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                                    Rube Goldberg Sketch Preparing a pot of boiling water 09–10–2023
 When coming up with the concept of a Rube Goldberg machine, I gravitated towards designing one that delt with the technicalities of cooking. In the original draft of my contraption, I had             intended for the machine to fully cook a pot of rice. However, as I continued to think out my plan/design, I quickly realized that that there were many difficulties with implementing it-I had run into a lot of blanks and could not figure out how some steps would transfer into the next step. As I drafted for the initial concept, I tended to just draw/write everything down and ask questions later. So then I decided to simplify the task and instead create a machine that would prepare a bot of boiling water for when you put in your cup of rice. While still a challenge, I found it easier to arrive at  a basic concept, even if flawed. For my final draft, I leaned into the more comical and nonsensical aspect of the Rube Goldberg machine. The heat and steam of the boiling pot of water would annoy the cartoon bird, causing the seesaw to move so that the measurement of salt would fall right into the pot. The butter, which is positioned over a surface above the pot, would melt, thus causing a small portion of the stick of butter to fall into the pot. By the end of this Rube Goldberg machine, the pot would have boiling water with salt and butter. In terms of what still needs to be done, I still need to figure out a way to incorporate a timer and stop the machine when the boiling water has all the essentials in the pot.         

                                   

                                                                                                                                                           


                                     Sketch/ideationUpdated system for indoor ordering09–12–2023 When I first watched the video, “A Restaurant that Mar-rye can’t go,” I quickly gathered just based on the first few minutes that there was an issue regarding members of the older generations and how they operate with advanced technology to do everyday tasks such as ordering a meal. 

From watching the video,  the viewer can clearly see that Mar-rye is frustrated with the new ordering system at her local McDonalds. She expresses annoyance that she cannot use cash on the machine, making having a card absolutely necessary to order food.  

Some problems she had with the experience was that she could not read the text, making it more difficult to order the right meal. She could not differentiate between certain menu items, such as the coke and coffee.  It’s obvious to tell that Mar-rye and other people in her generation prefer being served rather then operating on a self-serving system.  She described her being required  to read the receipt and having to pick up food as something akin to ‘going to the bank’. 

The main problem I wanted to address in my sketch for a more accessible system was the digital alienation of the older generation. A question I had when exploring this issue was why exactly was the new structure preferred? From simply looking up the question, I found that this new system is preferred because it is considered more convenient, has better customization options, and transactions are considered more efficient. So while I want to update the system to be based less in self-serving, I also don’t want to lose out on these benefits from the new structure. 

      
                                 For a more accessible system, in my design, I decided to incorporate an option that would allow customers to use cash, no longer making having a card with your person a necessity. The Touch to Start label that appears on screen is considerably bigger, with a hand-pointing symbol to accompany it. This change is added to emphasize to the customer, especially to one unfamiliar with this kind of technology, what to do so that they may begin to order. As for the general look/aesthetic of the machine, I wanted to go for a more nostalgic design. Essentially, I want customers to be reminded of an older, more colorful McDonald’s. While the design is silly and perhaps flashy, I think for some customers, they may feel more comfortable ordering from a machine that reminds them of a vintage McDonald’s.  

And to fix the issue regarding tiny texts and some customers not being able differentiate between the many different menu items, I believe allowing the user to magnify the screen would help lessen any mistakes in ordering. The user would be able to zoom into any area of the screen using their fingers, making labels and menu images appear bigger. 










                       Concerning the service design, I was thinking of incorporating a server ai so that if the customer would rather have their order taken rather than manually putting in the order themselves,  they could have that option even in the digital world. The purpose of this ai would be to accommodate those, particularly the older generation, who feel the new system is too self-serving. Through the added speaker, the ai would be able to audibly respond to the customer in a happy manner and process their order.  Once the customer’s order is ready, the ai could voice that at the front, making the interaction more organic than if the customer were to just look at a screen.
                                   Switch AssignmentLight up the Heart09–17–2023

                                     For my switch assignment, I wanted to accomplish something simple yet I also wanted to incorporate a unique theme to my assignment, perhaps as a point of reference for future projects. First, before sketching my idea for a workable switch, I wanted to practice creating circuits that just light up an LED without anything extra yet. In the past, I think most of my issues when handling the arduino were from a lack of care for building the circuit. For example, I would have all my code done and uploaded, and my wires would be correctly placed, but my LED anode would be placed slightly away from its correct spot, losing me time in troubleshooting. Thus, the first thing I did was make sure I could build a workable switch by simply putting the wires together.

