Tuesday, May 8, 2007
passing wing2
passing wing1
motion sensor input
video
processing
setup delay for the input
HIGH 10
PAUSE 1000
LOW 10
PAUSE 500
video
output
Video
flexinaol
Party Wall


VIDEO
Pitchtest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiVZmk38j6o
Prototypes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdoCtQh87UA
Final Prototype: Party Wall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhfwnYMmG0Q
Party Wall
Typ: a dividing partition between two adjoining units or sides that is shared
Rare: a social surface that activates during increasingly varied pitches of sound
Walls of buildings are usually silent spectators when it comes to socialization. Maybe walls don’t have much to say, or maybe they don’t have a voice with which to speak. Historical tales often begin with sayings such as “Many events have happened within these walls,” or “if these walls could talk,” each implying that walls keep tabs on what happens on either side of them. But we prefer to think of walls as participants in those events. We propose a different wall that reacts to different sounds when and as they occur. In this way, walls show their emotions as reactive to the conversations, discussions or arguments that people have within them.
Our premise began with examining the difference between male and female voices. After cataloging many different voices, we found that the perceived pitch of voices was different than the numeric register of high, medium and low voices. The exhibition of these three ranges of sound became the focus of our prototypes. Different parts of the wall activate with different pitches, creating varying patterns of movement across a surface. Within each conversation, someone’s voice can vary through many different octaves of sound, and the wall is a reactive, responsive system to such stimuli. To process this sound in real-time, we utilized live feeds fed through a microphone, processed by live sound analyzing software that then signal a microcontroller when sounds falling within preset ranges were detected. These signals trigger the movement of memory alloy wires that move to pluck a membrane covered in inflated condoms, amplifying the social potential of a wall’s thickness.
In developing this project, potential directions and applications for such a surface were discussed. We hope that as people discover the responsive nature of the wall, it might invoke them to deliberately manipulate the surface, for instance, by purposefully modulating their own voices or by engaging with others in order to witness an effect. There seems to be great performative implications for socializing with a wall, something that might seem dull at first. In our playing with this patch of wall, it often appeared to have a mind of its own, as there was often a time delay in the reaction within. At times we stopped paying attention to the wall and noticed later that the wall was still capturing subtle differences in tone and mood while we were caught up in conversation. The notion of the wall as pet began to emerge from this observation. The condoms were at first thought to be uncomfortable, humorous, gross and provocative, but as they were inflated and arranged into a soft field they immediately took on a cuter, more comfortable character. Even still, they seem to invoke some sort of hesitancy about physically engaging with sexual forms and accoutrements that are often taboo in public settings.
In the end, the party wall is not only a monitor of vocalized social interactions, but it suggests different ways of occupying space. The relationship becomes a feedback loop whereby the sound of a person’s voice in a room, passively activating a wall, then offers the option to directly perform with their surroundings.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Visible & Hidden
Paranoid Translator

Labels: paranoid
Friday, May 4, 2007
DIY air valve
Flexinol Air Valve
http://www.robotshop.ca/home/suppliers/dynalloy-en/dynalloy-flexinol-air-valve.html
http://www.dynalloy.com/Kits.html
the Dynalloy Flexinol Electrostem Air Valve
is going to take too long to ship. So we are going to pay for the UPS second day...//I found this in AQUARIUM.




archive (trigger group)
Blinking lights + moving wire!!
we finally got our flexinol wire to move along with the lights blinking by using another battery and a relay.
check out the video
Labels: paranoid
REFERENCE PROJECT: Voice Prints
http://www.digitalstar.net/projects/voiceprints/index.html
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Two sensors/two outputs
PIR PIN 0
PIR2 PIN 15
LOOP
updates: pando - roufa

