Proof of concept, but here we go. I’ve rubber-banded the TriAxs to my Chuck Taylor’s and stole some loops from Apple’s Soundtrack files. I’ve realized that this is funner than I thought it would be. I’ll have to spend a bunch more time on the max patch to get things smoother, but, even now, it’s a pretty decent payoff for effort. I’m ordering more accelerometers. Here’s the proof of concept.

I’ve recently been working with a couple Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout Boards – MMA7260Q – available from Sparkfun. The process of getting these TriAxs up and running on a breadboard was a cinch thanks to Tom Igoe’s tutorial and Rob Faludi pointing out that I needed to take the sleep pin high in order to get the thing functional. I necessarily moved quickly to getting the TriAxs on to perf boards with an Xbee each. These will soon be incorporated into Experimental Devices for Performance so the implementation needs to be small and robust. They’ll most likely get a good smashing around.

Working with the Xbee API has proven to be extremely reliable and low maintenance for my needs. It certainly cuts down on hardware. No external microcontrollers are used in this setup. The TriAx gives out a range of 0 to 3.3VDC (the input voltage) on each of its X, Y, and Z axis pins. I’m sending that along via the first three ADC pins on each Xbee. The example below shows a quick test with a Max patch that parses the Xbee packet and maps the values to a gridshape’s rotation (X and Y) and position (Z).

I hesitate to post the video because there will most likely be more, better, and applicable documentation soon and because…well…the original background sound was completely uninteresting so I had to liven it up, but I know there are better uses out there for Herbie Hancock‘s Rockit, especially since this demo is so very dry. I hope to do this song justice one day, but until then here it is:

And on it goes. I’ve finally integrated, albeit with gaffer’s tape, all of the components of the FaceMask on to the bike helmet. A screen covering the mouth, a small wired camera,a video Ipod, two wireless custom perf boards, and a lithium-polymer battery to power the whole thing are now held in place with gaff-tape and rubber bands.

As briefly explained in the video, the idea is to have two of these devices with one of the perf boards on the opposite helmet, and vise-versa. This way you can “slap” your mouth on to some one else’s face and they can do the same to you. The interaction is not limited to slamming your head against a hard object. It’s just what is in my thoughts at present.

This new perf board is fairly simple. I’ve built a standard 5 volt circuit for the atmega8 chip then regulated the voltage further to 3.3v for the Xbee. There’s a debugging LED on pin 13 of the atmel. The only other big thing on the board is a 3VDC DPDT relay. DPDT means double pole double throw. Basically I’m using the 6 pins as a manual video A/B switcher. The three blue terminal blocks other than the terminal block for the power, are wired to the relay. I’ve wired up two sets of two pins with signal and ground from two video sources – one from the video Ipod and one from the camera behind the screen which is pointing at the mouth. The other set of two pins is the signal and ground to the screen. I take the coil pin high to switch between contact with the two video signals.

I had a bunch of trouble after I got everything on the perf borad with the chip freaking out when the coil demagnetized, or magnetized to rapidly on and off. I thought perhaps there was some back voltage that was causing the problem so I threw a 3.3v Zener diode before and after the coil. No dice. Next I noticed my lack of any decoupling capacitors. I threw a 10uF cap before the 5v regulator, a 1uF cap after, and some on before and after the 3.3v regulator for good measure. This seems to have done the trick. I think the voltage was dropping when the relay was being fired.

The perf boards were a bitch to put together. In the course of prototyping the breadboards I also inadvertently fried three, count them three, Xbee’s simultaneously by putting an unregulated 9 volts through their cute little blue bodies. All dogs go to heaven. I’ve heard the same is true for honey bees. We can only hope this extends to Xbee’s. I’ll order $60 worth of new bee tomorrow.

The face mask has been going through different iterations lately. I’ve repositioned the camera on the back, added new IR LEDs and diffusers and am now using a lithium-polymer battery instead of a DC converter for all the power. This contrast of the image is helped by the IR LEDs, which makes the viewing angle a bit better as well. I’ve also got my Xbee circuit set up on a perf board as explained in the video and as seen in the pictures below.

Last but certainly not least is the Max patch that I’ve been working on (screen shot / .sit). Compare this new patch with what I was doing in the old version. Many thanks to Luke DuBois for the help with efficiency of parsing in Max and to Rob Faludi for help with general Xbee packet information and for letting me borow his dongle.

Next up is getting more screen for the eyes, then duplicating everything and patching them together wirelessly. Three weeks to go!

I bought a couple of small screens to test from EarthLCD. (The guy I spoke with on the phone was an asshole. Just saying.) The screens are about 5″ each. One is black & white and one is color. The plan is to test these out, and buy more of the one I like better The following are short tests with the screens. Eventually…these will go on my face.

What’s happening: The two camera’s respective signals are being sent across a DPDT (Double Pole Double Throw) relay. One signal and one ground to separate poles on one side. When the relay is thrown either way, one of the two camera’s signals is connected and the image shows on the screen. The relay is being triggered by a lower voltage (5VDC) relay which itself is being thrown by pulling a pin high on an Atmega8. The Atmega8 is reading analog data (pulseIn (Arduino)) being transferred from an Xbee wireless module whose pair Xbee is doing an analog read of a Piezo sensor.

