learning the ropes

- Finished rewriting Arduino code to send sensor data to MAX/MSP as NoteOn/NoteOff messages. This patch takes the NoteOn message(s) sent from the shoes and can remap them to different note numbers so it is not necessary to modify the Arduino code every time we want to change the sounds.

- We’ve been destroying FSRs. The tiny staples which make contact with the conductive layer of the FSR fall off if too much heat or pressure is applied.

- Discussed strain relief for FSRs. Lisa is going to call Interlink to see if we can get replacements for free. (see 11/12 notes for picture of initial strain relief Prototype)

- Crimped modular connectors (RJ-11?) onto the ends of phone cable. We are planning to use these connectors and jacks to improve the reliability of our system. These will replace the stripped wires plugged directly into the breadboard.

I took a short movie of Kelly walking across the kitchen, opening the door, and walking through it. The motion of her forearms created a 3-dimensional volume which I rendered in aluminum and brass tubing joined with aircraft cables.

On Thursday night I brought the structure home on the bus and found it to be quite the conversation starter. It was interesting to watch people watching me.

Design Process

Near completion

The Structure

(from Lisa)

We continue to work on the housing for the sensor. We explore other
options to the lucite house, as the machining of it really time
consuming. We go back to the lucite housing, and retest the sensor to
make sure it still works. Michael does some stomping. It still works.

The question is as to whether this housing will last long-term as
built. The area with the solder seems to be the new vulnerable spot.
(Before the “ vulnerable spot” was the connector.) Will our strain
relief stand the test of time?? Stay tuned patient viewers..

We decide to create 2 versions, one is as described above, the other
is heat shrinked.
We are almost ready for user testing! Woo-hoo.. We still need to
attach them to the shoes, and will be attaching one to the front left
and the other to the front right, and seeing which is the victor, in
the test of durability.

(notes from Lisa)
Making a really robust flex sensor and a package to contain it.
The task at hand is how to house the sensors so that the “tail” will
be protected, and still function.
We start using a perf board, then put heat shrink tubing on the
sensors in order to that the contacts were secured.

We are looking to cut a hole out of the lucite blocks.
The idea is to make a channel through it to protect the top of the
sensor from being stamped and stepped and stomped on.
So we attach the female header to the perf. board, and solder it on.

I don’t like that I can’t make a clean square cut with the dremmel
tool on the lucite-housing.

Lisa, Hatti, and I are in the planning (some might say “requirements gathering”) stage of our Physical Computing midterm project.

We have been brainstorming and brainstorming more, but haven’t committed to an idea yet.

I have a really hard time thinking up little programming sketches that don’t turn into really involved projects. I almost prefer helping others write their code so I can learn from the ideas they are trying to implement.

This week, I created some water droplets. In the process, I found a really obscure compiler error. Word to the wise: don’t use “#define” in Processing. It doesn’t work and the message the compiler returns (something dealing with “webcolor” and “preproc” is not at all helpful in narrowing things down. James Kolstad and I stared at this for a while before I commented out just about every line of my program.

The Interaction:
The driver for Community Lines operates the controls in the cockpit of the Gate 51 minibus.

Setting:
The Gate 51 Bus which I ride to the Port Authority Bus Terminal

Physical Orientation:
The driver is seated

Background:
Each minibus has a personality of its own. The whole fleet of them is a motley crew — inside and out. I do not know who decorates these vehicles (whether the driver or a separate interior designer). They are not as colorful as I have heard their counterparts in India are, but nevertheless each seems optimized for the comfort and personality of the driver.

My Assumptions:
I assumed (and hoped) that the bus driver would pay attention to the road and traffic rather adjusting the many controls within his reach.

Quick Sketch of the Interaction Area:

- The areas of greatest activity were the steering wheel and the passenger door handle.

- While driving in New Jersey prior to entering the Lincoln Tunnel, the driver rested his right hand on the passenger door handle. He frequently opened and closed the door to allow passengers to enter and exit the bus. His right hand remained on the steering wheel except when he was counting money.

- A metal plate above the passenger door handle prevented it from opening unexpectedly. This locking mechanism required the driver to bend his hand forward so he could release the catch with his thumb before opening the door by swinging his arm out away from his body and towards the passenger door. This motion was very fluid.

- As riders exited the bus, the driver collected their money and inserted it into the slot between the air conditioning vent and the vent’s trim ring. To secure the dollar bills there, he pushed in the right side of the vent so it squashed the money against the trim ring. This is an innovation I had not seen on other bus trips.

- I could not perceive that the driver payed any attention to the engine monitor. He neither looked at it nor pressed any of the buttons on it. I had wondered on an earlier trip what the device was and spent most of the ride trying to figure out the pattern of the numbers on its display. Neither the engine monitor nor the lighting control panel appeared to be part of the original equipment of the minibus. Both appeared to have been bolted onto the dashboard after the vehicle had been purchased.

- Unlike other buses I have ridden, this one did not contain a radio. The trip was quite quiet except for the occassional bleep from the driver’s cell phone. I believe he stored his cell phone somewhere along the door to his right. After we exited the Lincoln Tunnel in Manhattan, he picked up the phone after it bleeped at him.

- Having read CH 1 of the Design of Everyday Things (Norman), I was mindful of the design of the climate controls in the minibus. Even from a distance, it was clear where the controls were set: the knob was molded in the shape of a pointer which indicated the current setting.

I just received email from Michael Dory regarding his group’s presentation in Applications of Interactive Technology. Just in case the comment I made at the Help Tank site doesn’t make it up there… Kelly and I visited the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan several months ago to see an exhibit entitled “Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art”. One of the exhibits there was by Michael Rakowitz. You can read about his paraSite project for some ideas of what has already been done in the area of ad-hoc homeless shelters.

When considering what to do for the creative part of my Physical Computing lab, I initially thought of some sort of mood-proclaiming piece of clothing.

Instead of using a flex or pressure sensor to light up the LEDs on a “luv-o-meter,” I wanted to prototype a display for a t-shirt that could display a short and partially encrypted message about the wearer’s stress level. I remember seeing a persistence of vision project on one of my first trips to ITP (perhaps it was the winter show?) and thought I might be able to make a single column of LEDs light up and scroll the message past.

Using only a slightly modified version of the circuit from my game of catch, I set about drafting some code to drive a vertical array of 5 LEDs.

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