 After that,  I sketched my idea/concept for a switch. I spent some time considering what objects I could use that were already in my room and decided to use the beanie baby. My first thought was that I could connect one of the wires to the toy’s embroidered heart and connect the other wire to either the toy’s paw or to my own hand.  I decided to make the connection between the toy’s heart and paw. 
       
        
                                             As I started constructing my circuit, I wondered if conductive fabric might be a better material to use for this kind of switch. However, I opted to use the copper tape for the sake of convenience. At first, just slapping on the tape with the wires attached to the toy resulted in a poor connection between the two wires. To fix the problem I added an extra layer of copper tape to the toy before adding more copper tape with the wires attached, solving the issue of the connection being too weak.  My inspiration for the switch overall would be those toys that light up or sing, etc if you  press onto its paw or if you press its chest. Of course as of now, I feel I do not have the capacity to create a toy bear that lights up when the user presses its heart. So for this assignment, the LED works as lamp more than anything else, connected to the bear’s interaction with its own heart. 




        
                                                                                                   
                                   This Is Not A Drill exhibition-Field TripThoughts on exhibit/sketch for possible art piece09–24–2023I found the show to be very inspiring as well as engaging. Personally, I think one of the aspects that heighten the experience of going to an exhibition is interactivity. For many of the pieces I came across, I was able to manipulate them in some way through a simple action.  As seen in the first picture, there were multiple sliders attached to these wooden boxes with pictures relating to nature. With headphones on, the user could hear the different nature-like sounds and even manipulate the composition by keeping some sounds at full volume while muting others.  


Another art piece I observed that I found interesting was this box-where inside were these different panels displaying filters related to decay .  Someone observing this piece would be able to pull back  some panels , removing some filters and thus change the main design seen inside the box. They can add all the filters back, revealing an introspective piece that shows decay.  Overall, a very moving and thoughtful  art work. 


I particularly liked seeing all the sustainable materials and their possible uses.  I found it very inspiring to see how we could lessen our use of unsustainable material and instead use something better without losing the practicality of the material.  If I were to exhibit something for the show, I think I would design a dress or a full-outfit in which the materials used to create such a garment/garments would be sustainable and perhaps biodegradable to show that even when clothes are not made to last they do not have to end up in landfills. For a physical representation of this idea, there could simply be a mannequin wearing the outfit. Next to it could be a plaque labeling all the different materials used for each specific part of the outfit. In terms of what it could look like digitally, it could be represented through a virtual fashion space, where the user can move around and see the different outfits and learn about the materials used.  


                                   Tone Labs Code for instrument/soldered circuit 10–11–2023

                                   
       
Video of beat made in arduino  

When deciding what role my circuit would play in a musical composition,  I decided on something simple and chose the role of a pulse beat, or just a regular beat that could play all throughout. When it came to creating the code, I knew I wanted there to be an implied pause in the beat. I am not that informed in musical theory but I might be thinking more of a beat that displays a change in notes by the fourth  beat, or just a four-beat rhythmic piece.  When testing out the tones in the arduino and uploading the code, I was surprised with how the speaker sounded-It reminded me of video game music with how 8-bit the notes sounded. For the code, I copied the example code and made changes from there. There are in total 16 notes played, all quarter notes.  As for the pattern of notes, I had it so that the first three notes played were the same, with a different note played by the fourth beat. I thought this made for a more interesting pulse beat, rather than one with just the same note all 16 times.  I think it would be interesting to see how other instruments sound with this mimic of a pulse beat-could it be applied to multiple or would it sound awkward/wrong?  


Code for instrument-Simply edited from example code and changed to better fit intended role for circuit



Picture of soldered circuit board for Monday class



                                   Sensor ResearchIMU Sensor-Testing and Final Thoughts10–16–2023

                        

                p5 code segement for changing virtual arduino position.
                 
                  
                 Arduino code segment for serial print and reading of accelerometer and 
                 gyrometer.

                


     IMU Sensor-What exactly does the sensor do? How does it work?

-The IMU sensors are able to measure movement in multiple axes-to get into more specifics, the sensor is able to track the acceleration and angular velocity of an object over a period of time. In addition to that, they are able to measure the tilt of the sensor in accordance with the earth. When integrated with software, the sensor can be used to further determine heading and orientation. 

In terms of the different instruments used to measure acceleration and motion within the IMU sensor, there are
-accelerometers-which measure a changing acceleration from the sensor.
-gyrometers-which measure changing angular motion.
-magnetometers-which measure the magnetic force of the sensor.

