August Denizou Lund @augustlund-blog - Tumblr Blog

The final product. An interactive toy for curious small children. Pet it and it jumps shyly away. Follow it and try to capture it.

Although it was a bit cramped and the prototype was falling apart, I still think the test was a success. He was intrigued, and maybe a bit scared for the little animal, even though he is in the upper area of what I thought the age group would be.

For some strange reason the sound is gone.

#testing

Everything is nearly done and I am adjusting the sensitivity and time.

Head

Scary looking rabbit.

Brain surgery.

I did not expect to felt wool on this project.

Starting to take shape.

Final setup.

Iterations

Some of the the prototypes. This is the evolution of the chassis: a lot of different sizes and wheel placement. Straight, skewed and combined.

What was more important, and difficult, was the size, angle, off set and shape of the wheel. I tried all different sizes but found out quickly that the motor did not manage to drive the big wheels. Instead I made the wheel more off center to get the right motion. Because of the angle it is mounted, I had to make the wheel slightly cone shaped to get full contact. To get good traction I glued on rubber.

I forgot to take pictures of the wheels that I shaped, but before that I improvised.

Some of the first shapes together with the final shape

Arduino code

const int transistorPin = 9; const int piezoPin = A0; const int threshold = 10;

int piezoValue; int transistorValue;

unsigned long initTime = 0;

void setup() { // piezo - input pinMode(piezoPin, INPUT); // transistor - output pinMode(transistorPin, OUTPUT); Serial.begin(9600); }

void loop() { // part 1 - input //int sensorValue = analogRead(A0); piezoValue = analogRead(piezoPin); // part 2 - setup //int outputValue = map(sensorValue, 0, 1023, 0, 255); if(piezoValue >= threshold){

digitalWrite(transistorPin, 1); delay(3000); transistorValue = LOW; digitalWrite(transistorPin, 0); } else { transistorValue = LOW; digitalWrite(transistorPin, 0); } // part 3 - output

Serial.println(piezoValue);

}

#Arduino #code

The first running prototype

Layout of the first running prototype. A lot has changed since then.

Hooking it up. And starting to work with the chassis and layout of the components.

This is the main idea. To urge small children to move and be intrigued by the object. I wanted to make something with a realistic feedback so the user can feel a connection.

At this stage I had to find out how it should behave and move. At first it just went straight forward but I later on decided a circle would be better, to avoid bumping into things and to achieve a "hunt" where the baby is crawling in circles.

Animal

Animals is a well used toy genre but it is usually just standing still or too complex with far to many moving parts and cheap tricks. My idea throughout the project was to create something simple with one function. It should not necessarily be obvious what it does before you actually touch it, so I had to make children want to touch it nonetheless. Kinda like a surprise.

I felt a rabbit is a suiting animal, with its playful movement, and weird and shy presence.

So I went for toys, more specifically tangible toys that gives some kind of feedback to the user. My initial two components I chose was a solenoid and a piezo sensor. I quickly found out that the solenoid was a bit tricky to work with and it gave me to many restrictions. So I checked out both servos and motors, and I finally went for a motor.

My goal for the project was to create something that moves and inspires to movement. The user group is babys to small children.

Physical computing

This is the final project in this course, and we have to use all our knowledge obtained throughout the year.

The first objective is really to set some boundaries for myself and the task, since the task is very open and we have endless possibilities. I started out with the method forced relations, to gain some creativity and to get me going with the available components in mind.

The next step I took was to create several different mind maps on themes I found interesting to work with, among them toys, communication, and medical/aid. I tried to come up with as many products as I could in those categories, but realised quickly what I wanted to immerse myself with.

Toys. I like the possibilities toys provide in the sense that it can be kinda abstract, but it is in use by people who really uses it and hopefully enjoys it. I have focused on transformable toys, changing and tangible, that gives feedback, and toys that utilises the digital world we live in. The idea to make physical objects that transforms the iPad to be more than a screen intrigues me, but it is probably to ambitious with the given timeframe.

Wearables. I think wearables is very interesting to work with, and there is a a lot to explore. The idea to have technology on your body in the way it is almost a part of it is fascinating. But I suspect I may become a bit too restricted.

Further I will develop more product ideas in these two genres, and I am going to make the final decision this weekend.

#Physical #computing #idea #sketching #brief13

Infrared proximity sensor and DC air blower

augustskara, jboxaspen and I chose to work with the infrafred proximity sensor (sharp) and the DC air blower.

The air blower, or fan, is a fairly simple component built up by a "house", engine and impellers. The engine makes the impellers rotate, thus filling the house with air via the intake on the side, and then increasing the speed of the outlet air.

The infrared proximity sensor triggers when it detects an object in near range (range differs from type to type). It sends out an infrared signal which "bounces" back from the object to the sensor.

const int potPin = 0; // analog koblet i pin 0 – til sensoren

const int transistorPin = 9; // koblet i pin 9 – til transistoren

int potValue = 0; // verdi fra sensoren

int sens = 300; // nivået på viften med en gang

int photocellPin = 3; // photocellen koblet til a3

int photocellReading; // analoge leser fra sensoren

void setup() {

pinMode(transistorPin, OUTPUT); //kobler til transistorPin som output

}

void loop()

{

photocellReading = analogRead(photocellPin);

if (photocellReading > sens)

{

potValue = analogRead(potPin) / 4;

analogWrite(9, potValue);

}

else

{

potValue = 0;

analogWrite(9, potValue);

}

delay(100);

}

Datasheet: https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/GP2Y0A21YK.pdf

#infrared #sensor #blower #arduino #brief12

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August Denizou Lund