week 15 applications and implications
Through this documentation, I shall be presenting the conceptualization and execution of my final project. Here I discuss the various aspects of the project considering both practicality and feasibility.
What will it do?
I plan to make a dynamic screen that responds to musical beats. Its motion would be in harmony with the music, thus making it an interactive installation.
Who has done it before?
The initial inspiration and the working idea for the project was taken from http://www1.ttcn.ne.jp/a-nishi/tile/z_tile_m8.html All te designs in the website "The World of Geometric Toys" are by Akira Nishihara and I would sincerely credit the designer for the usage in my main project.
Another interesting project that works on similar theme:
What Materials and Components are required?
I have planned to use Acrylic as the main material for my project as it has a relatively smoother texture and hence allows a smoother motion of the pieces, it can be cut using the Laser cutting machine easily and also the translucent nature of the material lets a brilliant effect to be created when light passes through it. I also intend to use Machine Screws(California Screws/Album Screws) to rivet together various pieces of the installation. For the Electronics part of the project, I conceive the idea as an input unit that takes in the sound as the data, processes it and converts it to motion of the jali, which is the output here. I shall be using a microphone for the input part and a servo motor for making the motion in the pieces. It will go behind the central hexagonal parts and make it rotate according to the music beats.
Where will they come from?
The parts will be fabricated in FabLab, CEPT by following the methods that I learnt in the previous assignments.
How much will it cost?
The screws expensive and for Rupees 800, that is around 13 USD, 180 scres can be obtained from the stores The 2.5 mm Acrylic sheet costs around a dollar per square feet. The net area we have for the design is . Hence, the price comes to The milky acrylic that is to be used for base is available in two different thickness values. The 2 mm thick sheet costs a dollar per sqft and the 2.5 mm costs 1.25 dollars per sqft.The electronics stuff come down under 5 dollars.
What are the parts and systems?
This part has been thoroughly explained in the Machining and Mechanical Design Assignment with detailed description on its working and system parts. Please refer to the previous weeks.
What tasks need to be completed?
The basic work here can be understood in two major parts: The Mechanical Design and the Electronics Design. The Mechanical Design deals with assembling the parts together and making sure it works manually, which we have done successfully. The next part is the Electronics part where the idea is to use a microphone for the input and a servo motor for the rotation of the pieces.
What is the schedule?
I had thought of the pattern to be used long back in March itself and most of the ideation went into how to make it into an object. I made several prototypes to test the ideal material for the design in April. I tested MDF, vinyl and acrylic and decided to continue with the latter. In May, I finalized the method by which I plan the pattern to work. I figured that a central rotating motor should serve the purpose. The month involved making the final acrylic prototype, fixing the screws and thinking about its electronic design. In the coming days, I plan to incorporate a final frame to the jali that shall hold the end hinges and encase the design.
Questions that need to be addressed:
To make the pattern in the vertical frame, specific part needs to be hinged and made static while the rest of the frame should make dynamic. It needs to be addressed as to what is static and do I want to keep moving because a base needs to be designed for the moving part over which they would move.
How is the motor fixed to the jali? I initially thought of gluing the motor, however I believe that for additional firmess, I should screw the motor to the jali with a milky acrylic base between them to avoid swaying of the jali.
What is the weight of the module? How heavy the module is will determine the power of the motor that I should use to ensure a smooth motion.
Where do the lights(if any) go? I plan to put a LED strip along the depth of the frame lighting the entire module from sideways.
By what angle does the pattern rotate? I shall be keeping it lower than 180 degrees.
How will it be evaluated?
From an user point of view, the following parameters I believe will determine its practicability.
How sensitive it is to the music? Is there a particular level above or below which the module works? Need to test.
What are the specifications of the power source? What is the Ampere value of the current to be used? How much power does it consume?
Is it waterproof?
If one part gets damaged, can it be repaired easily?
Should it be mass produced (quantity biased) or mass customized?