weeks 16-18

IDEA DESCRIPTION:

This device is a social network (with intentionally limited audience), allowing its users to share
information (text, image) between each other, manifested in a 3d/physical/real-world object.

Initially, the idea for it came as a way to alleviate the 'pain' of 'empty nest' for my own parents, who
this year, for the first time, are left alone - with all three children 'flying away' to far-off places.

FULLNEST - consists of two plywood-acrylic EXTRUDED CIRCLES - I call them 'EARTH' and 'MOON'.
EARTH - signifies my parents' home - it is the 'RECEIVING PARTY' - and houses a SCREEN (powered by RaspberryPi),
a SERVO (actuated by Arduino) and a BUTTON.
Long, transparent acrylic (in future) LEVER connects EARTH to a smaller extruded circle (3-times smaller) - MOON.
This far-away MOON - signifies the kids/the flock - it does not have any electronic parts on it - it is purely mechanical.
LEVER is there for a reason - it translates/passes on movements of the SERVO inside the EARTH to MOON, which on it has
a FLAG. FLAG can go UP and DOWN, corresponding to SERVO's MAXIMUM ANGLE and MINIMUM ANGLE POSITIONs.
A family TUMBLR BLOG is set-up and can easily be reached by kids on their smartphones. Each of their new image posts
causes a CHAIN OF DIGITAL/ELECTRONIC TRIGGERS-RESPONSES and results in two things:
1. FLAG going UP on the MOON - notifies parents of a new post
2. IMAGE on SCREEN (displaying previous post) gets updated and starts DISPLAYING NEWEST POST.
Once, PARENTS/RECEIVING PARTY has read this MESSAGE from the offspring, they press the BUTTON,
causing FLAG to go DOWN. (In future, that would also trigger RaspberryPi to send a message back to KIDS -
something preset, like 'HOME HAS RECEIVED YOUR MESSAGE'. This way, children, too will get feedback.)

FULLNEST tries to address some interesting questions. Like, can a device turn an "EMPTY NEST" into a "FULL NEST"?
How can EMPTINESS at the kitchen table be filled? Does TIME + EFFORT = CARE = PRESENCE ? Could DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
be harnessed to translate/transfer CARE from elsewhere, back home?

Coming to think of it - FULLNEST will also be a physical life log for the family, which owns it.

SOFTWARE:

step one: ARDUINO AND RASPBERRY PI MEET TO MAKE SERVO/FUTURE FLAG MOVE:

To set up the first encounter between Raspberry Pi and Arduino, ie. set up the 'Serial Communication'
between the boards, I used this AMAZING and very fitting script by adafruit expert Dr.Monk - in 2012 he
paired Arduino and RasPi boards to make ... flags move! He, actually, had two servo motors, moving two
flags.
His Arduino sketch sets Arduino up in a dependency - to wait for the Raspberry Pi's commands. The corresponding
Python script on RasPi, uses TKinter (a plug-in, needs to be imported to RasPi, as well)and creates 'a 4-arrow remote
control'. Pressing buttons (a,A,b,B), results in sending of 'commands' to Arduino, by extension leading to movement of
servos/flags.
Knowing that FULLNEST will only need one servo, I created my own 2-arrow TKinter remote - and with it (+Arduino sketch),
made my servo go from MINIMUM ANGLE to MAXIMUM ANGLE POSITION.

FILES:

I thank Dr.Monk very much and add a link to his page/script - here.
My Arduino sketch for MOVING ONE SERVO/FLAG UP AND DOWN can be found - here.
Corresponding Python script for Raspberry Pi is here.

step two: SETTING UP TUMBLR BLOG AND IFTTT ACCOUNTS:

Tumblr blog was chosen as 'a place' to upload images to: visit our-fullnest Tubmlr blog here.
Nick, from our class, has shown me the brilliant IFTTT - web-based program that allows its users
to 'cook up' different TRIGGER-RESPONSE recipes. It's great! Visit it here.