Furniture... personified.
I want to create a community of objects that interact with one another and epitomize human characteristics. Specifically furniture. In the long term, the vision is to create a collection of furniture each with unique personalities that can then each interact with one another... maybe along the lines of neural networking but I'm not sure if that's the right term. In the scope of this class, I'd like create a welcome desk for my lab that greets you when you enter.
This is not quite what I have in mind... but this is definetly inspiration :)
What I need to get done week by week.
Who's done what beforehand?
It turns out one of my mentors has done something similar to this. Luciano made blow up balls that turned into chairs with the hope of also adding personality traits to them.
What will you design?
I will design a board (the scariest part to me!), a piece of furniture whose first iteration can be found here, and I'll also design a user interface that promotes selecting different combinations of the id, ego, and superego.
Entry from a month ago: I've run the idea past some folks. Some of the people who use my lab think it would be too annoying and they may unplug it or be less likely to even come in.... not what I'm looking for! So, I think it would be cool if the sound that "annoys" you is firstly more sassy than annoying but second, changes on a daily... may even minute by minute basis. It becomes exciting to see what sound you'll get but also annoying to the point you sign in when it doesn't stop. Another thought, was to have the sign be using facial recognition or some kind of rfid scanner? I'm not sure. But currently part of the reason people don't sign in is because it takes 10 - 30 seconds... it's a Google Form you type into. Another thought: if it gets too complicated to make the welcome desk provide a hot bevearage when you do sign it... it could be a cool weird computer voice that sarcastically congratulates you on the basic task you just completed. In a sense the reward would be comic relief. I'm hoping this week I can make my something big this welcome desk... we'll see!!!! :D
Logistics
| Item | Number | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Door Jamb Switch Kit | 1 | $20 |
| Micro SD TF Card Adater Reader | 1 | $8 |
| Plywood | 2-5 | $42 |
| Speaker | 1 | n/a |
Input
For this to work, I am thinking of using a door jamb switch kit which would would trigger the welcoming.
Output?
So the idea here is trickier for me to explaing. Technically there would be four options to choose from in terms of what personality components the furniture had when they greeted you. Id, ego, superego, and nothing. I wanted to see if I can get the basics of the arduino code written so I tried it out using the RBG LED.
This is from make something big. I want to make the furniture using parametric kerfing. I also would like to incroporate light.
Scratch that... new idea
Inspiration
I found this image from an Etsy store named Poligonia. I think the low poly aesthetic is simplistic and isn't too distrcting. I also like the idea of an entrance like that... and the idea of making it out of paper or cardboard.
I found this image from an engineering firm on Behance named Soren Jenson. The size and construciton methos as well as material speak to me. It is made of "100% recycled polypropylene sheets which are laser cut and scored so that they can be easily folded into stiff boxes. The boxes are interconnected using simple plastic pop rivets to form a rigid shell structure."
Just getting some ideas for a modern fireplace and chimney.
What will it look like...
Some basic skethches to get my thoughts down.
Then I did a basic render in Blender of the chimney.
Then an idea for how the mechanism could work...? Giant fidgetspinner?
And then of the chimney in the igloo.
Thinking os stacked slices but I still think I may rather do so king of low poly manifold slice tecnique.
Potential Schedule
This is very subject to change and depends on if I'm in the lab... but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! :D
Rotary encoders...
I started looking into the mechanics of how the firplace color wheel concept could work and found a great entry level video on rotary encoders.
I then went on to see if there are any documented projects about using rotary encoders to control RGB LEDs. I found this initial tutorial right off the bat and thought it would be a good project to start with.
In the meantime, the encoder I have in my Arduino kit seems to have 19 positions that it clicks into... so I started looking up what rotary encoder resolution is.
Chimeny Material Conundrum
At least for the first iteration of the chimney, I belive the material needs to be millable, flexible, transparent, and have enough structural integrity to stand up and not crumble under the pressure users will apply to the handle. For the second iteration, I'd consider gluing layers of milled foam to then do a layup composite on. I would use some kind of exterior release agent(gesso or other release agent needs to be used)... Maybe use plastic bag to evacuate air to pull plastic down evenly
Materials to Test
| Material | Size | Thickness | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDPE | 12" x 48 | 1/16" | 10.64 |
| PET Sheets | |||
| Wood Veneer | |||
Handle
After talking with Greg, I think the handle needs to be connected to the LEDs via bluetooth. Right now I'm planning to use a potientiometer which will require a ground, signal, and power. For the power, I plan on usng a 9V battery and I would use a tiny microcontroller to connect to the bluetooth and potientiometer.
LEDs
Strips of neopixles - Chain, they receive info from the one before - Diffusion - The LEDS go in a diffuser or the chimney itself needs to diffuse - Programming neopixels could be really creative long term (linear control) - Could I make a matrix….
Chimney Mechanism
LazySusan bearings and other turntables