All posts by Angel

eats vanilla ice cream with garlic chili

Spoon bending documentation + final

For the making of the spoon, I started out with firstly trying out the spoon used in magic tricks.

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and so I had to research into magic tricks and find out how the spoon bending trick works

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A video posted by Angel C. (@revivalblessings) on

 

Then i decided to try to make one that bends with a kind of mechanism.

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I realised that to hide the strings I need to make my own spoon. So I made one out of air dry clay first to learn how it looks like in 3D.

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Then I proceeded to learn how to use a 3D software to print it out to see how it works. I first used google sketch up but then I realised that it had certain limitations so I decided to settle on using TinkerCAD which was a really good software for beginners.

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Then I realised that joints were way too small to get printed and I had to find a way to put the joints inside. So, I made a new 3D model and got it printed on a better 3D printer using resin.

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I then made the joint smaller and improved the entire spoon to become smaller.

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The next biggest problem was concealing the joint. I needed a joint which was flexible and yet easy to conceal.

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So i experimented with a lot of different materials.

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Most of the materials were either too hard to be bent or hard to conceal or caused the spoon to not look like it’s bent.

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The nest solution that I could come up with was to use a piece of leather as a joint cover.  I got the inspiration from the cover for the gear sticks in carsfont-b-car-b-font-auto-black-leather-font-b-gear-b-font-shift-stick

So I then bought chrome nail powder and then coated the whole spoon to at least look a bit more complete

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If I had more time, I would most probably print the joint out in silicon or made the joint in leather and also reconstruct the whole spoon.

For the coding part, the difficulty came when the spoon was way to responsive to the user. The solution was to put the threshold higher and also a delay that holds the spoon in place for 3 seconds before going back into its original position.

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Having a meter there that tells people in real time their brainwave levels was also very helpful in giving users a feedback to let them know that the installation is responsive as the spoon does not immediately move till they reach a certain level of concentration.

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Some of the technical difficulties was that I had to be physically there to ensure that the users know how to wear the mindwave headset. Next, the mobile app would crash quite often so I had to keep restarting it. Then, the calibration with the user’s brainwaves took some time also. Some users also would not even have any reading of their brainwave.

I think the improvements that I would need to make is

  1. make the spoon look more convincing
  2. making the calibration of the mindwave faster and more sensitive
  3. find a way to teach users how to wear the device without a person physically being there to teach them.

 

I also did a video to document some of the process of making the spoon happen.

Final Sensorium

 

I really liked this project as it was one of the most ambitious one that I have embarked on.

I was initially really worried about the rafia strings because I needed alot. I went through around 15 rolls of it?

And I still feel that it could be even more overwhelming if I had done more. Started doing the rafia strings really early.

I really did enjoy how the strings caught the light and reflected it and created this space that was claustrophobic. That seemed smaller than it is because your eyes find it hard to focus on one thing because there was no depth. You could not see the other side of the dome.

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This was my intended effect, to have so much rafia strings that it messes with your point of focus, that you can’t really focus on one particular thing. I would like to throw people off balance by using repetition.

I think what was good was that I got feedback from people, so you could experience the dome lying down or sitting down.

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The 4 knobs, of tweaking the colours RBG plus changing the frequency really added more interactivity to the dome.

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Some people did complain that they felt dizzy after trying it out.

I would of course prefer to have more lights and more rafia strings.

It will be great also if I could have an indoor pool with the rafia strings hanging from the ceiling and people would float and enjoy the light show. The lights could be changed by where the people are.

 

PITCHING OF PROJECTS ASSIGNMENT 3 PART 2

Now to narrow down to two projects:

Since I am more interested in the body this season, I will be working more Brainwave wonderland and Body language.

  1. Brainwave wonderland ( Telekinesis Wonderland)

This project would be exploring on controlling things with the mind. The installation will consist of doing several tasks with just the power of our minds. We could light up a room of even create a light show with our brainwaves.

WBS:

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network diagram:

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i am thinking of a budget of $5000

Timeline:

timeline

This project is inspired by Star Wars and mutants that have telekinetic powers. This could explore the limits of the brain and what it can do, beyond controlling our own body.

2.Body Language

This project would be exploring on the sending of a hug over the internet. Using robots.

The budget that I might need is also around $5000 dollars to get the electronics and also the sensors for sensing touch.

I might need a team of 3,me plus a person who can do coding and a person who can do the electrical engineering to get the electronics wired up.

WBS:

body

network diagram:

touch

i am thinking of a budget of $5000

Timeline:

timeline

This project is inspired by the limits of technology and the internet. It questions if physical touch can exist in the world of the internet.