Physical Computing
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05.06.09Thermal Clock
We rely heavily on our vision to identify change. We see sand accumulating at the bottom of the hourglass. We see the minute hand rotate clockwise. How would our sense of time change if we cast time to another sense? Thermal Clock is a timepiece that positions heat along a bar over a 24 hour […]
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05.05.09Counting to a Billion
As a child, I remember challenging myself to count to 1000, 1 million, or 1 billion. I don’t think I ever made it. Why do we aimlessly count? How long would it take to count to a billion? Counting to a Billion is a device created to fulfill the desire to count. The electronics consists […]
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05.05.093.16 Billion Cycles
Can we watch decay? Can we see glass as a fluid slowly slumping and deforming over time? Everything is in constant flux, yet we consider many things around us static and fixed. 3.16 Billion Cycles is an attempt to unravel a seemingly unchanging 100 years into a set of relationships in digestible increments.
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12.23.08Thermochromic Slow Resolution Display
A slow resolution display made out of standard lightbulbs and thermochromic paint. This display lives at the intersection of digital control and analog output. A matrix of lightbulbs painted with thermochromic paint allows for an image to appear and dissipate analogously to the temperature of each bulb. The overall effect defies our ordinary understanding of […]
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06.29.08
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06.01.08Dreyfuss Bluetooth Handset
This is a one-off hack to retrofit a genuine Western Electric Dreyfuss Telephone Handset into a full fledged Bluetooth handset. A single button at the center of the mouthpiece controls all the functions (pairing, answering calls, etc.), while a blue and red LED indicator glows from within. The handset recharges via USB and lasts 6 […]
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06.01.08
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05.10.08Feedback Playback 2
FeedBack PlayBack is a dynamic film re-editing and viewing system. The users’ physical state determines the visceral quality of scenes displayed; immediate reactions to the scenes feed back to generate a cinematic crescendo or a lull. We use material that is rigorously narrative, formulaic, and plentiful: the action movie series Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis. […]
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04.13.08Tetherlight
Tetherlight is a hand held light that perpetually points at its sibling. Two Tetherlights constantly point at each other, guiding one Tetherlight to the other with a beam of light. Tetherlight: Prototype 02 Rotation from che-wei wang on Vimeo. The devices are each equipped with a GPS module, a digital compass, and a wireless communication […]
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04.13.08Feedback Playback
FeedBack PlayBack is an interactive, dynamic film re-editing/viewing system that explores the link between media consumption and physiological arousal. This project uses galvanic skin response and pulse rate to create a dynamic film re-editing and veiwing system. The users’ physical state determines the rhythm and length of the cuts and the visceral quality of scenes […]
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04.13.08GSR Reader
Galvanic skin response readings are simply the measurement of electrical resistance through the body. Two leads are attached to two fingertips. One lead sends current while the other measures the difference. This setup measures GSR every 50 milliseconds. Each reading is graphed, while peaks are highlighted and an average is calculated to smooth out the […]
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04.08.08
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03.30.08Drum Space
Drum space is a percussion instrument that transforms environments into drums. Participants are immersed within the space of drums as beats are created from the surrounding surfaces. The audio experience of the space is negotiated by each participant as they add and remove beats from sequences previously constructed by other participants. Will the space be […]
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03.27.08Ornos: Prototype 02
Here’s the first test with Ornos. The compass readings are behaving pretty well considering it’s right underneath a spinning hard drive. The 1.2Ghz processor and 512 RAM don’t seem to be enough to download and render the image quickly enough, so I’m going to have to figure out how to speed things up.
