Here is the Project Documentation for the Prototype:

http://www.zshare.net/download/6132922167290433/

the motor under the mock table
the photo isn't oriented right, but that's the mirrored plexiglass so you can't see the motor and camera underneath.
the knife with magnet inset and ficudial ID which had to be angled up in order to catch the light and enable the camera to see it
yay magnets!

I didn't get a chance to film the motion and my school's media resources is closed for summer but as soon as I get a webcam I will film the action.

-Evan

Prototype, Problems, and Final Class Crit

Not too many updates since the last one yet so much has happened.  To bring things up to speed I will use bullet style:

-Figured out how to read xpos serial data to control the speed of a motor through an encoder thanks to A Big Magnet but couldn't control the direction.  

-Lalya and I got some directional feedback but when I took it home to fine tune it, I burned out my Arduino and Motorshield. 

-After debugging the board and shield to make sure it really was fried (not sure how I did this but the important thing learned is you can never be careful enough!) ordered a new ATMega chip and Shield.

-When the shield got in and I put it together, met with Lalya and decided the best course of action for the crit is to have a prototype that just moves one of the cutlery.

So, then in one weekend I scrambled my butt off to get something that looked presentable.  Went to a local window tinting shop in Cranston and bought something called R20 which is a two-way mirror sheet.  Then built a quick little wooden table frame at the woodshop.  Cut a piece of plexi to fit the top and adhered the R20 to it.  Then I purchased a pack of high-powered magnets and inserted them into the cutlery.  I had to hand draw the ficudial ID's on the fork and knife because the video camera wouldn't recognize the small printed ones--they were too pixelated.  So then after renting a camera from media resources I set to calibrating the machine.  Basically the code is telling the motor that when it recognizes the knife a certain distance away, to move for a certain amount of time backwards and then forwards.  This means that the motor doesn't actually know where 'zero' is it only moves a certain amount backwards then forwards.  After building a shadow box around the table to make the two-way mirror work best, the prototype worked and was unveiled successfully at the critique.

The next part is working more on how to maximize the effectiveness of the components I already have and then to build a table that can move x and y positions.  This will be my potential summer project.

-Evan

progress...

lots of developments:

-got an adafruit motor shield in the mail, (had to put it together myself, that adds soldering to the list of incredible things i have learned doing this project) and after put it together have had no success getting a "hello world" from a motor but this is the first goal.  

-this is a friend's old printer I took apart.  My goal by monday or tuesday is to have that printer cartridge go back and forth, so far no luck but I am sooo close

-also made the "cutlery" that will actually go on the table.  these still have to get a space hollowed out for iron pieces and coated with an eat-safe surface.  the knife and fork  ends are either getting dipped in plastic or metal depending on the weight/cost/availability.  once this is all known I will be slapping on some Ficudial markers and badda bing.  

-Evan

more software breakthroughs

Though seemingly small, I have (on my own, I should add!) figured out, with what limited programming understanding I have, how to recognize these damn Fiducial Markers.  They are the little amoeba-shaped icons below, each one corresponds to a different number.  Anyways, I can now get either the program to light up a different led that corresponds to each marker or to recognize when a marker is in a certain spot in a 3 x 3 grid.  That's what that drawing is above, there are only 3 led's (cuz I'm cheap) so the led lights up depending which 9th of the grid you wave the marker in.  pretty cool? no not really but it means that now I know how to tell the computer where and what each thing is.

figured out on sunday.
-Evan

Software Hill Climbed!

So, after playing around with reacTIVision, I finally got it to interact with Processing, this was great but the most important part was whether Processing would be able to then communicate with Arduino. By making a basic on/off switch between Processing and Arduino, and feeding the TUIO signal from reacTIVision as the catalyst, I got interaction between all three! Though it is small, this is a significant step for me and I am very happy.



-Evan

Baby Steps...

This blog is intended to be documentation for a project I am working on in Lalya Gaye's Digital Media class at RISD this Spring 2009.  The project idea is a table that sets itself.  The inspiration comes from seeing the MIT Media Lab's "self-healing chair" and wanting to make physical via furniture the digital technologies available to me.

Since this project is essentially a task whose focus is on the engineering side, rather than the concept or aesthetic side, most of the time so far has been spent figuring out what technology to use to get my table to perform its task.  After investigating RFID, motors, ball bearings, circuits with transistors, etc. the combination I have arrived at is the reacTIVision software with Processing sending data to Arduino which will power a selective electromagnet on a dual-axis motor underneath the table's surface.  The table will be either mirror coated plexi or one-way mirror with all components underneath, the utensils will be made by myself out of balsa wood with iron insets.  I hope you enjoy following me as I attempt this ridiculous and challenging project.

-Evan