- Getting to an intermediate level of using
electronics and Arduino
- Getting more comfortable using materi
als, tools and machines to create and
test prototypes
- User test every iteration from start till
finish
- Get your priorities and task division
right, to keep the efficiency high
- Buy and test multiple sensors for the
same required result in order to avoid
spending too much time on a sensor that wasn’t right in the first place.
This project started out very different than I expected.
In the first week we heard that the music
system they were talking about had to be a
system of all the projects combined with around
30 students. This came as a shock because I
already had different plans when I chose this
project. Steim is a studio that creates and performs
with new electronic music instruments
and I knew that there was a project about music
juggling balls. When I chose this project I wanted
to work together with the producers of these
juggling balls. Already after a short while I realized
that this would never fit the design brief,
but also the project at Steim was in a far developed
stage. The only thing I would be able to investigate
is what kind of plastic the balls should
have, which was not something I intended to
learn. Also I would miss big parts of the design
process. Already within the first day I didn’t find
it a problem anymore. With the perfect team of
four musicians I knew we could come up with
something amazing.
My main goal was to get to an intermediate level
of creating working prototypes using Arduino. I
knew that the best thing to do was to start early
on building prototypes. Luckily the whole group
had the same goal of developing Integrating
Technology so already after 2 weeks the first
concepts were transformed into working prototypes.
Creating my concept with a rolling ball on
a path, I really experienced that my knowledge
from the Creative Electronics assignment last
year went downhill. But I could finally do what
I wanted to do which was experimenting with
electronics. I got my prototype working using
two LDR’s and some programming. The speed
of the ball would be calculated and the sound
attached to that speed would be played. Unfortunately
I thought that not enough emotion
could be put in using the prototype which taught
me that something can look amazing on paper,
but can turn out very different when you really
build it.
In a further stage of the process, we had to build
a casing for our pen. I really saw this as a challenge
because I didn’t had much experience in
working with materials from previous projects.
At first I wanted to create shapes using materials
straight away instead of using sketches.
With foam I made 3 shapes that would represent
the sound of my pen. By sanding a square shape
into my organic pen I could really easily create
every shape I wanted. After these 3 sculptures
I used sketching techniques I learned at my
assignment to create various amount of forms
based on my preferred foam pen. From this I
started to model the pen in wood and also gave
the pen to people in order to see how they would
hold it. A real challenge was to find out how I
could make an organic form that still could be
opened to put electronics inside. I think I came
up with quite a clever solution and after a lot of
sanding I’m really satisfied on how the shape
came out. I really gained experience in using
materials, finding creative solutions and using
different machines at Vertigo, a place where I
find it more comfortable to work now.
From the three technologies that were needed
for the pen, I handled part of the detection of
the position of the pen. I spent quite some time
figuring out which sensors were needed and
created a clever and cheap way to use these.
The solution I came up with surprised me when
it actually worked quite well! Using IR-light I
could detect the amount of light from 2 points
and with some math the position could be calculated.
The problem was that the IR-receivers
had a too shallow angle of receiving IR-light.
With more of these receivers the problem could
be resolved but already at this point we had determined
that it would be nice if an extra device
to use our pen. At this point I got to an intermediate
level of using electronics which was my
main goal.
I found it a pity that the technique on which I
spend so much time, couldn’t be used in the
final prototype. I did calibrate the accelerometer
to make it more stable which is something
I can use with all kinds of sensors. Still I would
have wanted to show more of my contribution
to the project in the end result but because of
decisions I fully agree with, this wasn’t possible.
Also besides the positioning technique and
my own casing I didn’t have one clear other
task. I had more an overview and was more an
all-rounder helping out with user testing, the
strain sensor, the accelerometer and the programming
to make the Arduino values usable
for the music program.
In future projects I know now that user testing
is something you should do after every iteration.
Now we waited too long until we added more
and more technology. We should have tested
these separate techniques after they worked
immediately. In this way you know much better
which parts of your concept do and don’t work
for a user as intended. Also I know now that if
you want to test certain technology and you have
the choice of different sensors to make them
work, you should already in an earlier stage test
and buy all kinds of sensors. Now we spent too
much time on trying to make a sensor work that
wasn’t suitable in the first place. If we had tried
a different sensor straight away, we would havesave
a lot of valuable time. Also as experienced
by my team members, it is important to have
clear tasks and division and priority list during
the process in order to keep the efficiency high.
In general I learned more than intended and
also seeing the end result I’m really proud of
this project!
