Final Project PechaKucha.: Ayo Olubeko

Final Project Proposal.: Ayo

Viu-It's Alive!

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Project Vision

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The goal of this project is to facilitate a playable experience using audio, video animation and the human body as mediums. To this end, participants will engage with the project by walking, jumping and running around an interactive room to explore what secrets it offers and the subtle ways it comes alive.

Similar Previous Work

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The inspiration for this project is the idea of giving a form or voice to the mundane and largely invisible. As such, here is a sampling of projects I believe accomplished this idea very well:

Electricity Comes from Other Planets
Creators: Fred Deakin, Nat Hunter, Marek Bereza, James Bulley for Joue Le Jeu(Play Along) exhibition.

Propinquity
Creators: Lynn Hughes, Bart Simon, Jane Tingley, Anouk Wipprecht, Marius Kintel, Severin Smith
Mogees - Play the world
Creator: Bruno Zamborlin at Embodied AudioVisual Interaction team (EAVI), Goldsmiths.

Implementation Details

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Anticipated Hardware

• Microsoft Kinect or available Depth camera
• Short-throw Projector
• Low-cost micro-controller
• Wireless RF modules: Xbee or Bluetooth
• 3-axis accelerometer
• Laptop computer
• RGB LEDs

Possible Gameplay Mechanics
My approach to the mechanics of the gameplay will be to use simple actions and behaviours that can scale in order to produce emergent complex behavior. This would produce the illusion that the environment is alive and responding to participant input.

Ninja: The goal is to avoid scan lines (radar pattern) that will be projected toward participants. It would encourage walking, running and jumping to evade the scan lines as they approach.

Single-Player Gameplay: The computer would project the scan lines that the lone user proceeds to evade from.
Multi-Player Gameplay: Participants generate these scan lines themselves and proceed to tag other participants who are free to evade or generate their own scan lines to cancel the approaching scan lines.

Human Synth: The goal is to create music by moving around the interactive room. This is achieved by mapping the 2D space of the room to frequency on one axis, and pitch on the other.

Single-Player Gameplay: The lone participant creates music by walking, running and jumping to different locations within the room.
Multi-Player Gameplay: Each new participant adds an ddditional instrument and effect to an unknown location in the room. Thus music-generation is now not only crowd-sourced, but involves moving around to various locations to discover what sound is produced.

Project Scope & Rough Timeline

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I will try to strictly adhere to the suggested timeline for final projects. Thus, the first two weeks will be devoted to brainstorming, and research. Development will begin in the third week leading into debugging and testing from week 5. The last week (week 8) will be devoted solely to appropriate documentation (video and otherwise).

Deliverables

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• LEDs enclosed within laser-cut cubes that can be activated remotely.
• Battle-tested gameplay mechanics
• Fully functioning software to enable Kinect to sense participants and project appropriate game information.
• Schematics, Documentation
• System Demo

Whisker V1, V2 & V3: Liang, Wanfang and Ayo

INTRODUCTION

Tasked with the project of making a whisker for a 'chinchilla/human hybrid', we set off on an epic journey of discovering what it means to be a 'whisker'. The only constraint that guided our exploration was the requirement that the whisker retain sensitivity to a physical input.

VERSION 1

Our initial prototypes were created by exploring the materials within the immediate vicinity of the Code Lab. We sought to give form to a whisker that would respond to touch input. The image on the left was created from a wooden stick, zip ties, gel beads, and a modified plastic bottle. The idea behind its operation was to capture touch by bending the structure one way or the other.  

The image in the middle was created using a gear recycled from a rabbit, plywood, a metal rod, and three springs. The idea behind its operation was to capture touch input in the springs and use this energy to rotate the structure. One idea that was bandied around was to attach a pencil to the end of the whisker and have it record the touches imparted to it on paper. The advantage of this whisker was its pleasant one-to-one mapping between input(touch) and output (shape deformation). This property served as fodder for the third prototype.   

The third prototype embodied the form we imagined for a whisker that would respond to touch input. It was created using five springs, paper, and a metal rod. Because of its use of lightweight construction materials, it deformed quite pleasantly when touched and evoked a 'jello' metaphor. However, our desire for more interactivity inspired the future iterations of the whisker.

VERSION 2

After feedback from our peers, that our whisker reminded them of lunar modules, we shifted our design focus to explore this concept a little bit more. This design utilized acrylic and electronics to create a whisker that would light up in response to touch input. The shape of the whisker was designed to be hexagonal in order to allow the modular connection of an arbitrary number of these whisker modules.

