The Physical Computing Final Project

Students: Stella Kim, Andrea Dulko
Title: S.W.I (Spelling While Intoxicated)...now known as SpElmo

Intention: To create a jestful way of helping consumers of alcohol diminish black outs and unconsciousness due to overconsumption; creating self awareness and a signal for others when enough is enough, helping to prolong fun and enjoyment.

The Project:(pictures coming soon...it'll be easier to visualize and understand)
We are creating a one player spelling bee game where a big plant will vomit your drink into your cup depending on how many questions you get right in one minute. There will be 4 possible results depending on your percentage of correct answers in the given time. The player can not move onto the next word until the current word is spelled correctly. If you get x amount of questions right your winning drink will be, from lowest to highest(percentage of alcohol) Water, Beer, Vodka, or Whiskey respectively. The user will be provided with a small keypad where they can push the correct letters. The word will be spoken through a piezo and there will also be a sound that lets the player know that they have spelled incorrectly.


Aim and Arguments: We hope that the game will help users regulate their drinking and hopefully display the effects of alcohol on their brain functions in an engaging way to not only the user but to others around them. We hope that by supplying water when the user results in a low score will aid in sobering up by hydrating and/or diminishing hangovers. We also hope that the game will alert the player and/or friends around them that they have reached their alcohol consumption limit.

User Testing: We hope to set the game up in an open space(where everyone is of course legally of drinking age)and set up a video camera to watch and show how people interact with the game at different states of drunkenness as they continue to play and how others around them react/interact.

For the final outcome please goto Sausages on the right and click on SpElmo. Thank you!

...ohh yea...

A lot of Labs: Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6

First...i must apologise. For some odd reason i thought i had put these labs up on my blog. I just checked and i haven't. Narf. So in this blog i show 3 video clips. One is controlling a motor. It was relatively easy although in the beginning i sort of got my wires crossed and so my motor didn't work properly. It was also my first time using my force sensor and it was great fun to see my motor go. The second video is of me dimming my lights on and off. It doesn't seem very exciting but it was exciting to me! I didn't have any trouble with this lab so yay! The third video is probably the coolest. We went into processing and started controlling visuals on the computer screen. You have to look closely at the computer screen in the video and you'll notice a ball moving. Hopefully you can see me playing with some sensors to be making that ball move. I hope you enjoy the videos! Cheers.

The motor lab was a bit of a pickle. Somehow my H-Bridge broke. I got my motor to work without the H-Bridge by just plugging it into power but then something started smelling so i stopped doing that. I went through about 3 H-Bridges which kind of sucks because now I owe people H-Bridges, so that's kind of a bummer. I put this mouse i had, which was originally a windup toy that i gutted, on top of the motor and it just drove around. It was funny.



Lab Week 5:Serial Output and Talking to Processing

i had a lot of trouble with this lab because i thought using terminal was essential when it really wasn't. Once i was told that i didn't need terminal for my gear to work it went pretty smoothly from there. It was so much fun watching the ball move on the screen using my switches and force sensors and etc. Sick.


Lab Week 4:Servo/Analog Out

I didn't have that much trouble with the analog out lab. There was something wrong with my servomotor but i switched it with someone elses and it worked perfectly fine. It was my first time using my force sensor i think so it was pretty cool.


Lab Week 3:Analog In

Fairly straight forward and simple. I made my led's blink slower and faster, on and off, going back from each other. It's very satisfying.

A Solo Attempt at GarageBand

mmm...cheeezy

"Deflowering the Garage Band Virgins with One Take"

by Stella(flute/piano,vocals), Elim(harmonica, vocals), Josh(guitar, vocals, base, shaker)

press me here

Micropayments

Artists should be paid for their work but I'd rather pay one full amount rather than little itty bits through a long time process. Of course if it's super expensive then I won't pay for it, but if I can get it for completely free then I'd probably just get it for free. It's the whole "process" of micropayments that I don't have the patience for. Either it's free or its not, i'm not into this "almost" or "its like" free business. I don't mind paying for good work if that's the only way I can get it. Also, I'm a student and don't exactly have just wads of cash laying around. If my financial situation was different then I'm sure my mentality would be different. I know it's probably a lame exscuse but it's the truth. My apologies if I offended anybody.

Physical Computing Halloween Fun

Jason and Stella in class

Cake

Midterm Presentation

Stella Kim. John Dimatos. Lori Napolitano

The Phys Comp Midterm

We originally started out seeking to integrate the hearing and the non-hearing community visually. We built a data glove out of stretch sensors that would create cymatic patterns based on hand gestures and movements. The final goal was to have two users that would create wave patterns in response to each other(wave frequencies). In the end, we did not reach this goal due to time and technicalities. We created one hand sensor but one was enough to portray our intentions. The idea to create communication in a creative between the hearing and non-hearing sort of became background noise as we slowly lost sight of intention. Although the hand sensor can still be used for that intent it would be a lie to say that that was in fact the final outcome. Below are some videos of our steps testing non-newtonian fluids as a means of expression to elements such as salt, as well as a user testing to the final class demonstration.

