#assignment_1

[connective-environments-fall2020]

Assignment 1: Communicating Emotions

Project 1 prompted us to design objects are spaces that had the ability to encode traces of human interaction, which could subsequently be comprehended by others. In my previous post, I discussed the idea of Emotional Traces, or the physical manifestations of a persons emotional state. With that in mind I tasked myself with creating a device which would act as a medium of communication utilizing these phenomena.

Prevailing Theory

The object I designed was focused on the effects on breathing that certain emotional states have. Breathing patterns are an intriguing means of transcribing ones emotions due to the fact that emotions have specific effects on the way one breathes, examples of which are...

Anger: Forceful breathing, longer and deeper breaths

Sadness: Softer, drawn out, comparable to a sigh

Nervousness: Short, quick, and occasionally faltering breaths

Fear: Forceful and quick, often times very unstable breaths

Happiness: Clear and steady breaths, maybe at a higher register

Function

The object is designed to be worn on the face with, additional pieces resting on the shoulder. The device would intake breaths from the nose and transfer them into a whistle, thereby producing a sound. These sounds could then be interpreted by another party, either displaying ones current emotional state, or used in the place of standard communication.

Context

The device was designed to be a companion piece to a standard conversation, indicating less apparent emotional phenomena to the persons on the receiving end. Upon further analysis, this object could start to take the place of standard communication, only permitting the communication of information to the limited palette of sounds that could be produced. When used in this way, participants are forced to find the simplest way to communicate the information that they wish to convey, by doing this it could start to help gain a better understanding of what is necessary and unnecessary in the pursuit of communication.

Reflection

This project is situated firmly in the medium of immediacy, meaning that in order to gain from it one has to be within its immediate context, there is no potential for storage or delayed release. I feel like this is an important avenue to address within the context of communicating emotions due to the fact that sometimes, as people, we wish to hide our emotions from others, or we wish for a means to release our pent up emotions in private. The immediacy in which this project functions limits ones options when it comes to portraying emotions.

[connective-environments-fall2020]

Emotional Traces - Visualizing the Invisible

Throughout the process of assignment one, I’ve been enamored with the connection between trace making and human emotion. With my first analysis of the padlock as a medium to interpret traces, I discovered a significant connection between the state or existence of the padlock with the users emotions, more specifically; their levels of trust in their environment and also their perception of value in regards to personal belongings.

This connection piqued my interest, and prompted me to investigate. Through my research I came across the concept of emotional traces, visual representations of one’s emotions that manifest through mannerisms, speech, breathing, or slight body movements. Emotions are consistently thought about as being mental concepts rather than overtly physical concepts, but once you look into the physiological make up of the human body you can start to realize that everything is connected. There are certain signs that the majority of people can pick up on regarding this topic, for example if someone is feeling nervous or anxious their speech might become timid or unsteady, they might start displaying more erratic movements like fidgeting or pacing. All of these things are subconscious, if you’re nervous you don’t actively choose to outwardly display it, this is the same way when experiencing other emotions.

This concept is mainly used in the field of criminal psychology, with a limited use in lower educational settings. The main goal of these fields is to enable the discovery of feelings and emotions that the subject may wish to keep hidden. I feel like this approach is limiting, as social creatures we have a constant desire to understand how and what another person is feeling. There’s is a negative connotation to the theory if you only consider it as a means to drag out hidden feelings which may be damning to the person in question, but if you view it as a means of coming to a greater understanding with a peer or peer group, a wide range of new possibilities present themselves.

Humans leave traces on their environment, traces that others can use to derive an in determinant amount of value and information from. At the same time, humans leave traces on their bodies, in most cases this may be subconscious and unintentional, but given the right environment, these can start to become an intentional means of communicating with those around you.

[connective-environments-fall2020]

Physical Imprint - Stored Data/Memory

Wesley L. Flippin 9-15-2020

All natural objects and designed objects have varied states, from resting water to disturbed, from pristine to weathered conditions, from complete to broken. Energy transforms these objects, and depending on quality, material, or the amount of force the object shifts from one state to another. This post is an analysis of results of these transformations and the type of interpretations that can be made from the data imprinted on a given object or material.

The first step in understanding the conditions at which objects will be analyzed in this method is to lay out the logic. I’m going to go over a couple examples of physical imprinting (and related objects) , and a relationship to the concept of memory.  This post is my particular process and critical analysis of the assignment.

Everyday Household items.

Kitchen Knife - Generally, kitchen knives are made of malleable metals, this means that under the right amount of force relative to the strength of the material, this object can bend, and with too much pressure, break. I will consider a pristine knife “State A” and a used knife “State B”. The physical action of using the knife, will eventually change the state from it’s pristine condition to a weathered condition. Under lab results, if the object was tested with a set force, a specific amount of edge damage would result. This depends on the orientation of the knife to the surface and the amount of force. This change can be viewed as an objects physical memory, meaning that it would be possible to deduct what type of action and what type of force would cause X wearing. This same type of analysis could be made with most malleable metals. It would be possible to determine, much like someone in forensics, what occured and with what object or force. The memory exists as a physical artifact, and a remnant of a particular action. With the exception of sharp objects, most malleable metals are not weathered by light interaction in our daily lives, making them less than favorable materials for an architectural investigation.

