Little Red is a ghost bride in search for a loved one to accompany to the after-life. Dancing for whoever she meets, she hopes to find someone who will stay with her. If they do, she proposes and forms a bond with them. Otherwise, she weeps in sadness for the lost of a fated one.

Done in collaboration with Amanda Lee for the Creative Robotics Module.


Full Video:

Documentation Video:


Full slides for documentation here!

 

After doing some fun versions of the Windbot, I decided for my final to be a Cat Toy that one can control from a distance away. Attaching a fluffy ball on a string to the end of the WindBot, the ZigSim controlled bot moves around erratically using gyro sensors on the phone, connecting to the servo motors using arduino. There are three 180 degree motors, each one reacting to one axis of the sensors on the phone.

Introducing KetPlay, a cat toy that allows you to play with your cat while still remaining at your desk for those boring meetings. KetPlay only requires your phone and one hand, letting your cat and you have fun even from afar.

Testing of the bot using ZigSim

Initial Ideas:

Cowboy on top of the stick, then having a WindBot fight with @Jessie’s WindBot.

 

For Behaviour Bot, rather than a music piece, I decided to go with clips from movies. Following the Halloween season, I decided to choose between Frankenstein or Corpse Bride, and finalized on the latter. Watching the movie again, I found the proposal scene where the main character practices his proposing rather fitting for the project, and chose that audio clip.

 

Using Ableton and Arduino, I attached servo motors to a skeleton and programmed the robot to move according to the audio, creating “A Confession from a Skeleton”, where lonely souls can get a cute proposal from a skeleton during this Halloween season.

The head movement is made using two strings attached to each side of the skull, causing the head to get pulled left and right when the servos move accordingly. The arms are lifted by creating a sleeve made of straws on the arm, and then attaching a stick that is connected to a servo on the other end. As the servo moves, the sleeve slides up and down the arm, pushing the arm up and down accordingly.

In collaboration with Amanda Lee

Ghost Bride

Slides here!

Motorized character donned in Traditional Chinese funeral clothing, with no physical body, dancing to music. Platform decorated to look like a ghostly Chinese funeral scene with incense and papers burning.

– Moving based on audio input – Using ableton?

– Puppet show – reenacting wedding scene?

Ghost Weddings are practiced to ensure the unmarried dead are not alone in the afterlife. It was originally a ritual conducted by the living to wed two single deceased people, but there are also rituals involving one living person being married to a corpse.

Traditional reasons for Ghost Weddings include continuation of family’s lineage in the case of men and maintaining family honour in the case of women as it was viewed as shameful to be the parents of an unwed daughter, and unmarried girls were often shunned from society. The weddings are taken seriously and most often than not, many factors are taken into consideration before matchmaking two parties, such as age, family background and opinions of feng shui masters.

In ghost marriages between two dead people, the “bride’s” family demands a bride price and there is even a dowry, which includes jewellery, servants and a mansion – but all in the form of paper tributes.

The wedding ceremony will typically involve the funeral plaque of the bride and the groom and a banquet. The most important part is digging up the bones of the bride and putting them inside the groom’s grave.

While it appears to be an old tradition, it happens even now in certain parts of China. The ritual has mutated over the years, resulting in secret rituals, numerous cases of grave robbing and even murder cases for the sake of these Weddings.

 

 

Other Ideas!!

It’s Alive – Frankenstein

Using the audio from 1931 Frankenstein, in which the doctor animates the monster. A brain heart and skeleton moves to the sounds of the audio, reenacting the creation of a monster created through science and technology.

Frankenstein touches on the idea of playing god, and the moral and ethics in artificial life and experimentation. In a day and age where we move towards artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, the message Frankenstein relays till remain applicable.

 

Slides

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PWhEdxJm9LJUgEdLArgoqNGI6ege6hFGff4ANRfJTkQ/edit?usp=sharing

Report

After graduation, I see myself working in a design studio, preferably one that touches on a wide variety of works. I hope to be able to practice the skills learnt from school, but also have the freedom to continue exploring and experiencing new things. With this in mind, after much research, I found Japanese design firm Nendo to be exactly where I hope to work at.

Founded in 2002 by Oki Sato, Nendo’s works are often simple and minimalist in design, taking on subtle characteristics of Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics. It was founded when Sato was only 25 years old after he graduated from Waseda University with a Masters of Arts in Architecture. Currently, Nendo has two offices, one in Milan, Italy and another in Tokyo, Japan.

The name Nendo actually means playdough in Japanese, representing the company’s shapeshifting and sculptural approach to design regardless of material. This is something I really enjoy about Nendo, the exploratory and artistic take on their works, and how they experiment with various different materials to make something new and unique. Sato mentions that Nendo’s designs are created with the idea of little surprises, similar to the way life has tiny moments of richness. This is something I also aim for in my work. I hope that while the work is simple and clean, it has a certain characteristic and quality to it that catches the attention of the user or participant.

