Concept: The main concept was to create a ping pong game using openFrameworks, raspberry pi, and 3 inputs from sensors or buttons.

Process: I began with using one button to change the color of an ellipse from red to green when pushed. Next I added in a rectangle to move up and down when the button is pressed, I also changed the code of the ellipse to add speed to its x and y directions. When the ellipse hits the edges of the preset window it bounces off at an angle. When I got that to run I added a second button and another rectangle to be moved up and down by the push of the button. Finally I attached a potentiometer to increase the ellipses speed when the potentiometer is moved (digitalWrite set on HIGH).

Lessons Learned: This was my first time working with a raspberry pi, and openFrameworks. I have been familiar with Arduino, and Processing 2.0, but it was a new experience to work in openFrameworks which allows to work in unison the elements of the other programs. In order for me to understand openFrameworks I went step by step to add elements to the program to expand upon. In processing I would be able to make a rectangle in Center Mode, but errors kept occurring so I couldnt utilize this in openFrameworks. Next I tried to create collisions by determining the distance between the center of the ellipse and the length of the pong paddles. In Processing 2.0 I would just use dist() to determine this number, but in openFrameworks I had trouble using this command to work for me. I also found out that to create collisions one should use the gravity tool, but I couldnt figure out how to use this function also.

Local musician and analog electronics guru Michael Johnsen will be teaching a series of workshop on homemade microphones at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (nearby in Shadyside). Here is a link to more information about the class. If you can fit it into your schedule, I highly recommend you consider taking this non-CMU course.

Flicker Deck Demonstration from Ryan B. on Vimeo.

About

Skateboarding is fun, but participating in the sport comes with a good deal of risk. The biggest dangers are uneven pavement and passing cars. Uneven and cracked pavement reduces the control of skateboarders and can cause crashes in cases of extreme speed and very poor asphalt. Cars often do not see skateboarders or do not know how much space to give them.

Flicker Deck highlights rough pavement as a skateboarder passes over it. LEDs provide a visual indicator of rough pavement to those riding behind the owner of a Flicker Deck and surrounding cars. This information lets other riders better plan their path downhill and lets nearby cars know that the skateboarder has less control and should be given more attention or a wider berth.

Flicker Deck users a small microphone to translate the vibrations created by riding over rough pavement to red light. I chose red light for this project because it mimics the behavior of car brake lights and can take advantage of an already existing mental model. Drivers are trained to slow down when they see red brake lights suddenly brighten in front of them

Inspiration
Flicker Deck was inspired by Project Aura, a bike light that illuminates wheels based on the speed of the cyclist.

I was also interested in the idea of translating the micro-topography of our roads into another form of information. Long boarders gain a very intimate knowledge of the characteristics of the roads around them, and I like the idea of sharing that knowledge with others.

If I were going to extend this project, I would add a module that tracks and stores location and vibration data and use the information gathered over time to map pavement quality in an area. This information could be used by other long boarders to plan routes and by local governments to plan road maintenance.

How it Works

A protective case secured to the bottom of the deck houses a microprocessor, a 9V battery and microphone. The microphone is secured behind a small hole cut in the side of the case. This hold provides clearer input for the microphone and lets it pick up the noise made by passing cars.

The microprocessor takes the amplitude of the sound picked up by the microphone and outputs a corresponding level of power to a string of LEDs that emerge from a small slot cut into the case and wrap around the bottom of the skateboard. By wrapping the LEDs around the trucks of the board I was able to get the translucent wheels to glow along with the ground.

There is a common myth that plants will grow faster when you sing to them often. This flower guarantees you its blossom, that is if you are able to sing it the right song.

Well, luckily you get to pick that song. You can be that special person to make this flower blossom. You can put this flower next to other flowers so that you can get that instant blossom gratification from your beautiful singing efforts, and simultaneously test out that myth…I think my basil plant grew faster this week?

isnOre from Amy Friedman on Vimeo.

Concept:

I hate when someone is sleeping in the same room as me and snores. It gives me a headache, I cant sleep at all and I am always cranky the next day no matter what. isnOre is a device to detect snoring and inflicts disturbance to those who snore so they understand the impact it has upon others. Once isnOre detects snoring an alarm is set off and based on the origin of the noise, isnOre spins to face the device and sets off a water gun to spray the snorer and annoy them.

Process:

I began with figuring out my initial concept by looking at precedence and creating a blog of  “Precedent Analysis” of what the capabilities of a microphone input can be.  Then I chose to focus on snoring as it has always been an issue I have had when trying to sleep. From that point I began to look for what elements I needed to create the product and what the outputs should be to inflict pain/annoy snorers. I looked at dart guns, stun guns, shocks, water guns, and they came down to an alarm system that outputs a buzz. I then figured out the sequence of events and began to sketch out forms to maximize the effect and input of each sensor based on placement.

I created a cardboard prototype to understand the design better and used plans and sections to determine the dimensions of each element in the space. Next I created a 3D model of the design and used it to make a laser cutter file so I could utilize the laser cutter to cut acrylic.

Lessons learned:

I learned that a one week turn around time is hard to accomplish, but manageable as long as you dont attempt something that is too far out of reach to achieve. I learned that no matter how well designed the 3D model, and laser cutter file there will always need to be adjustments. I need to make sure to understand the cut of the laser better when putting pieces together. Using a microphone was a new experience for me and there are lots of manipulations that can be done using arduino and other programs that I want to explore and find out.

The bird antifeeder is a high-tech system that prevents birds from eating your food. You can see the above video for a demo of the system in action… The high-tech part is not true though, actually the bird antifeeder is a playful work that resulted from a combination of a short timeframe, a limited availability of resources (laser cutters on campus) and a need to quickly familiarize myself with a technology (piezo contact microphones).

I started the project knowing only that I had to sense something using a microphone and that I had to respond to what I sensed in some non-screen based way. Initially I wanted to sense ants walking on a surface and using this information I wanted to send a notification or give some kind of signal for people to become aware of ants walking on a surface which in itself is interesting because it is something we are rarely paying attention to. This was inspired by the much better and thoughtful projects by Prof. Ali Momeni. Again, because of the short timeline, for me this project was much more focused on learning how to sense using a contact microphone than it was about developing a strong concept.

Quickly, it became evident that sensing the walk of ants would be quite challenging with the technology I had, particularly because of the limited strength of the vibrations generated by ants walking which I intended to sense with the contact microphone. Despite having found a metallic material with nice vibrating properties, the task was out of the scope of the project because of how much more thought and testing would have been necessary.

With this information, I re-scoped the project to a much more manageable objective: to sense the vibrations generated by birds landing on a surface and to respond to this vibration in some way. This decision was taken after talking with Jake on the weekend before the due date for the project. After figuring out the amplitude sensing thresholds and getting a servo motor working, I set on to build an encasing in which all the components could be placed. The laser cutters around campus where all booked and the project was due the day after which is when I had to go back to the famous “its better done than perfect” which I agree sometimes with.

My arts and crafts skills are not super great though so as I continued to make my project’s box, it looked more and more like a ten year old had made it. With little time remaining and the idea that I wanted the project to feel like a unified and deliberate work, I embraced the child-like aesthetic all the way and decorated the project so that it looked like a cool addition to a kid’s treehouse.

That is the story of the bird antifeeder, a high-tech system to scare away the birds who want to eat your food. Lessons learned, sometimes it is indeed better done than perfect, humor is always good, follow intuition sometimes, if you can’t get what you need figure out how to make it work with what you got, keep in mind the scope of each project.

puts down mic…

NOTE: images are HD but for some reason not displaying as such. Click on each to see high-res.