.
.
description: flexinol controlled blown glass lens subtly shifts position to produce slight modulation of light pattern on ceiling.
.
next steps: fine tune optics and controller, add sensor
img. 1________img. 2_______ img. 3
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three different lens types - img.1: blown glass plate, img. 2: same plate covered with optic lenses, img. 3: blown glass object
Monday, April 16, 2007
presure bubble
//Air cushion // like the air cushion use on a chair. The idea is use pressure sensor as input to control the average pressure between the cushion and body. So the output will be air compresser. and it'll become a feedback loop. (focus: input+output)
Monday, April 2, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Speech Recognition Midterm
Umbrella arm operation
Minimum Movement - Maximum Output

Mark Green / Richard Moore / Fernando Pando / Micha Roufa
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4894204353890878700
The longer the flexinol, the greater movement.
Switch functions properly. Some fine tuning needs to happen for the LEDs and lenses to align properly.
The wire is wrapped around the screw, so simply tightening the screw increases the tautness of the wire.
Wiring for the LEDs.
The new cross platform motherboard achieves greater much greater movement.
By increasing the pause amount, we achieve approximately 2" of movement.
Monday, March 26, 2007
organ organ midterm
Quicknotes:
We focused on processing sound by splitting it into high medium and low pitch ranges for multiple output options. Our prototyping efforts were many, but mostly subtle. Still having trouble talking between computer and Arduino board, but we just found out that we have a bum microcontroller.
Labels: Sound Max/MSP Processing Arduino
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Minimum Movement - Maximum Output
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Wing_00 (make-up post)
Wing_04
Overall setup.
The holes on the backboard allows for possible future repositioning of the gear.
The flexinol wire is attached to a spring component (subsituted with the rubberband seen here) that will pull the wire back in place after the flexinol wire relaxes.
The latch is added.
Wing_03
(screen shots below).

Perspective.

Anticipated angles of movement.

Elevation.
by Mercy, Po, Phil, Joyce
Wing_02
One end of the flexinol is fixed to the base while the other end is attached to the latch.
When the flexinol wire contracts it will pull the latch and release the gear that controls the counterweight (the bottle of glue).
Close-up of the latch and the gear.
speech recognition tests 4+5

Check out our videos to see these tests.
Test #4 - In an elevator -
we wanted to see if the sensor could recognize our vocabulary words inside of an elevator.
it worked pretty well when one person was saying the trigger words, but when other conversations were going on inside the elevator, the words weren't recognized as often.

Test #5 - With a phone-
we wanted to show how you don't have to actually be present to activate a voice recognition system.
- Annie, Hanuy, + Chris
Labels: paranoid
Aggregation
speech recognition
speach recognition tests
Monday, March 19, 2007
organ organ
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Adam Greenfield on Voice Recognition
most obviously called upon in constructing a computing that is
supposed to be invisible but everywhere. Voices can, of course, be
associated with specific people, and this can be highly useful in
providing for differential permissioning--liquor cabinets that unlock
in response to spoken commands issued by adults in the household,
journals that refuse access to any but their owners. Speech, too,
carries clear cues as to the speaker's emotional state; a household
system might react to these alongside whatever content is actually
expressed--yes, the volume can be turned down in response to your
command, but should the timbre of your voice indicate that stress and
not loudness is the real issue, maybe the ambient lighting is softened
as well.
We shouldn't lose sight of just how profound a proposition
voice-recognition represents when it is coupled to effectors employed
in the wider environment. For the first time, the greater mass of
humanity can be provided with a practical mechanism by which their
'perlocutionary' utterances--speech acts intended to bring about a
given state--can change the shape and texture of reality."
--Adam Greenfield, Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing
(New Riders, 2006)
Thursday, March 1, 2007
lenses
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
we got it breathing. . .