Non-Newtonian experiment with frequency ranges

user testing video 1

user testing video 2

final testing video 1

final testing video 2

Observation Assignment

oh bugger. I completely forgot to post this. Nevertheless, ENJOY!

observe here

30 second video more or less

***why Hello....By Stella and Elim***

Click To Play

Understanding Comics response

Life changing.

It made me really happy because I used to/still kind of get pounced on about how I was immature because I liked comics/cartoons and/or that it was a waste of time and mindless trash. Although , people now are more accepting because I do small animations. As soon as you make an honest job out of it that may require some skill and creativity, people become a bit more accepting.

Comic Assignment

**Oh Crap!!**by Stella and EJ

Group Photoshop

By Kristin




By Jose


By Stella

So the assignment was to work in teams of 3 and manipulate images as they get passed onto you from another member in your group. Here's one example to give you an idea for now.

Doh!

wow....i don't know what was wrong with me when i wrote that last blog on benji. i apologise. i'll go hang my head in shame now.

Reflection on Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Soooo I really enjoyed reading benji again. He's so interesting. Anyhow...I don't find photographs really that interesting anymore. Anyone can take a picture nowadays and develop/reprint a picture. I suppose that's what makes it less interesting. He talks about how anyone can be a published writer now in the editorials of a newspaper and he's right. We can reproduce in mass quantities now and that is accessible to everyone. I think the problem with reproduction is that everything becomes familiar which means people don't have to use their brains as much because they already know what it is. We no longer really have to imagine because we have moving pictures that already brings us wherever we want to go and draws all the details for us so that we don't have to. Although things like film has engaged us more, I feel that it's made us less interactive with art, especially with paintings. With all the flashiness around us today, being stuck in front of one painting, one image that might take us at least 15 minutes to understand and take in, most people don't have the attention span for that and/or get bored very quickly. Of course, that is all changing now and art is reforming/resurfacing in a new form where viewers can physically interact. It has been said that the best artist steal from others. So then actually, art is just always being reproduced. It can be a photo manipulated or a painting redone abstractly. However, whatever it is, the concept might be the same/similar but it'll still be different. I understand that in film, because the picture is always changing you don't really have time to take it in and contemplate but you can go back to it in your head after the film is finished or go watch it again, just as you could go back and see a painting. As for photos, maybe the first picture that was developed conceptually is different to the third photo that was printed even though it's the same photo. I suppose that's what Benji meant when he quoted Hegel, that because of the mass mechanical reproduction provies, "We are beyond the stage of reverence for works of art as divine and objects deserving our worship. The impression they produce is one of a more reflective kind, and the emotions they arouse require a higher test..." On that note, I just want to say, the war quote by Marinetti in his manifesto on the Ethiopian colonial war,...I thought it was beautiful.

phys comp week 3:trying to keep it cool

So, I've had a rough week in physical computing. The lab was fairly simple(picture shown.) Unfortunately, I blew my accelerometer, that sucked. Then someone stole my flexi-sensor. Great! Then I find out that the computer store is out of sensors except for the hydrosonar. So I bought that but i'm holding out to use it just yet. I ordered two force sensors that just arrived today so that'll be exciting to use this week hopefully. So basically I've been trying out loads of stuff, all of which failed in one form or another. I'm feeling a bit discouraged but I just went back to my bongo project that irritated me for about two days because I couldn't get it to work again. Fortunately I have, and i've changed a few things up. I'm going to try and make it look all nice and more like a complete project. Unfortunately, I won't have that ready for this weeks class which is today but hopefully by next week. I dont know. I'm not gonna try to beat myself up too much because I'm sure I'll be facing a lot more downers in the next two years. Narf!

The Blogs of War

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/milblogs_pr.html

I'm not completely sure how to respond to this article. I think the government should obviously set certain regulations for soldiers in battle who blog. Those regulations should only be about giving coordinates and strategies away, but that's obvious. But for blogging bout casualties and such, I can't decide where to stand. I can't imagine what it would be like to be a parent and wonder if you kid is alive. Blogging can kind of remedy that situation. Then again, the enemy has a way of finding out how badly they've injured their target and maybe plan to strike knowing their very down in numbers. I don't know, I've never been in war so I'm just wildly speculating here. All in all, I think blogs should be allowed and that the government shouldn't regulate it so much. Like it said in the article, a lot of people go to these blogs for the "real" story and to read a story that's often told better than the media. I don't think the public should be denied that, and I think it's great for families to communicate and stay in touch. Everyone's going to have a different opinion of what's going on, some will be pro-war and others will be against it. I'm sure the soldiers know not to abuse their liberties of blogging as was made clear in the article. They know that the government might shut them down and etc. But I do think they should be allowed to express their opinions whether they be positive or negative without government regulation. I think i'm just rambling now.

