Author: katehartman

Call for Mutterings

To all artists and technologists,

This is an official Call for Mutterings. We are in need of creative audio content for integration in the newest line of Muttering Hats coming out next month and would like to invite your participation. We are seeking audio tracks at least 60 seconds in length that embody a creative interpretation of the concept of “the voices in your head”. Please note that these are in fact mutterings, so the ability to decipher distinct words is not advised for the final product. Also, we are seeking a spatial, room-like tone, so the use of a built-in computer microphone in the context of an empty room would be appropriate.

A sample of audio used in the original Muttering Hat can be found here:
http://itp.nyu.edu/~kh928/audio/muttering.mp3

All proposed audio should be submitted in the form of an MP3 to mutteringhat[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject line “Call for Mutterings”. The finest mutterings will be featured in the Muttering Hats which will travel the world and selected mutterers will receive credit for their participation in the project.

Thank you for your time. We look forward to your submissions.

Sincerely,
The International Muttering Hat Initiative (IMHI)

February 13, 2007
Heelys Hack & Magnet Plungers

For Sustainable Energy, our first project assignment was to “prototype a portable, personal electronic device wherein the electricity is converted from kinetic energy supplied by the user”. Christian Croft and I chose to focus on energy generated by the feet. For this, we took two approaches – one harnessing the energy of footfall and the other of a spinning wheel in Heelys, the ever-popular rolling shoes.

For harnessing the energy of footfall, we developed a plunger-like system where every time you take a step, a magnet is pushed up through a coil and then falls back down again. Here is a video of our initial test:

We hacked a shake flashlight and made use of the magnet and coil. Our prototype, which was set up to charge a AA battery, looked like this:

Unfortunately, the mechanics of this system do not make for easy walking and slowing down the passage of the magnet (for the footfall, as opposed to the quick shake of the flashlight), produces only a very small amount of voltage, so this model does not seem particularly practical.

Our second model, the Heelys hack, was more successful. We sliced off a piece of the wheel and attached a gear:

This gear interfaces with a gear on a stepper motor so that when the wheel turns, it turns the motor causing electricity to be generated. We tried two different motors, the larger, more powerful one being the more successful of the two.

Cutting the hole in the sole of the shoe for the stepper motor is a bit laborious, as you can see here:

However, it is well worth the effort, as the shoes are able to generate up to 8 volts and 400 milliamps.

For our class demonstration, we hooked up some LEDs and buzzer. However, we have plans for pursuing this energy sorce in more interesting applications.

February 12, 2007
Week 2: Regex & Tribbles

For my first adventure into the world of regular expressions, I made a few interpretations of the “Trouble with Tribbles” script from the original Star Trek television show. The source code can be found here. I looked for tribbles, stage directions, questions, and exclamations. This is one of my favorite results:

UHURA: (coldly)

JONES: (entering)

KIRK: (shows Chekov the packet of wheat)

SPOCK: (stroking a tribble)

BARMAN: (starts producing tribbles from all over the place and putting them on the bar)

SCOTT: (big grin)

MCCOY: (scanning him)

KIRK: (shouting)

KIRK: (a whisper)

More results:
–one word stage directions
–all stage directions
–names with stage directions
–tribbles in stage directions
–one word questions
–questions and exclamations

February 1, 2007
Week 2: Kinetic to Electrical

I worked with Christian to test the open circuit voltage and short-circuit current for our generator – in this case a stepper motor. This is the circuit that is based off of the diagram that Jeff recommended on the class site.

Leif and I also tested one of the shake flashlights . Using these as a model, we started to pursue the idea of replacing the copper coil with conductive thread. We used Bekaert’s Bekinox VN. It’s one of the most conductive threads that I’ve come across, so it seems like it would be well suited for this application. We put together a really scrappy model using the magnet from one of the large shake flashlights and were able to get a very small amount of voltage – less than 1 volt. We need to look into this more…

January 30, 2007
PHONES & OBJECTS

As part of my internship this semester, I’ve been working with Shawn Van Every and Tom Igoe on establishing a connection between Asterisk (an open source telephone system) and networked objects. The basic goals were to make it so that you could control an object with a telephone and so that a telephone call could be triggered by an object. Below is some video of the basic system in action.