Eliminating the piano wire from our set-up, we used the material itself as a counterforce, returning the wire to its straight state.
Several of our trials (including laminating the full length of the flexinol) failed to produce movement. However, we did achieve several trials that produced amplified movement.
Here are links to a couple couple movies.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Spin Doctor
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Wing_01
This is our prototype in compression (the umbrella arm is in a resting state, no force has been applied to the flexinol wire).
Sunday, February 18, 2007
NiTi Links
http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/cineplex/NiTi/index.html
video examples of niti toys...
http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0212/Roncone-0212.html
nanomotion...
http://www.johnsonelectric.com/brands/brands_nanomotion.php
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Voice recognition kit: Easy-VRStamp
Also see links and PDFs on this page.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
open source max/msp/jitter
http://puredata.info/
http://projects.lowtech.org/e-gehirn/pdfaq.html
http://www.eyebeam.org/reblog/archives/2005/05/maxmsp_and_pd_political_manifest.html
the PUREDYNE site is a bit flakey, but i was able to download iso, burn it, and boot it by simply sticking it in a pc whose boot order was cdrom before ide:
https://goto10.org/puredyne/
heat mobile

In the Thermobile the nitinol loop wire has been trained to remember a straight shape. When the loop travels into the hot water it is brought above its transition temperature and attempts to straighten out. Look at figure 9, at position 1 the nitinol wire is relatively straight and cool. As the wire moves from position 1 to 2, it is bent around the small brass wheel and enters the hot water. As the wire moves from position 2 to 3, the hot water brings the nitinol wire above its transition temperature and it tries to straighten out. When attempting to straighten out the nitinol wire takes a form depicted by the dotted lines. In doing so, the wire generates a tugging force, F, along the loop. As the wire segment moves from position 3 to 4 it straightens out. As the wire travels from position 4 to position 1, through the air and around the large wheel it has sufficient time to cool below its transition temperature and is ready for another cycle.
In short, the temperature differential causes one side of the loop to stiffen (hot water side) while on the air side of the loop the nitinol cools and relaxes. A mechanical force is produced that causes the wheel pulleys to rotate.
In some cases it is necessary to jump start the engine by rotating the larger wheel. Interestingly, the Thermobile hasn't a set rotational direction. Whichever way it is started it will continue to rotate. The Thermobile can also be solar powered. A magnifying lens focusing sunlight on the brass wheel also supplies sufficient heat to power the engine.
Larger Thermobile engines have been built and tested using nitinol loops. One engine built by Innovative Technologies International (ITI) in 1982, contained 30 nitinol wire loops. The nitinol wire used in the loops was 22 mils in diameter. The engine was tested using a hot water bath set at 55 C and an air temperature of 25 C. The engine reached a speed of 270 RPM and continued to operate for 1.5 years without failure. The nitinol wire had undergone 2.1x108 cycles without any breakage or observable degradation in performance.
Supplies
http://www.jameco.com
http://www.digikey.com
RESEARCH AGENDA
We will study the transparency, filtration, and movement of walls as an architectural component.
+Light
We will investigate the amount, the direction, and the movement of light by mechanical means.
+Movement
We are interested in an output that demonstrates the maximum effect given a minimum amount of mechanical movement.
+Social Agenda
We will expose something that people do not normally see or are not aware of.
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Light as a primary output, movement of light can be dramatically altered with relatively subtle or minimal mechanical difference.
A dramatic effect can be created with very subtle movement using a ratchet, lever, and mirrors. Transparency/opacity can be created using polarization.
Our social agenda to increasing awareness of subtly shifting environmental elements. One example is the sky, which is often not observed because of its placement above us. A wall of sky would show something that is familiar and simultaneously unfamiliar.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Gender sounds
RESEARCH AGENDA
+ SOUND
We will begin with investigating sound as the main input for our system.
+ PROCESSING
We will explore ways that the sound can be analyzed and processed into various output conditions.
+ SOCIAL AGENDA
Using pitch difference between male and female voices in the hopes of creating a gender based material response, with the possibility of a gradient of reactions between both extremes.
+ MOVEMENT
We will create architecture that will have a range of movements responsive to the processed sound input. Our research will also investigate ways to register the output through responsive materials in a vertical membrane.
+ REALIZATION
You will hear it. You will see it. It will be built. By us.
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
PROCESSING
We are focusing on processing as a way to analyze sound into potential output conditions. We believe that processing has the potential to increase the variables and therefore the complexity of the output.
The materials we need for this research are microphone (sound sensing device), an arduino board (processor), MAX/MSP or Processing (software), and flexinol (output). The responsive material may be some sort of fabric or cast polymer.
Specifically we will be using MAX/MSP to process the sound input. Several MSP externals (such as ones that measure pitch, loudness, brightness, etc.) will allow us to create an architecture that will respond to users according to the make-up of their voices. This could potentially have implications for user identification according to gender, age, mental state and social interaction, and could be read on an individual or group basis (?).
SOCIAL
We believe that our research into processing can contribute to the complexity of the relationship between input and output, in our case between sound and movement.
PROTOTYPE #1
INPUT:
USB Microphone
PROCESSING:
Sony Vaio Laptop Computer
MAX/MSP Software
Arduino Board
OUTPUT:
Output circuit to flexinol wire
RESOURCES
Arduino USB Board SKU#: Arduino-USB Price: $31.95 Buy Online: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=666
http://www.arduino.cc/
http://www.cycling74.com/
http://processing.org/
http://web.media.mit.edu/~tristan/maxmsp.html
http://www.wired.com
http://tigoe.net/intro.shtml
http://tigoe.net/pcomp/resources/
http://www.dynalloy.com/
http://www.lalena.com/audio/electronics/color/
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/categories.php
http://www.allelectronics.com/
Proposal - Better Than Gortex

