made based on personal interests of the team as well as the perceived possibility of translating this personality into character traits which could be expressed physically and digitally. The ‘drugaddict’ became our focus.
5. Creating the brain software
6. Building hardware
It was a challenge to make the brain aware of the properties of its physical shape. In the Arduino environment is was possible to use gradual change and mathematical principles (e.g. easing) to get the most out of the embodiment through the brain.
The hardware consists of an arduino, several servo’s, a microphone, an accelerometer, a LDR and several LEDs. All these components add a new dimension to Abe’s behaviour. The servo’s express calmness or anxiety, the microphone and the LDR suppresses Abe’s addiction and the LEDs express Abe’s attention to the outside world. Together with the placement in the physical shape this gives multiple parameters to play with.
6 Module Biotopia | 12-09-2014 | Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg
3. Initial embodiment
4. Integrating personality
The first iteration on embodiment started with three stacked, short cylinders with eyes. Each were able to open and close, depending on the internal processes of the lamp. Every movement would be controlled by servos and would therefore have been fully programmed digitally.
The personality and embodiment were not aligned yet in this stage as the movement was too mechanically driven. Therefore the team looked at how material behaviour and placing could add to the integration of the two. Elastics were added to the design, to create an uncontrollable factor to the design (drug addiction). This required less servo control and made the eventual design more anthropomorphic and peaceful.
7. Tweaking
8. Biotope
In the tweaking phase all the hardware was put together. By running several tests, we worked towards a seamless integration of hardware and software. Especially the human-product interaction appeared to be a challenge. Overtime analysis provided the team with a fair solution to identify whether a human figure is interacting with Abe.
The biotope consists of humans and other biotopians. What the team envisioned was an unexpected play between the biotopians through several types of input and output. However, the biotopians were not sufficiently adapted to each other during the process of creating Abe. Abe especially likes human figures and still needs an extra iteration to get more familiar with other types of biotopians.
7 Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg | 12-09-2014 | Module Biotopia
Character Overview
8 Module Biotopia | 12-09-2014 | Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg
Abe´s Reaction Overview
9 Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg | 12-09-2014 | Module Biotopia
Mathematics of Abe Need Level Curvature
Personality Curvature The personality of Abe is programmed to change gradually and eased: from overdosed to normal to needy. All these transitions are based on the pre-calculated need level (see previous paragraph).
need
y = x1,5 xc
y = x5
time
Parameters such as movement speed and distance of the top motor behaviour gradually increase when the need level gets higher. Some behaviours have tipping points implemented on specific need level values.
The need level defines Abe’s behaviour and personality. The need level increases over time but is influenced by the crowd around Abe. The crowd is defined as a difference of light and sound relative to it’s callibration value. A higher difference results in a higher ‘c’. A higher exponent, c, results in a more explosive expression of Abe’s addiction later in time. The parameter c is always mapped between 1,5 and 5,0.
10 Module Biotopia | 12-09-2014 | Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg
11 Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg | 12-09-2014 | Module Biotopia
Application Context By tweaking Abe’s reaction to the biotope he is in and by tailoring his behaviour, his presence can be used in a wide variety of settings. A couple of them will be described shortly. A Light Companion
Light control
Abe wants attention and will ask for it when it doesn’t receive any. This will be especially noticeable when his owner will is gone for quite a while. On returning the owner will give him his much needed attention, a caring action from user towards Abe. By doing this, Abe can transcend from being just a lamp to being the fun loving creature who needs you to come home.
A bigger change to Abe would be to step away from Abe’s character leading the interaction to the user creating a character. The user could create a mild and slow character for a light when the user is watching TV or could create ‘nervous’ and energetic behaviour when guests are over. The flexibility of the embodiment
A Focus Distraction
and therefor the interaction is very suitable for such an approach and would stimulate the user’s creativity in interaction with Abe.
Abe lives in his own world where he doesn’t notice the stress you’re having. When the urge is too high, Abe will catch your attention and request calming. This forces the user to shift focus for a second and to have a short change of ‘scenery’. This behaviour can be applicable in working situations, classrooms, or during leisure activities to notify the user of the passing of time. In order to make this work, Abe must learn when his behaviour becomes ‘unbearable’ and act accordingly. 12 Module Biotopia | 12-09-2014 | Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg
13 Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg | 12-09-2014 | Module Biotopia
Abe 14 Module Biotopia | 12-09-2014 | Jeroen Hol, Jesse Meijers, Bram Naus, Pepijn Verburg