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03.13.08Etek EB-85A GPS Example Code
Here’s some example Arduino code for getting a Etek EB-85A module up and reading latitude and longitude (will probably work with most GPS modules). You can purchase a module from Sparkfun. The module only needs power, ground, rx and tx. Most modules like the Etek start sending NMEA strings as soon as it has power. […]
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03.12.08Ornos : Prototype 01
I was going to cover the lasercut masonite with a leather sleeve, but I’m going to go with cnc milled RenShape with a painted finish for the next prototype. The compass needs to be calibrated to the offsets caused by the magnetized computer hardware and I need to tweak some code to get the frames […]
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03.01.08Ornos : Prototype Shell 01
Here’s a rendering of the custom housing for all the components of Ornos (HP TC1100, Arduino, Digital Compass, and a mouse). Hopefully everything fits and doesn’t overheat. The first version will be lasercut masonite. The final version will be some combination of stainless steel and leather.
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02.25.08Stabilize : Accelerometer + 4 Servo Motors
So far, the Arduino reads the x and y tilt values and translates them into motion across 4 servos to maintain a horizontal platform at the top. Next, I need to get the z tilt values to reverse the x and y tilts, so you can tilt the whole thing up side down and still […]
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02.24.08Ornos : A View from Above
Since the first hand drawn maps of the stars to satellite imagery and GPS navigation today, our frame of reference and our perception of space has been molded into a view from above. Our understanding of place is often linked to an abstract representation on a map rather than a physical relational comprehension. You could […]
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02.20.08
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02.06.08Laser Tether : Sketch
Here’s a sketch of how the parts might fit to get the laser to freely point in any direction. 4 servo motors work in tandem to tilt the laser head. Batteries and the circuitry is stored in the bottom half of the cylinder. I was going to have a mechanical gyro to have it orient […]
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01.30.08Laser Tether
The Laser Tether is a hand held laser pointer that perpetually points at its sibling. Two Laser Tethers constantly point at each other no matter where they are on the globe. If my cousin in Beijing had a Laser Tether and I turned on mine in New York City, our lasers would point towards our […]
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01.22.08moMo : Version 4
momo version 4 now has a sturdier lighter frame. A couple switches were added to control power to arduino and to the GPS unit. The whole unit somehow runs off 4 AA batteries instead of 8. I also realized the compass unit is not as accurate as we’d like. It has a sour spot around […]
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12.25.07
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12.23.07
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11.22.07moMo : A Haptic Navigational Device
Momo is a haptic navigational device that requires only the sense of touch to guide a user. No maps, no text, no arrows, no lights. It sits on the palm of one’s hand and leans, vibrates and gravitates towards a preset location. Akin to someone pointing you in the right direction, there is no need […]
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11.19.07moMo : version 2
-new compass unit calcuates true north in relation to itself and waypoint (so it points in the right direction even if you spin it) -upgraded to 32 Channel!! ETek GPS module -4 AA batteries powers the entire circuit with 5.6V at 2700mha -a new skeleton ( to be outfitted with a flexible skin soon ) […]
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10.31.07
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10.26.07SlaHuRa : Slappable Huggable Radio
SlaHuRa or Slappable Huggable Radio is a FM and AM radio that uses an accelerometer (tilt sensor) to change volume and frequency. There are no buttons to press or dials to spin. Tilting the radio from side to side adjusts the frequency. Tilting it from front to back changes the volume.
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10.21.07
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10.18.07
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10.15.07
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10.07.07
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10.03.07A Haptic Navigational Device
A haptic navigational device requires only the sense of touch to guide a user. No maps, no text, no arrows, no lights. HND sits on the palm of one’s hand and leans, vibrates and gravitates towards a preset location. Imagine an egg sitting on the palm of your hand, obeying its own gravitational force at […]
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10.03.07
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10.02.07
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09.17.07Observation: Crosswalk Button
At certain intersections, the city offers a push button at the pedestrian crosswalk with a sign that reads, “To cross street, push botton, wait for signal, wait for walk signal.” Hypothesis: People love to push buttons. It give us a sense of control. So, people push the crosswalk button. And perhaps they push it several […]
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09.06.07
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09.05.07Voltage Current Resistance
It seems like the prefered analogy for voltage, current and resistance uses water with pressured tanks, hoses, etc. The waterfall analogy was the easiest for me to understand. If we draw an analogy to a waterfall, the voltage would represent the height of the waterfall: the higher it is, the more potential energy the water […]