In addition to this, Nendo touches upon various design pathways, doing Product, Spatial, Interactive design, and more. I admire the wide range of work they do, even within the pathway itself – making furniture, but also venturing into food products. Overall, Nendo would be a fun place to explore and learn, increasing my skill set and engaging my mind in creative ideas.

 

Sources:
https://www.nendo.jp/en/
https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/Japan-design-guru-Oki-Sato-keeps-it-simple
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/1983064/japanese-designer-oki-sato-finds-inspiration-across
https://www.fritzhansen.com/en/Inspiration/Designers/Nendo
https://www.1stdibs.com/introspective-magazine/nendo/
https://www.ft.com/content/ecabef1c-35ff-11e8-8eee-e06bde01c544

HurtTypeBot!

Video:

Image:

(A hurt robot with a little plaster, requesting for repairs)
Process:

Tested every letter and how to make the bot type it

Ensured each letter worked and tested by making it type a sentence – “Hello, I am wl”

Video of test: https://youtu.be/QXZzFbcezJQ

Initial code: https://github.com/WLTjoa/TypeBot/blob/main/test2.ino

Then edited the code to make it move slower like it was “hurt”, and edited the message to request for help with a crying face “qwq”

Final code: https://github.com/WLTjoa/TypeBot/blob/main/hurttypebot.ino

 

TypeBot, WindBot and FollowMeBot Sketches

TypeBot

Considering ways of construction

 

Ideas for TypeBot:

  • Scanning colour of item then typing the colour
  • Listening to music, detecting title, then keeping list of songs heard
  • Working together with a face recognition camera, it detects the person who enters each room, then types the name of the individual like an attendance list

 

FollowMeBot

Ideas for FollowMeBot:

  • Follows person walking ard and aims at the head, attached to a mechanical toy gun that shoots a bullet at the detected person’s head
  • Instant camera that snaps a picture when a “peace” sign is detected
  • Accessories and filters change on the image of the virtual character when different gestures are detected

WindBot

Ideas for WindBot:

The “PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR DESIGN PROFESSIONALS” reading by Williams G Ramroth was incredibly insightful and a good lesson to all designers on how to plan for a project.

I believe the things the book conveyed have been taught to many of us since young, although it was done part by part rather than as a whole. Some skills and practices mentioned were habits educators have been constantly trying to instill in students, yet, perhaps too young to understand the importance of it, many of these habits have been long forgotten.

Likewise, only as I read the chapters that I begin to recall the words of teachers from before, and how I had failed to recognise their concerns raised. It is only in these recent years where projects have become increasingly complex that I start to practice these rules and habits unwittingly.

 

In Chapter 2 of the book, it is said that “Project management is an outcome-oriented process”. Indeed, more often than not, the blood and tears put into a project goes unseen if the end product is not achieved in the first place. Thus, we must aim to manage well so that the goals are achieved, and therefore showing that the process and steps taken were well-planned.  Otherwise, it would mean the process had not been sufficiently managed and would hence be considered a failed project.

Among the six project management goals, the first one is to reach the end of the project, with the third being to reach the end on time, and the 5th is to reach it error-free. These three goals stood out to me, and it is something I strive to achieve in every project. As a designer who aims to do the best I can, it is important to make sure I plan for my objective to be achievable within the time frame and with little to no flaws. Sometimes, I find myself setting an objective that may be challenging to accomplish within the time frame. In these situations, I must plan well, and re-assess my objectives, and see if any tweaking of the project is required to finish the task. This comes to goal 6, which is to reach the end while meeting everyone’s expectations. Designers may sometimes end up giving themselves high expectations and thus feel overworked. I, too, am guilty of this. It is important for us to find the balance between meeting the professor’s expectations, meeting our own, and having a healthy lifestyle.

It was mentioned that the most important fundamental project management activity is learning. True enough, it is vital that project managers, and of course all project members, continue to learn and experience new things throughout the project. It is through gaining new skills that the project may potentially grow and reach greater heights. It also opens doors for higher quality and higher complexity work in the future.

 

Failing to plan is planning to fail

“In design, the big picture is developed first-conceptually, without much detail. Once the big picture is conceptually completed, more detail is added as the design develops.”

In my opinion, it is important to have a rough idea of the end product before going into a project. Otherwise, one would be struggling to make proper developments, and much time might be wasted on experimenting with things that do not aid the making of the final in any way.

 

What is to be done?

When is it to be done?

Who is to do it?

How much will it cost to do it?

The book was also really insightful when it comes to group work. Having a QC/QA manager would be essential for every group project. It would be useful for the team to come to a consensus on the style and quality of the project they are aiming for at the start of the project. From there, the QA/QC can continue to ensure everyone is on track.

Finally, the Outline of a Typical Project Work Plan Document was a good template for documentation and planning. Adding to the document as the project progresses to record the changes and take note of initial objectives would definitely help in the long run, allowing designers to see how plans have changed, and also reflect how well they have followed their proposed and original plan.