VERSION 3

Further feedback from our peers revealed that while the second iteration was enjoyable, it lost the interactive capabilities of the initial prototype. Thus, we sought to integrate these capabilities into this final version. We utilized 3d-printed parts (to make the structure more flexible than acrylic), a ping-pong ball to (diffuse the integrated LED and add a level of interactivity), a coil of wire, and four springs. While retaining the lunar module feel of the previous iteration, interactivity was added by programming behaviors into the whisker. Upon initial touch, the whisker emits a cool blue light, a sort of welcome to the user. If the whisker is still held for a period longer than approximately 2 secs, the whisker proceeds to emit a pulsing green light that signifies it is communicating with either the user, or another module. Now, if the whisker is bent or deformed from its original straight orientation, it emits a red light and begins to vibrate signifying that it is uncomfortable and angry. These additional behaviours breathed new life into the whisker, transforming it from a simple input-output sensor, to a seemingly complex thing with emotions and motivations.

Hardware: Teensy 2.0, Whisker(Wires), RGBLED, Motor, CapacitiveSensor is a library in Arduino, just using a wire and a large resister (10MOhm) can let the Teensy (Can write code in Ardunio) to get

analog signal of touch.

Design process video:

Final version demo:

CONCLUSION
We present a series of iteration processes for designing a whisker. Along with the process and calendar addressed in MTI, we practice sketch design, prototyping, laser cutting and 3D printing. To make whisker interactive, we also put some sensor technology there and produce digital outputs. The next step for this prototype focuses on two aspects:
1. Shape redesign.
2. Multiple whiskers communication.

Links:
Fabrication Package: https://github.com/EdigaHe/Whisker-Fabrication-Source-Files/tree/master
Capacitive Sensor: http://mtif13.blogspot.com/2013/10/about-capacitivesensor-in-ardunio.html 
Teensy: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11780
Teensy Source Code: https://github.com/wfdiao/CapacitiveSensorForArduinio/blob/master/CapacitiveSensorSketch/CapacitiveSensorSketch.ino

Looking Out.: Ayo, Sept 23.

Mogees - Play the world

Creator: Bruno Zamborlin at Embodied AudioVisual Interaction team (EAVI), Goldsmiths.
Link:: Mogees
Fields: HCI, Interactive Music, Technology, Audio-Visual Interaction
Description: Mogees lets artists to take advantage of everyday objects using them as musical instruments, breaking the boundaries between the physical and the digital world.
Technology: Piezo-Transducer, Mogees Software, Loudspeakers

Thoughts:

• I believe the simplicity of this project is it's greatest asset. Even though the project was birthed as a music generation and control tool, it slyly suggests a more interactive, maybe even curated future... How should my things react if I touched them on a wood surface, a glass surface, or even the surface of my skin? The value of this piece is the star-gazing question it inspires.

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NewsFlash

Creators: Grace Woo, Andy Lippman at the Viral Spaces Group, MIT Media Lab.
Link:: NewsFlash
Fields: HCI, Alternative Interfaces, Light-based Communication
Description: Newsflash shows a large display of screens which can be used in a public environment. Users can point their phone at a screen to get more data from the frontpages in front of them.
Technology: VRCodes, OCR, Human-perception, Light-based communication

Thoughts:

• Experiments in human and computer symbiosis always fascinate me, if not for the hidden traits they reveal about human-beings, then for their creepy uncanny-valley vibe. NewsFlash is an amazing forward-looking concept that introduces an exciting vision of the future. The premise is simple: what if an actual physical space or item encouraged/enhanced learning and discovery? The delivery on this premise? Rocksolid -- our physical objects become portals to information, not vicariously (where you have to click a link to discover new information), but in-situ, the object itself IS the information. Mind-blowing!

Looking Out.: Ayo, Sept. 16

Electricity comes from other planets

Creators: Fred Deakin, Nat Hunter, Marek Bereza, James Bulley for Joue Le Jeu(Play Along) exhibition.
Link:: Electricity
Fields: HCI, Interactive Art, Technology, Audio-Visual Installation
Description: Electricity Comes From Other Planets consists of eight large "planets" that react to people's movement within the space, generating both music and projected animations
Technology: Generative Programming, Kinect Sensors, Projection Mapping

Thoughts:

• "Wow! Just wow! Thank you!" This was a comment from one of the participants that interacted with the installation. Herein lies the value of the piece, the almost magical quality to transport the participant (no longer just a viewer, but an active particpant btw) into a childlike state of wonder, exploration and excitement. It is an ingenius method to combine the playfulness of the human body with the music generation/discovery process.
• Also, it is a good representation of Heather Kelly's concept of "playable experiences". In this regime, the purpose of games is redefined to not only be concerned about what people traditonally consider 'fun', but instead the pupose becomes "[to] systematically shape participation, using innate human motivation to guide actions".