Basically. When the Piezo is shaken enough, the camera is switched. A debounce function is thrown in for good measure.

“I’ve decided to do some sketches. Well, not some…100. I’m going to try to get these things out 25 at a time. Over the course of the next few nights I’ll be taking time lapse video of these improvised sketches in action.” (from the previous post) The second 25 sketches were much harder to complete than the first. I actually had to take a water break after about ten or so sketches. I wasn’t thirsty.

I’m not actually sure this is helping.

Link to the 100 sketches, part 2 video – the second 25.

Link to the 100 sketches, part 1 video – the first 25.

view the start of the project.

My apologies. I won’t be able to roll these out by the weekend. Spring Break closes the floor Saturday and Sunday so it’s me without my white board. Perhaps I’ll break into the grade school behind my house.

Not in a bad way.

I’m in a rut. I am a highschool lover. I am an adolescent trying to complete his master’s thesis. The thing that is really tying me up is an inability to actually start. To actually dive in. Get physical. Physical. Mostly I’m not 100% sold on my idea. I’m not 100% sure I know exactly what my idea is for that matter.

In lieu of these revelations, I’ve decided to do some sketches. Well, not some…100. I ‘m going to try to get these things out 25 at a time. Over the course of the next few nights I’ll be taking time lapse video of these improvised sketches in action. The documentation is both for archival and motivation. The archival of erased sketches allows me to revisit all off the sketches at a later date in a different medium than the traditional sketch. The motivation is a time-based one. Once the camera starts, it doesn’t stop until all 25 sketches are done.

These sketches are meant to be directly related to my thesis, however, I’m not going to worry about drawing rubbish. Anything and everything will be committed to and not over-thought. In this way, the sketches are an ideation improvisation exercise.

Yesterday’s dailies post was taped during the same period and used as an idea generator and palette cleanser.

Here’s the link to the video.

I’ve decided to start a seperate blog specifically for my thesis at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. As of this writing (02/07) I am not actively linking to it as I would my other work. This is a semi-private document and thought space. I need to set it up in this way to give myself structure while also allowing a lot of play. The signal to noise ratio may be a bit more 50-50. I am going to try to make this a hyper-active scrap-book. I’ll be post anything and everything as I see fit. No need to justify. It all fits into my thesis somehow. My thesis…Experimental Devices for Performance. (for now)

I’m not going to post a link to it, but if you’d like to see it just drop me a line.

A Public Apology -
This morning I hit the foot of a woman in front of me with the bar of the revolving subway turn-style coming out of the 8th street downtown N train exit.

The Scene:

She’s walking slowly. She’s in a Robert Wilson stage direction she’s walking so slow. She’s walking next to a turtle. I am stuck behind her. We get to the turn-style. She waits two full revolutions. Nothing. No signs of any forward motion. I do a half-committed open-palm Virgin Mary thing behind her and finally she enters the turn-style. I make it a point to get in at the next slot to show her that it’s not just one person per revolution, but one person per slot, making it in fact three people per revolution. The thing that I do not do, is push. I simply keep her pace, immediately behind her. She exits. I keep her pace. It’s a good three feet until that next divider bar of the turn-style is gonna fly by at a blazing 1-2 mph. Somehow….somehow it grazes the back of her heel. And then I exit. And then she turns, looks and me, twists her face, and walks toward the wall. She puts her hand up against the wall, for support I’m assuming, and makes that mad-faced open-mouthed subdued-but-animalistic low growl. And shouts, “why did you do that! you should have waited.” “I’m sorry,” I say. I say I am sorry four or five more times as I walk next to her, speedily now walking up the stairs. She turns the corner. And I say I am sorry.

These types of things have been happening lately. I’ll be in a rush, and commuters will be strolling along like it’s national hands-in-your-pockets-day. They’ll be in my way and they’ll be moving slowly and I’ll accidentally brush their elbow with the turn-style. They’ll be walking up the stairs two at a time, when it’s obvious there are lines established. I won’t get out of the way. They get out of the way a bit too late. Out shoulders meet, we are both shocked at the force. They’ll be slow on the steps. I’ll accidentally find their Duane Reade bag underfoot. Crunch.

I’ve decided that this cannot weigh on my conscience any longer. I have decided to make a public apology.

I’ve coupled this idea, with an exploration in Wearables. This is a self-user test. The next step is to get the proper screen and build the wearable device to hold it in place.

And yes.

I’m sorry

video.

Andrew Schneider
THESIS SEMINAR
Spring 2007
Wednesday 3:30 – 6:00
Caren Rabbino, Instructor
Thesis concept paper.

Thesis statement:

Experimental Devices for Performance are wearable and handheld devices used for media interaction in experimental performance. Being performer oriented, the devices make the connection between media and performer inseparable. The performer affects the media through the devices and the devices affects the performer. Together, they become the performance.
(more…)