When testing out how the sensor worked for myself, I used the example code/followed the tutorial provided here in the link, 
https://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/labs/lab-serial-imu-output-to-p5-js/

Before working on the p5 sketch, I downloaded the necessary libraries needed for this tutorial, that being the Madgwick Library and the Arduino_LSM6DS3 library, and tested the sensor on arduino. I opened the serial monitor on the arduino and saw that there were six values per line, which changed when I even slightly moved the arduino nano. When it came to working on p5, some complications that I came across was that when I downloaded the p.5 serial control app and tried to connect it to my arduino, it would not give me the option to port my arduino. Eventually, I managed to get the serial information to the p.5 serial monitor within the program itself. Thus, the app was not needed as was stated within the tutorial.  In the end, I was able to move an object with the microcontroller within the p.5 program. It reminded me of the controllers used in virtual reality. Overall, I found it really cool that the sensor was able to capture movement and send those values to the drawn 3d image. 

One potential con for this sensor that could be just my setup is that there appears to be a slight drift in the movement of the virtual arduino in p5. I am not entirely sure if this is a fault with the sensor or with the program itself. 

Potential applications of the sensor?
-navigation systems like GPS
-motion capture / motion tracking 
-measure drones rotation and orientation

I would especially be interested in further researching how imu sensors can used in motion capture. I thought it was very fun seeing the virtual arduino move in respect to the physical one. I want to see and test out more animations/3d objects with the use of the IMU sensor.  

                                   Physical-virtual project research +  p5.js->arduino Serial Labs10–30–2023

                                        I found this lab to be quite easy after familiarizing myself with serial communication from previous class lectures and labs relating to connecting Arduino to serial communication.  After uploading the Arduino code and uploading the p5js code and opening the port, I was able to get the LED to dim as I dragged the mouse up and down the screen. I found it really satisfying being able to change something physical such as an LED light with the virtual world. For the second p5js example, I wasn’t able to change the brightness with key presses 0-9. I’m not sure what the issue might have been as I was still able to turn the LED on and off using the keys H and L. I think it will be really cool to test out how the virtual world can effect the physical world and vise versa. Could be a good opportunity to create something more installation based work rather than something practical. 
       
         
                                            


                     Two projects that I found especially interesting that appear to bridge a gap between the physical and virtual world are the projects Antivanity Mirror by Neil Mendoza and Passifolia. For the project, Antivanity Mirror, while the interaction and virtual reaction seem to be quite simple, I found the end result to be quite clever. The mirror in this art piece is actually a two way mirror with a webcam attached and hidden behind it.  According to the blog page, when faces are detected by the mirror, the positions are sent over from serial to a microcontroller which moves the mirror so that a face is no longer visible. I do like projects that appear to have some comical use or display irony in their creation-the idea of a mirror that purposely deflects your reflection is quite ironic.  Again, while a simple execution, I found the concept to be very strong.  As for the other project I was interested in, Passifolia I was very impressed with the scale of this project. The entire space is made up of vertical light beams which change based on if the user touches them. The space is able to be manipulated, not just resulting in visual changes to the set up, but also resulting in the introduction of the sounds of nature as a melody and perhaps touch? The blog post detailing the project mentions being able to feel the warmth of the light. The piece is made up of sensor system, ultra-directional speaker, and modules comprised of an automated light. It took both hardware and software to create this piece. Overall, this piece looks beautiful and I wonder how you would go about project where projection is heavily utilizded. What program/programs would you need to use? what equipment would you need?
 
   
-More pictures of Passifolia

                                    
                                    Sustainable Material Research
Mushroom Leather 
10/19/2023 A sustainable material that I have been interested in using is mushroom leather, an alternative to the plastic leathers and animal leathers that are typically used in the fashion industry. The material is made from mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus, and its production requires very little chemicals and water. From what I have read online, the material can be described as being flexible and lightweight. With it advertising itself as a more sustainable leather alternative, mushroom leather has been mostly used in fashion products such as hand bags, shoes, and wallets. Sometime in 2001, the luxury brand, Hermes , came out with a travel bag made with the material. In terms of where you can source the material, there seems be some level of inaccessibility when it comes to actually buying the material from suppliers. As of now, the material appear to be mostly used by luxury brands and less so by small businesses and independent artisans. I was able to find one supplier, MuSkin-(https://lifematerials.eu/shop/muskin-cruelty-free-and-oil-free-vegan-leatherette/). While the prices range more on the expensive side, depending on the size and whether there are no defects,  it makes sense considering how new this material is and the means to make it. I would like to use this material if it fits with my final project idea. I imagine using it as topper or a cover to some kind of enclosure.  



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