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Propinquity

Creators: Lynn Hughes, Bart Simon, Jane Tingley, The Modern Nomads (Anouk Wipprecht, Marius Kintel, Severin Smith).
Link:: Video,Github
Fields: Haptics, Tangible Interfaces, HCI, Interactive Installation, Game-Body Interface
Description: Propinquity is a full-body game that is a hybrid between fighting and dancing games. Two players wear proximity sensors on different body parts and as they move to the music, different sensors patches on their bodies light up to indicate when they are active. The players attempt to get as close as possible to active patches on the other player’s body to score points. The longer s(he) can stay “in the sweet spot” (but without actually touching), the higher the resulting score.
Technology: Proximity Sensors, XBee sensor, 3-axis Accelerometer, RGB LEDs, Vibration Motors

Thoughts:

• In today's modern era inundated with screens of all sizes from mobile phones to large billboard displays, it is refreshing to see a display that shifts focus to a human body rather than a screen. This symbiosis between the natural human form and technology helps create an intensely social and physical experience. The underlying idea and message to be conveyed is simple: even though technology exists all around us, it need not be mundane and boring. The project succeeds in driving its message across - also it looks really cool! Any takers to building an MTI version?

Looking Out.: Ayo, Sept. 9th

Morphees: Shape-Changing Mobile Devices

Creators: Anne Roudaut, Abhijit Karnik, Markus Lochtefeld, Sriram Subramanian (Bristol Interaction and Graphics).
Link:: Morphees
Fields: HCI, Shape-Changing Mobile Devices, Technology
Description: Morphees are self-actuated flexible mobile devices that adapt their shapes on their own to the context of use in order to offer better affordances.
Technology: Dielectric Electro Active Polymers, Shape Memory Alloys (SMA), Geometric Shape Resolution (Non-Uniform Rational B-splines)

Thoughts:

• I love technologies that blur the line between physical and digital. The Morphees concept is a novel take on the idea of painting digital pixels in the physical world. The idea, postulating and experimenting with what properties and physical shape these dixels (digital pixels)? would take upon crossover to the physical world opens up new avenues for human-computer interaction and a generally rich, bright future.

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REVEL: Tactile Feedback Technology for Augmented Reality

Creators: Olivier Bau, Ivan Poupyrev (Disney Research, Pittsburgh).
Link:: Revel
Fields: Augmented Reality, Haptics, Tactile Displays, Tangible Interfaces, Touch Interactions
Description: REVEL is an augmented reality (AR) tactile technology that allows for change to the tactile feeling of real objects by augmenting them with virtual tactile textures using a device worn by the user.
Technology: Reverse Electrovibration

Thoughts:

• If there ever was a missing link to connect humans with the computers they possess, I believe this would be it. The technology seamlessly allows the blending of physical and digital worlds - now grasping and other natural human gestures would actually mean something. Magical!
• I believe this illustrates the future of computing and would love to see the numerous applications that are sure to spawn from this technology.

Looking Out.: Ayo, Sept. 2nd

Six-Forty By Four-Eighty

Creators: Jamie Ziegelbaum and Marcelo Coelho for the Design Miami/ Basel 2010 W Hotels Designer of the Future Award.
Link:: Six-Forty By Four-Eighty
Fields: Interactive Art, Design, Technology
Description: Six-Forty by Four-Eighty is an interactive lighting installation composed of an array of magnetic, physical pixels. Individually, pixel-tiles change their color in response to touch and communicate their state to each other by using a person's body as the conduit for information. When grouped together, the pixel-tiles create patterns and animations that can serve as a tool for customizing our physical spaces. By transposing the pixel from the confines of the screen and into the physical world, focus is drawn to the materiality of computation and new forms for design emerge.
Technology:
Personal Area Networks by T.G. Zimmerman: by capacitively coupling picoamp currents through the human body, digital information can be exchanged.
Drawdio by Jay Silver: allows people to draw resistive networks with a paintbrush, and modulate a sound output by touching different parts of the drawing.

