Micro-Project 4: Disobedient Objects

Process

Ideation

 

Initially, we wanted to install a really fancy kit in the drawer, which takes place in the bedroom.

The concept is that when people open the drawer, sometimes they forgot what the put inside previously, so every time is a new journey. We wanted the whole drawer lights up with LED lights, so people can see what they put inside and also creates a feeling of firework and a hidden castle underground.

But as we were doing our planning and sketches, we found that we only have only one breadboard and limited material and lights, we changed the drawer to a shoebox, which is more portable for presentation and easier for the installation of the Arduino kit.

Now the concept is that sometimes people put stuff in a container and they forgot about it, when they open it a long time later they will be surprised if there is something unexpected.

We wanted to build something cute so we decided to put an anthropomorphic figure inside instead of just a board of words, the robots will hold the board with surprise to give people a surprise.

 

Components

-Macbook

-Arduino

-Breadboard

-LED lights

-Photocell

-wires

-servo motor

-resistor

-cable

 

Two parts

1. Installations hidden in the box-breadboard, photocell and arduino etc.
2. Movable installation-servo motor, LED and the robot

 

Mechanics-When the lid is open, the robot will jump out and holding a board saying “surprise” and his eyes will light up(the LED).

 

Arduino Kit Set Up

Simulation through the web called https://www.tinkercad.com/circuits first, but sometimes it still did not work.

I also did the diagram as Lei taught us in class to make everything clearer.

 

 

Arduino Kit Installation

Details on the robot.

 

 

Inside the box.

 

 

Final product.

 

 

How does your hacked object behaves in a way you least expect it to?

When people open a box, they would expect something stable, but we changed this to a kinetic action which surprises people.

 

 

What are some reactions you observed from your participants when they interacted with the object?

Initially, participants were quite scared of opening it up because we made the box all black and changed put an arrow sign and a sticker with”What’s inside?”. The appearance of the box creates a mysterious feeling and makes people curious about what is inside, however, due to the dark colour and the setting, they were scared that something huge and scary would come out.

 

 

What are the challenges involved and how did you overcome them? What problems still exist? How might you overcome them eventually?

1. The challenge is really about the coding part, because we need to make the servo motor move and the LED light up at the same time, which means that we need to redo the coding.
2. The next challenge is that we need to make the LED light insert to the robot’s face, and the body of the robot also needs to be moved by the servo motor, which means that the LED cannot be put into the breadboard, but they still need to be connected to the breadboard. Initially, we were thinking intertwine the two longer lights of the LED together but the circuit still did not work, after doing some research, we realized that we need to add a resistor to prevent the whole circuit from burning up.
3. Still the LED lights, we need to connect the LED with the breadboard through the wire, but the wire got needles at both ends which means that we need to detach one end and bend one needle down, so it can have a whole to make sure that it can be plugged in and connected.

blue-before.

yellow-detached, after taking the needle out.

purple-after, which is the wire that we used for the LED for the project.

 

Demonstration of how the refined wire works with the LED leg.

 

4. We also got another problem which was that in the morning of the presentation, half of the wire came out of the breadboard and there were two wires that we did not totally follow the diagram, which means that we need to go through and understand the whole procedure again.

5. We took a long time discussing which is the best way to show the “creepy and cute” feeling without scaring people. We decided that we need to work on the size of the “surprise”, as long as the box was opened, the robot will come out quickly, so if people do not see it clearly but at least they know it is not a huge thing, which in a way guarantee the security feeling.

Additionally, we made the movement of the robot coming down really slow, so it calms people down and gives them time to react.

Reactions

After looking at the video, the reaction is exactly what we wanted, a pleasant surprise for people, at the start when they’re looking at the black box they were worried that it will be something big and scary to scare them, but when they opened it, instead it’s a tiny awesome surprise that brought them joy, I think the anticipation before opening it up was achieved as when they’re opening up, they try to open it slowly because they’re expecting something scary. Most of the participants stated that they did not expect this kind of outcome which is what we hope to bring across. not really wanted to make them scared but something to brighten up their day.