In this video, you can see that the buttons on the phone are used to control which LEDs are lit up. Here, pressing the button on the circuit board triggers a phone call.

ITP-centric notes on how this works can be found here. I’m using what I’ve learned in a project called Botanicalls where plants are able to make phone calls to express their needs.

November 8, 2006
WEARABLE WALL

Worn as a backpack, the wearable wall is a portable structure that has the conceptual flexibility to be used in a variety of situations. In thinking about self-conscious or self-managed space, there are many times in our daily lives when it is advantageous to make ourselves smaller or bigger than our actually physical form. On a crowded subway car, one might make themself smaller so as to squeeze into a narrow seat. In dressing ourselves, we often don high heels or large, puffy jackets so as to create a larger physical impact. The Wearable Wall asks the question – what if we could be even bigger? Because of our relatively small size, we as people seldom have the physical vocabulary to have a conversation with the architectural forms that surround us. The Wearable Wall enables you to contribute to or critique the space around you. You can extend a preexisting wall or create one wherever you see fit. You are also empowered to alter or direct pedestrian traffic flow. The Wearable Wall also redefines the human-wall relationship. So often we lean against walls as we wait for things to happen. In this scenario, it is the human that provides support for the wall. Without us, this wall cannot stand.

October 31, 2006
URBAN SONAR: LOGGING PROXIMITY & HEART RATE IN URBAN SPACES

This is a project I worked on with Kati London and Sai Sriskandarajah.

Inspired by the idea of observing personal space and stress in the urban environment, Urban Sonar is a wearable system that logs and visualizes proximity and heart rate over the course of a day.

Four Maxbotix Ultrasonic Range Finders are mounted in the front, back, and shoulders of a hooded sweatshirt, measuring the proximity of people and objects on all sides of the body.

Four conductive fabric leads, stemming from the Polar Heart Rate Monitor, are strapped around the fingers to measure pulse.

The rest of the electronic components are housed in a pocket inside the sweatshirt at the small of the back.

Sensor data is fed into the Arduino board which then interprets it and sends it serially to the BlueSMiRF device. The BlueSMiRF then sends the data via bluetooth to a Nokia N80 mobile phone where it is logged using Dan O’Sullivan’s Logger midlet.

Once the log is complete, it is uploaded to a server where it is interpreted in a time-based visualization made in Processing. (Hit the start button below to see visualization.)

To view this content, you need to install Java from java.com

October 24, 2006
HAND-CRANKED VIDEO MIRROR

The Hand-Cranked Video Mirror is a device with which you have to operate a crank in order to generate the power necessary to see yourself. It is composed of a small LCD screen, a surveillance camera, and a power generating crank hacked out of a flashlight. Ideally I wanted to have the entire setup powered by the crank, but for now I am just able to power the video camera. The monitor is powered via wall power or battery, but it remains blank and the camera stays off until you operate the crank to generate the power for the camera. I removed the battery charging circuit from the crank so the voltage goes directly to the camera. As a result, your image disappears as soon as you stop cranking. Steady, rhythmic cranking provides the best image – frantic, fast cranking tends to get you nowhere. I like the idea that it takes energy, focus, and consistency to see your own image.

October 10, 2006
“TIN-CAN” TELEPHONE NETWORK

For our network assignment, Vincent Dean Boyce, Britta Reilly, and I decided to make a unidirectional network following the tin-can telephone model. Telephones were constructed with plastic cups and string. Each member of the class was given a transmitting end and receiving end of a different telephone. Three different networks emerged and messages were passed from one person to another through the network. Images of the network in use can be found at Vincent’s flickr account.

October 3, 2006
LIGHT BOX

A small strip of copper foil allows any small card, photo, or paper item to take on the role of connector. When placed in the frame, the card closes the circuit and causes the box beneath it to light up. The idea is that any small scrap of paper may be a link to a memory, and by giving that scrap of paper attention and a moment of reflection, the memory is highlighted and has the opportunity to surface.

September 26, 2006