Most of the extra supplies such as needle nose pliers, buttons, velcro, needles, spools and secures were bought at the Dollar Store at Surrey central. Credits to them and note to self to check for anything before purchasing at hardware stores or specialty stores for a high price.

Some parts that really affected the quality and the progress of the neck brace was the fact that we used conductive thread for all the connections. The problem is that conductive thread has high resistancey so by the time they reach the vibe boards, there is no current at all. As well, sewing was time consuming. Realizing at 8 morning that the whole circuit has to be resewn was very discouraging. I tried doubling up the thread and weave through the circuit that was already there to decrease the resistance, however it remained relatively the same and made no difference at all. Desperate to find wire to replace the soft circuit, I had an old pc desktop computer from another Siat project and took it apart to see what I could salvage. To my surprise, the cables that connected the old motherboard to other component were made of fairly strong yet thin wire strands. I stripped them and surprisingly they worked well even just weaving through the original conductive thread circuit. The big problem is that I had used too many layers of wire and parts of them were beginning to fray form being handled too much. When I tested the sensors and vibe boards individually, they worked fine, however it could be circuit bridges and shorts that caused the arduino to have unreliable readings from the sensors.

Sewing on jumper wires in their correct location was a very difficult task. Somehow, each wire took aroun 20 minutes to sew on, but I gained speed near the end and it lost some quality there.

Another part is that the velcro removable IR proximity sensors were an afterthought in that I had already sewn two sensors down, but found that it got in the way of other components as well as was facing the wrong direction and area. So at 10 in the morning, I decided to remove them and completely reconfigure it. The result was removable sensors with a fairly easy set up to connect to the arduino. One could configure the sensors in multiple ways; so that they face front, back, left and right or rotate them vertically so that the proximitors detect more vertically than horizontally. Since this was an experimental piece, one could easily change the sensors to something else and use the neck strap as a started kit to wearable experiments. Due to time constraint, I did not end up making nice button on connections.

About experience, while in the early stages of the project, I allowed my sister and mother to try the strap and to get their feedback on the vibe board’s effect to them. The set up only had one working vibe board and one proximity sensor. They understood the location and what the buzzer meant when they walked around the room for a while. It was not as obvious as waving our hand in front of the IR proximitor sensor. They thought that the vibe board was more massaging than shocking. Due to the time constraint, I ended up still using the vibe boards because there was no other way. I tried moving the vibe board to different areas on the neck and the more sensitive area I found was the part where my throat and adams apple is. It was not comfortable however. We chose to then move the vibe boards to either sides of  of throat which was called the anterior cervical area. It was still sensitive as there was probably less fat there.

While testing the neck strap with the wiring on the inside, sometimes there was slight discomfort of the pointy bits of the components. I realized later that it was simply some wires sticking out, so I trimmed them down. What I found about the qualities of the vibe boards while testing them were that if they were more loose, their vibration had more displacement, it was louder and it actually moves side to side. Putting this to the neck sometimes gave a heated sensation or a burning feeling that happens if a circuit is shorted or the power is too high.

This project to me was interesting because it was not trying to solve a problem or use something to intentionally trigger something else, it was more a science experiment. I enjoy more exploratory research than simply making a semi artificial intelligent system. Though I wished the whole system worked perfectly, it did not, due to circuit jumps and breaks, but it gave me ideas on how to improve next time around. I should avoid sewing too closely with conductive thread or wire because shorts are easily resulted in. Second I could attach LEDs with the vibeboard to signal which vibe board is actually activated since when one vibrates, the entire item shakes and is hard to tell. It would also be interesting to see LEDs light up on others and see how they would respond to the vibe actuator signals.

The coming posts will be about Final Project Ideas, so check back.

Here are some progress photos:

March 1

Talked with Greg about a few project ideas based on the initial project outline about natural world. It immediately made me think of how I can simulate the environment and a new experience for the users. 1.creating a tail that simulates how a person would feel if he had one. 2. An outfit that simulates walking through the woods at night using whips, sound systems. A new idea came out of the talk, about sensing the aura of objects which sounds interesting, but the implementation would be quite simple.