Thoughts:

• Perhaps what struck me the most about the video was the role-reversal between human and computer. It is often the case that we need a computer to communicate with another person/human. However, in this video, the human person is the medium through which tiny micro-computers talk to each other -- an interesting take on HCI.
• The video inspires several exploratory thinking and what-if scenarios. I'll start: Imagine the possibilities when you are your own private cloud! :)
• I like the idea that interaction between computers and humans can still be magical. I have no idea how the installation was designed, but I would love to learn. (see Technology section above)

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Light Table

Creator: Chris Granger
Link: KickStarter Campaign, Current Iteration
Fields: Computer Software, Digital Creation
Description: Light Table is a new kind of IDE - a reactive work surface for the creation and exploration of our programs.
Technology: ClojureScript Programming Language

Thoughts:

• "My heart is in the work" - Andrew Carnegie. Those familiar with the current popular programming paradigms can appreciate the power of a reactive environment that responds as you code. It encourages exploration and experimentation that could previously only be dreamt of.
• I was reminded of the conversation we had in class about our current master woodsmith who wouldn't consider digital fabrication tools because they stripped away the creative process -- the conversation between tool and operator where "mistakes" are not errors, but instead doors to exploring previously unimagined creative spaces and interactions. I believe Light Table is a tool capable of accomplishing this creative conversation with in the realm of programming.

Whisker Evaluation: Liang, Wanfang, Ayo

Evaluation of Jake's whisker project

Overall, this device works like a detector, a sound maker, a touch sensitive convertor, or (according to Jake) an instrument. The whole installation uses Arduino board and piezo to map audio frequency to users' interaction with the whiskers. The users are engaged in playing with these whiskers to create diverse sounds. So it is a playable and interactive instrument.

The latest version adds audio feedback to the whisker system and redesigns the structure that they are no longer fixed on a base but suspended in the air. In addition, whiskers are mounted toward different directions which somehow makes the entire system dynamic. The audio mapping is brilliant but it will be better if these whiskers have different mappings with sound (like volume...). Compared with previous version, it lacks resonate which may make whisker more interactive and interesting. Although audio feedback is added in new system, the interactions between users and the whiskers stay consistent. 

The technology (Arduino, piezo, and speaker) is appropriate for this project. It is very simple, clean and smart. The first version's LED and other proper sensors can be added in this project. Alternatively, more tactile components like touch sensor or vibration sensor can be haptic input and output. As for the design of the shape or the look, it depends on the application and purpose of this installation. For example, whiskers can be earrings which is mobile and delicate, whilst they also can be huge, complicated and static exhibition device standing in the corner of a museum. We recommend that the design of next version should be more fancy and imaginative, may be more mobile or distributed.

Evaluation of our whisker project

We redesign the main body of the project with acrylic laser cutting method. We also add electronic part which enables the whisker to sense the touch via capacitive sensing. With a LED inside a pingpong ball, it lights up diffused blue light when someone touches the whisker, just like the heart of this creature. It lies a foundation for future communication among several devices. We hope to create little creatures that have the ability to communication, exchange information and interact with others.

The first version uses soft wood and springs and other plastic material to build three types of flexible prototypes. The simple and light configuration encourages users to touch it, move it, and interact with it, even though they do not have the digital feedback as that in the second version. The fixed and static shape and structure keeps users from playing with the whisker. On the other hand, the whisker cannot rotate as it performs in the first version, and this makes it less functional. In the future development, we should step back to empower more flexible attributes to the creature and make something more imaginative and interactive. Since the major task of the whisker we create is to establish communication and connection with multiple whiskers, we should keep both natural and simple design and various digital outputs. With the characteristics of materials and physical construction, we believe the design itself will offer a lot of affordances for users and other whiskers.

Based on the communication between multiple whiskers, it has a wide applications in the future. One example is to educate kids some simple concepts, like transitivity and combination. It is also a good kit for young children to explore the culture of communication through playing with these whiskers. In conclusion, it has a positive impact on children's recognition development and constructivism learning.

Whiskers V2: Liang, Wanfang, Ayo

Our project focuses on the connection among whiskers. We use laser cutting to assemble this little creature's shape. Capacitive sensing technology enables it to detect any touch from any conductive stuff. So multiple whiskers can communicate with each other by touching. The LED and the pingpong ball compose the heart of this creature. When you touch it, it will blink which means it knows the touch, thereby the connection.