Coffee Mug / Coffee - This particular example is dependent on the interaction between an object and material. Coffee has a tendency to stain, and this tendency to stain is dependent on a few various factors, the type of bean, the length of brew, and the method of brewing.  The interaction between these two objects can leave a variety of different levels and types of staining on the mug. In a sense, the use of the coffee mug for its intended purpose, leaves a physical artifact/trace/imprint of use. This trace can be a way to determine, how fast it was drank; for example, if there is one major bold line at the top of a mug, and no other line (once fully drank) it can be assumed that the liquid was either in motion too frequently to leave a line or it was drank very quickly. This is interesting because it is two objects/materials, but the relationship is so telling, and presents itself as a form of data to deduce events.

Soil - This is just a raw material, we encounter soil/ground any time we move outside on an unimproved surface. This surface can be covered by vegetation, it can be of a different physical makeup, for example in North Carolina we live in a very Clay-Heavy soil region. When we move through soil, we leave an imprint on the surface in the most literal sense. If we track the movement, the size, the distance between each step, it creates a set of data that can interpreted and analyzed. 

What use is this type of Analysis? I think these are examples that entirely dependent on the context of the situation, but I do believe it’s possible to use this type of data to make educated decisions for the development of objects, materials, or systems. For example, looking at 1000 different kitchen knives of the same make from a variety of different culinary institutions, you could determine if the amount of damage is related to the type of specific industry, or the type of region. If a coffee designer wanted to determine how smooth the blend or bean is, or if Starbucks wanted to determine if their brews are made too hot, that type of analysis could prove useful.

Lastly, I want to share some progress with the specific object I’m choosing for this analysis, which is an exercise mat. I have a lot of personal experience using them, and I’ve seen how the wear changes from activity to activity, or from environment to environment, and I think it’s an interesting way to map human interaction. Look forward to my second post.

[connective-environments-fall2019]

The second team’s toy vehicle is a bicycle (motorcycle) that uses a flywheel motor with a flywheel disk made out of casted  Rockite cement.

[connective-environments-fall2019]

The first team’s toy car uses a windup motor with a coil made out of Delrin. The axles were implemented using steel square-section hollow bars.

[connective-environments-2019]

The first team’s toy car uses a windup motor with a coil made out of Delrin. The axles were implemented using steel square-section hollow bars.

[connective-environments-fall2019]

Witch Wind Up Toy

In order to understand the inner mechanisms of a wind up toy, we disassembled it and then documented the process of reverse engineering.

When wound up, the witch walks forward, powered by an oscillating mechanism in the gear box. When the turn key is wound up, the torsion spring inside the gearbox is wound tightly, building tension. When it is released, the spring unwinds and turns the gears. The gears are connected to the legs which are offset from one another. By offsetting the legs, the toy is able to propel itself forward with each rotation. 

One of the difficulties of assembling this wind up toy was ensuring that all of the gears and legs were in the correct position so that the energy stored in the torsion spring could be transferred through the mechanism.

The gear box is separated into two compartments: one houses the torsion spring which is attached to the largest gear, and the other is where all the gears are kept. The white gear is attached to the turn key. The green gear is attached to the legs and is what propels the legs forward.

[connective-environments-fall2019]

Reverse Engineering a Wind-Up Toy Dog

In our first week, we were introduced to assignment 1. In this assignment Stephen and I disassembled a wind-up toy dog to investigate the mechanics and document all of the parts. The exercise and findings are explained in more detail below.

Our first steps in understanding the wind-up toy dog, was to disassemble the dog and label all of the parts. The 23 parts are laid out and labeled above. The parts ranged from large shell pieces (spine, butt, tail, belly, ears and face) that created the body of the dog, all the way down to small gears inside the gear box that enabled to toy to function.

In order for the toy to work properly, all of the parts must work together. As we were disassembling and reassembling the toy we were able to realize how the toy functioned. As you wind up the toy with the crank shaft, the spring inside the motor is tightened. This motion interacts with the ‘S’ gear that is connected to the spring. The ‘S’ gear reacts to the springs tension and moves the large white gear, which is located on the same axle of the crank shaft and connected to the ‘S’ gear. Once the crank shaft is released the white gear then begins to lock into the grooves of the blue gear and begins the motion of the gears. The grooves of the blue gear move the small white gear and that in turn moves the small blue gear. The escapement catches the small blue gear to slow the rotation of the gears. All of the gears are held in place by the motors casing. These gears are connected to the leg axle. This leg axle begins to move the left and right axle cap in a circular rotation. The axle caps will then move the toy dog’s legs and ultimately make the toy move, as seen in the video above.

                                           LIASON GRAPH (SIMPLE)

                                            LIASON GRAPH (ADVANCED)

The assembly of the toy dog’s body or outer shell was not difficult to disassemble or reassemble because these pieces were held together by three screws and a few peg connections. The ‘guts’ or interior area of the toy was definitely the most difficult area to disassemble and assemble. The motor was so interconnected that they each part was placed together with perfect precision. Once we begin to disassemble the outer casing the interior gears lost their precise connection and begin to unravel. These gears and pieces even when reassembled didn’t match the tight construction that they once had. Even when we put the gears back in place and closed the motor casing, we noticed it was not assembled as efficiently as it was to begin with. This inefficiency caused the toy to not function as well. The motor was by far the hardest area in the assembly sequence.