March 7,

After talking with Greg and Aaron, the initial concepts of sensing objects around a person became a development piece. So in a sense it is not a specific piece to mean something, but we are going to focus more on how the experience will be if they were to be able to sense physical objects that they cannot see behind them.

March 8,

Borrowed an arduino and two IR proximity sensors. Sockets and wires do not come with arduino board so we must purchase our own.

March11,

Begun more detail sketching and designing how the piece would be done. Is it two piece, a single wearable piece, is it adjustable, is it experimental. What materials would work best to create the experience we want? What experience do we want to reach?

March 12,

Finally got time to go to Lee’s electronics to purchase supplies. Three projects are dued next week, and church events are getting in the way of working on this project. Wire sockets and wires totalled up to 12 dollars, electronic supplies are expensive in Canada. Note to self: next visit to Hong Kong, purchase extra items because we never know when we will use them.

March 13,

The day before the due date. Had a meeting with Gerry and got programming code done. Finally got home at 5:00 and started the project. Next post will give a more thourough progress report of the night.

1. A box which goes over the head with led lights positioned near the eyes, speakers or headphones placed around. This is playing with sound and simulating space with more of a surround sound feel. The lights simulate the different environments such as indoor light, outdoor light, snowy weather stormy weather through behaviors that the light can generate. Ie, flashing, intensity, mixing of colors, rhythm, transitioning of one color to the next All these will coordinate with the sounds that are heard. Lightning would be all the colors of the LEDs flashing right before the thunder comes.

2. An idea of input systems: A bodysuit that detects different things from the person’s motions. Sensors include accelerometers detecting how violently a person is moving, the speed of a person’s motion as well as the direction of movement. These will then control sound clips that would be played to the headphones of the participant.

3. Light sensing suit–> controlling motors to signal dangerous areas where there is darkness. This idea needs thought.

4. A bodysuit or just a single garment such as an arm cuff that simulates wild animals biting you.

Ie. Theme: wandering through the Dark Dangerous Dirty Woods. The experiences that awaits the participant. natural disasters animals and walking through forests. Augmented realities just through simple motors and feedback  with the participant blindfolded.

Reading the Sketch 2 project requirements again, it may be hard to incorporate sounds and effects  successfully. However the output parts and mechanics may still work.

Here are some ideas for mechanics for the above ideas.

Biting arm: servo with mechanism and a sharp ends that cuff and sink into arms of participant. Sudden jolts or slow clinch may provide different experience.

Lighting Strike or thunder: few vibrators in sensitive areas such neck, ears armpit?

Walking through leaves: vibrating shoes, between toes, as if things are crawling around in the sole.

Trees rustling and hitting branches, buzzers mixed with actuators or servos that are connected to whip like things that spin and hit participant’s arms and legs. Maybe this idea can be expanded and spinning whips and brushes may be what allows the blindfolded users to know that there are things in the way.

The following are tips for upcoming projects requiring MaxMsp.

It was much easier drawing a diagram of the logistics initially than just going at it trying to link the patches together and hoping that it would work in the end. Sketching out the plan helped us pinpoint problems when they occurred and it was helpful as communication for the team.

Tip One: Sketch out logistics and determine necessary parts.

The cycling74 website is helpful in that it lists out what jitter or max object  are there and what function they serve. The ones that were most helpful were the ones that gave diagrams showing that types of inputs and outputs.

Tip Two: Use developer’s site to see options

Right clicking an object in Max Msp reveals references to to how the object is used in context.

Tip Three: Use the help built into Max Msp by right clicking on objects and going to ‘Open “object_name” Help’

Below is our final presentation explaining the project.

Pdf: IAT320-Sketch1Presentation

Here are some which I found interesting and suggest potential uses for them.
There was a program that dynamically changes the color of a display from tracking the movement of red blue and green balls. I felt that for the fashion industry, this would be very interesting for a runway in which the movement and and color of the garment affects the background or the atmosphere in which it is displayed. If a model chooses to walk faster, possibly the red in the background would glow more intense and if slower, the colors would be less bright or saturated. More models also mean more interesting play within the color palettes. This will make the fashion show unique every time as no one could expect how the camera would track the model’s garments.