Everquest and Gaming Communities

I thought this article http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/info_and_tech/game_theories.htm was very interesting. It's crazy how people can actually make a living out of these gaming communities. I agree with Castranova when he says "I liked it better when they were just, you know, games." I always viewed online gaming as a way of escaping the real world and the stresses that come with real life. Instead it seems to have just crossed over. I suppose it's good for those who are complete game addicts and for parents of those teenagers that do nothing but play on their computer. Then again, I suppose you have the option of whether or not, or how much, you want to bleed the real world into the virtual.

group video post

Click To Play

This is our first video. What a nice guy ey?

So I've uploaded this video onto Bliptv and youTube. Both fairly easy and simple. This is the link to the youTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a0KLLgn1sk .
My only problem is how much crap mail i'm probably gonna start getting. bummer.

phys comp week 2 creative bit

So I decided to make switches using my bongo. I attached foil to my fingers and to certain areas of the bongo. When my foiled finger touches the certain spots on the bongo, different lights turn on. Check it out.

PhysComp Week 2

So I had some problems with the lab but by my own folly. I didn't put the wires into the correct pins. derf. silly me. Other than that, the lab was relatively is....probably because I didn't have to write my own code.

Comm Lab Week 1

"Orality and Literacy" Response

I think Ong makes some really interesting points. I appreciate that he seems to fully acknowledge the fact that our view of an oral society is generally speculation because we live in a literate society it is impossible for us to know or fully understand life in an oral society. I agree that sign language is a product of a literate language because it is based on literacy and rules of literacy, such as having an alphabet and grammar. I understand Ong’s belief that literacy is a form of human evolution with the rise of science, art, philosophy and so forth., but I can’t seem to fully agree with it. Plato, was against writing, believing that it weakens the mind. One of Ong’s arguments is that, today, we are forced to think away from cliché because it is frowned upon, because it is the obvious and it takes more thought to stride away from the cliché. That’s obviously completely untrue as you look at some of the films and books that come out today. In my opinion, I find things produced today probably even more cliché, but that may be because we've been overexposed. However, in Ong’s defense, he admits that oral culture can be ‘artistic and beautiful’ in ways that literary people will never experience, but he still says that orality is a lower form to literacy. I think it’s possible to say that our so-called step forward can also be a step backwards. Plato viewed writing the way we may view computers, “inhuman, thing-like.” It’s true that computers can make you lazy, and that it probably does weaken your brain with tools like grammar/spell check, the tempt of cheating with all the resources the internet and mobile phones provide, and tools such as calculators. We don’t really have to know as much, or spend as much time learning things anymore because we have technology that does it for us. However, maybe technology can some what be seen as going back to orality because we have more time to concentrate on other ways of interacting and communicating without the use of writing. Now with resources like YouTube, a new language, or a language forgotten is resurfacing in a different form, kind of bringing us back to orality, from still drawings to moving images that is accessible and available to anyone and everyone in the world.




55 Word Story


#B000EZYKTS

Assemble. Polish. Package. Deliver.
Receive. Tremble. Open. Excitement.
Plug in. Turn on. Wait. Anticipation.
Red light. Push. Green light. Active.
Input. Output. Motor. Life.
Humming. Shrieking. Silence. Repeat.
Input. Output. Head. Body.
Humming. Shrieking. Silence. Repeat.
Input. Output. Sleek. Sexy.
Agile. Flexible. Simple. Relief.
Input. Output. Smooth. Lean.
Life. Dead. Green. Red
Shaved. Guaranteed. Complete.

Phys Comp Week 1

Week 1


So i had a bit of a difficult time doing my first lab. First of all, the nyu computer store jipped me with my toolkit which i didn't really appreciate. Thankfully, whatever i was missing, i could find at the itp workshop. I had fun soldering, wasn't too hard, although i did burn myself once or twice. I ended up wasting about three voltage regulators. Well the first one was the wrong voltage which is completely my fault. I ended up blowing out my adaptor plug that powers my breadboard. Thankfully, the power connector was not harmed. As soon as i realised my folly, i quickly changed the regulator after continuously burning my fingers and got myself a new adaptor. The regulator actually got so hot that it started melting some of my other components especially the hot glue i had just used. The first mishap ended up somehow destroying my second regulator. Then Todd graciously got me another regulator which kept unfortunately kept faulting. In the end, after everything cooled down, i ended up just chucking the regulator and doing the project without it. After that, the lab went pretty smoothly.