Ray Williams, Allison Weinstein,
+ FABRIC/SKIN
Focusing on the output, we will experiment with woven/linked/jointed/louvered material that moves to create specific openings.
+ MOVEMENT
We aim to create varying permeability within the fabric skin.
Movement may be multi-directional, such as condensing and twisting.
+ SPATIAL IMPACT
We imagine an envelope that affects the quality of the enclosed space.
Our architecture will respond to heat or moisture (or other environmental force).
+ REALIZATION
We will build it through a series of systematic trials.
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Our investigation into changing interior environments through a surface will focus on output. We will focus on creating ‘fabrics’ that change in permeability through movement. This system has the possibility of working at a small scale (e.g. breathable clothing that opens when excessive moisture is detected inside) or at a building scale (e.g. a skin that opens to allow ventilation when the interior gets too muggy).
We are interested in creating this change in specific locations and with specific types of vents (such as a louver that allows air in but keeps out the rain). By experimenting with the design of the fabric weave/linkage system we hope to take advantage of a chain reaction to amplify the movement.
Our first prototypes will explore the movements possible with different fabric structures and materials. We also plan to look to previous examples to guide our beginning steps. This architecture would work well responding to heat and/or moisture sensors. However, we plan to focus on the output at this stage.
research agenda + proposal - park, scheel, shelley
- Our focus will be input. We will use voice recognition software to generate output that demonstrates personal adaptability.
- We will take advantage of the multilingual environment of Columbia University to make our system respond in culturally relevant ways to different languages. One possibility is to “teach” our system the same word in different languages.
- Several possible outputs may reflect specific cultures through space, color, or customs, but the output will have a kinetic component.
- A variance of the size of perceived “personal space”
- Color symbolism (what color is mourning?)
- Furniture heights and styles respond to cultural rituals
- Bodily perceptions and acceptable levels of exposure
- The output that most interests us at this point is the deformation of a reflective surface that acts as a customizable mirror and responds to different languages according to the ideal body image of specific cultures.
- Our initial research will focus both on the possibility of “teaching” the sensor language recognition and specifics about cultural perceptions of space and beauty. Also, we need to research feasible methods of deforming a reflective surface with flexinol wires.
Research Proposal
We propose to take advantage of the personal adaptability of voice recognition software to create linguistically responsive systems. Different cultures have different perceptions of space and the meaning of space. We think this is significant because much of kinetic architecture is not responsive to individuals on a personal level. Most of the examples we have studied only show responsiveness to the physical presence of people and don’t address any inherent qualities of different people. In addition, voice recognition sensors are relatively inexpensive and easily integrated with our existing systems. Finally, our proposal allows us to study kinetic systems that not only respond to individual users, but also bring awareness to different cultural values, resulting in a project that transcends the novelty of kinetic systems by engaging intangible ideals of space and beauty.
Labels: paranoid
Saturday, February 10, 2007
sensor is working
turns out when we flipped the pin connector on the back of the sensor around it worked as it should.
rich_mark_fernando_micah
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
We've got a pulse
We did achieve slight movement. We were able to exaggerate this movement by attaching a piece of balsa wood to the end of the wire. By changing the pulse time, we were able to achieve slightly greater movement.
Unfortunately, we were not able to make the sensor work.
RESEARCH PROPOSAL ASSIGNMENT
Monday, February 5, 2007
prototype_1 (aka fred, the intimidator)


