May 02

AVsampler – Still a long ways to go…

http://youtu.be/NCdXihNmAZc

May 01

The Scale of the Universe 2 (AMAZING INTERACTIVE ANIMATION)

It takes a few minutes to load but it is 100% worth it:

http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white

May 01

LOOMIS updates

Everything is going well. I’m experimenting with a new way to pump water through the sculpture today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYQSXOklBLU&feature=youtu.be

May 01

Switching to Droid!

So I’ve been pretty all over the place so far in how I intend to execute the task of getting passive EEG data to sync with manually input data from a smartphone.  Last week I spent countless hours trying to figure out how to use Frequency Shift Keying to “legally” send data into the iPhone through the audio jack.  There is information on how to do this in the book iPhone Hacks but there aren’t very many helpful examples online about how to do this (at least none that I could find).  After a while I realized that I was dedicating more time towards breaching the defenses of the iPhone than the essence of my project.  In the spirit of staying on track I abandoned using the iPhone w/ FSK and I’ve made the move to Android with Bluetooth.  Currently my bluetooth module is in the mail – a piece recommended by Mr. Fuzzy-Wobble.  Additionally, I am purchasing/borrowing an Android today.

My new and final goal is to send the serial data (via a bluetooth module) from the Mindflex to an application that I will build on my Android.  This application will then send the packets of data to the internal SD storage in the phone.  The internal clock of the phone to time-stamp the data, and there will be a simple interface for annotating the data with 2 preset lists of manually input “Activities” and “Moods”.

So far, I’ve:

Still to do:
  • Get my Android/bluetooth module
  • Code, code, code!
  • Test application on friends.

Messing Around with FSK and iPhone

First Processing Sketch to Android Emulator

 

Apr 30

MoogBot- Update

So, I’ve been pretty busy these last couple of weeks.

I did a rough and dirty survey and asked people in DT what were their favorite textures. I got back some GOOD responses and I will be sharing those results on my blog perhaps later, because I want to hold onto that feedback for a little bit more for privacy purposes. For right now, if anyone else wants to take the survey, it’s at the link below.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VMZ6D53

To read more about my progress, head over to my blog.

Apr 28

Final Project Progress – Feedback Wanted!

After having done extensive research on campaign finance and lobbying towards new government legislation as well as street interviews, I have narrowed down the project to a few specific goals. The main premise is to communicate to people how industries and private companies heavily influence government legislations that are in some cases not for the greater good of the general public, but are designed to favor these companies’ own private interests.

The problem is rooted in the process not in substance. The most salient feature of the government is that it discriminates against all sides to favor itself, which will be the primary focal point. In order to convey this, I’m focusing on recent Internet legislations (SOPA, PIPA, CISPA) as the use case for the project. This will highlight how not only these individual legislations were too broadly written and essentially would provide too much authority over the Internet left in the hands of government agencies and private corporations, but also how the underlying system is essentially corrupt, which allowed these bills to get proposed in the first place.

Below are the wireframe mockups for the home page and data visualization page.

homepage

data visualization page

I plan on incorporating the video portion of the project into the website on the home page. This way users can watch it and it will explain what the purpose is of the project and provide some information as to what else can be found within the site, a teaser. I will also upload the video to youtube so that people can find it, and hopefully lead them to the website.

I mocked up 2 wireframes for the site to show how the video will be presented and how the data set will look. Under each category there will 2 options to click on, the industry or the companies who are backing the bills.

Since CISPA is still active and has just been passed in the house, I will need to take into consideration how to approach this portion in comparison to the others. I will need to be able to update the site as it continues to progress.

Feedback is welcomed!

Apr 26

Y.A.M.A—Test

 

The first video shows that I was controlled by Firm, a DT student, to leave from DT12 to the street. I got a lot of problems. The Internet was disconnected when I was in the elevator. My camera’s capture was too bright to see, I just bought a new one to solve this problem,when I was walking on the street.

Also, the most important issue was the order which somehow sometimes had long delay. I was afraid about what I heard was not correct order.

 

 

I really like second try on DT 12. Because the internet was great, and I was totally trusting the order. Firm let me get to the kitchen and ask me explore the area. But the same order, explore around, was keeping sending to me, then I figured it out that he might need something in the vending machine. I bought a snack for him and got a new order. I went back to him and handed the snack to him in the end.

Apr 26

Foodprint experimentations | modifications | success and failures…

I managed to hack the printer using a serial communication between processing and arduino. In this video , I am using key press “P” to activate the printer.

Video: IMG_0890

I’ve also programed 4 buttons , when pressed , it activates the printing. Pressing each button replaces the current image being shown in the canvas. Example: The image where the beer is displayed prints the color yellow.

You can see the details in the video below:

 

Video: IMG_2407

I’ve been exploring with different flavors to create the tastes. In order to extract the flavor , I boiled the flavor in a pan. I also used a filter to extract the particles. The hard part is to make the composition neither too think nor too thin/liquid.

I choose to work with these following tastes: Pepermint for Cyan, Hotchili for Magenta, Citrus butter for Yellow and Soysauce coffee for black.

I used a syringe to extract the ink from the cartridge , then insert the flavor by mixing it with the edible ink.

I succeded in printing some soysauce. You can actually taste it and smell it very well. However the others were very subtle in the taste and the smell.

It is more difficult than I thought to print a taste. The problem is that the flavor has to be diluted enough to pass through the ink cartridge without ending up being too subtle. So the flavor ends up not being strong enough.

There is a sponge in each cartridge where the ink goes through. Ingredients such as sugar and oil have a harder time passing through the sponge. Alcohol evaporates.

Flavors with volatile/aromatic particles  didn’t work because the flavor is lost in the process.

A lot of chemistry flash backs!

Although , if you smell the paper , it smells like the flavor. But I am not sure if I want to forget about the taste.

I am thinking of using another technique to insert the flavor. I am going to try to create a mechanism using a servo motor or a solenoid valve. I will have to ask Anthony about this. It can be a good method to let liquids go through and stop.

I still want to deal with edible paper. But maybe using this method will be more effective than the printer. The taste would be stronger.

I found this project that is really cool and deals with liquids. It is different in terms of content and concept but it could help me out with the technique http://www.creativeapplications.net/scripts/gowiththeflow-scripts/

Another test to go…

 

Apr 24

Update: Sound responsive solenoids

In this video, I’ve programed the solenoids to open and close based on volume. I’m using a white noise iphone app to generate the noise.

Movie Recording

Apr 24

Moog-bot Prototype 1 – Posterboard

I’ve posted photos of my first prototype. To view my blog post, click here.