Labels: paranoid
Wiggle, wiggle.
Prototype 1
instead of moving our wire to P10 we changed the code from HIGH 10 to HIGH 2
our video can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwvdZ96ZFxo
-natalie, allie, ray, georgia
Saturday, February 3, 2007
living...
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Inspiration from previous project
Inspiration from previous project
Dune 4.0 + Responsible Screen

Labels: paranoid
Environment/Installation
While I find many of the more object-based designs very fascinating, I still find the most inspiration from artists and architects who use various forms of technology altering light, sound, etc. to create installations that operate as small worlds/environments. I really appreciate Tim Hawkinson (whose giant low-tech, lo-fi organ self-generates music from a set of pretuned notes and non-repeating musical scroll), While the project is not interactive in the sense that it actively responds to users, I think there is a lot of potential in exploring ranges of sound present in our own voices to create or assemble new groups of sounds.Institut du Monde Arabe
Transparency in Architecture


http://www.thiscenturyreview.com/250.html
"While Mies started with the new technology of glass and explored transparency of vision, of structure, and of construction, Jeremijenko starts with new technologies of communication and experiments with transparency of information and of cultural and political forces. While Behne advocated wrenching the public out of its coziness to change society, Jermijenko develops the same theme in an updated way."
http://www.mwomack.com/art8.html
We are generally questioning the lack of perceptible movement and strength of material in previous projects. As a result, we want to use a highly reflective surface such as mirrors to create dramatic results with slight movement.
Wearable/breathable/intelligent
Where the project looses my interest is in the way the clothing starts to respond much like architecture and not like clothing. In an effort to vent or remove facade from a space on the users body, the slicker mechanically depends on a pivoting flap (like a window). The article would be more successful if the thread level of the material moved to reveal openings. Imagine if the weave would expand or contract dramatically to provide venting. Any way that inherent properties of cloth material could be responssive rather than incorporating a stratagy of foriegn system would move this project forward.
PROTOTYPE 1 ASSIGNMENT
This "Intelligent Space" project showcased in the 2002 Swiss National Exposition appeals to me as it combines interactive technology with inhabitable (this is key, for me) architecture. Though the project is nearly 5 years old I feel that there is still a vast potential for development - the interactive floor tiles could become a new media for signage that directs the public in large scale events. Given the number of participants, the location and time of the points of interest, and/or the specific number of participants, the intelligent flooring system can efficiently directs the flow of people in order to maximize exhibit exposure and spectator participation.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Light Mappings

James Clar's "energy mesh" on the Habitat Hotel by Cloud 9 Architecture in Spain displays at night the solar energy collected during the day.
The Memory Walk, part of the Digital Mile in Zaragoza, records the paths that people walk with increased illumination for each step.
In both of these cases I think that the information gathered could be used in order to change the environment in a way besides just leaving a trace of what was there before. The
solar information might inform a facade thatcould move to provide shading or at least be used as a tool to gain information for future projects in the area. The same is true with the Memory Walk. I think it serves well as a fun art piece that can be enjoyed by the public. However, maybe more could happen. Maybe areas where nobody walks could move to become benches or other objects that provide a new use for the space along the walk.
lonely bench

Bridge, Michael Cross

Inspired.
CK.
Labels: wind pink vinyl inspiration
Response to ScreamBody
In taking this project one step further, I would think about how to express/contain other emotional impulses that do not necessitate speech. Examples could include motion impulses such as throwing things or hitting in anger.

















Video Links: 