Another idea was the physical pong game where two players would hold batons straight up and down to control pong pads to bounce a ball back and forth. I imagined this taking place in a coffee shop of some sort where each person gains a coffee cup with either green or red exterior. Before one leaves the store, or before throwing away the cup, one can play a game of pong/hockey just by lifting or lowing their cups. It may be hazardous but also funny to see the two people move their hot liquid filled cups closely to each other quickly to try to speed up the ball in the pong game. This would increase social interaction as well as giving the cups one more use before going in the trash.

Another idea was the catch a fly with a chopstick which looked quite interesting especially with the random movements and behaviors of the flies. Because if it’s irrationality, it gave the game more life, and expectancy. It indeed would have been nicer for this kind of interactive piece to show both the participants and the virtual simulation over each other. A lot of projects in the class, I thought, would have been more successful if the interacted objects were to be overlayed with the webcam footage.

As a personal reflection, two main things I learned are to first find simple solutions before beginning to work on patches. Second, I should test with participants and fix patches feedback accordingly.

people in the class

We ran into many difficulties with finding suitable codes to modify since a majority of Max users are focused on the audio aspect of its capabilities. As well the fact that testing the system on the computer with a web cam does not give a good estimate of how it would perform when set up life size. A lot of the time, our bodies were half background and half recognized blobs which was difficult in tracking the area of a person. Our solution was not to calculate the people, but made the assumption that the screen in class would be better and that there would be better visual fidelity for  the camera. We therefore took the approach to track the white space, those that are above the threshold and then used a blob detection technique to isolate the largest white blob as to give us better and smoother outputs in the values of the numbers.

The next step is organize and comment the patches so that they could be easily understood and to test the program at its intended site to ensure everything works.

Below are screen shots of our project in progress.

The first one shows our attempt at stabilizing incoming values from webcam signals so that it will output numbers between zero and 20.

The second image shows how we utilized a button to link all the toggles or buttons that must be pressed to save time when initiating the program.

The third image is our switch system to give either a “play”, “reverse” or “stop” signal that is used to control the video playback of the growing tree. The values that came in were between negative to positive numbers where when one moves more, the number becomes more positive; when no motion is detected, the number is negative. We used if statements to determine what is done when different signals come in. When one boolean expression is true, it sends out a number to the video’s  1$ rate in which the video will play at that rate.

Though in our program we have three states. We chose not to have a stalling range of values where “stop” really happens(when incoming signal = 0). We felt that the video should always be playing either forward or reverse to give people feedback that the installation is working.

In attempt to step foot in this topic and learn ways that people can interact with the computer naturally, or at a more intimate, sensory approach, in the next few weeks, I will be exploring some tools and reading some mind opening papers on the topic of embodied interaction and body interfaces. Step one will be exploring the software “Max”, a visual programming language focused on multimedia and music which can be used for a variety of purposes such as installations, performances, interfaces and games. However I will be focusing on the visual capabilities of this software and exploring its practical uses in attempting to blur the boundaries between the system in the human and the computing system.

It is the year 2015, Canon is the leading company, bringing out new innovations to suit the needs of different types of photographers. Their line of Elph cameras has reached beyond 20 mega pixels of resolution as well as decreased to half the size in half a decade, due to major downsizing in the lens, electronic components and the battery pack. They recognize that if their cameras are too small, it would lose handling control, as well as decrease its searchibility. Since they do not want to be outsold by companies such as Apple, who has been incorporating these tiny gadgets into their latest convivial device, they have decided to make their cameras unique. Over the previous years, the video feature within Facebook has grown popularity as a result of the partnership with Youtube in 2009 (O’Neill) which enables users to see all the videos and Vlogs of their networks effectively. Canon attacks this target of personal video making by changing the appearance, portability while keeping the ease of use of their cameras. This new line includes wearable cameras in the form of rings (Munscher, 2006), necklaces and bracelets in which the components are encased in high density plastic for protection against moisture and damage from daily activities. They continue to use the familiar Bluetooth technology for efficient transfer of photos onto other devices either automatically or manually (Biggs, 2009). Furthermore, to be environmentally sound, they utilize kinetic energy to recharge their batteries.

Moving forward five years, the price of Pico projector technology has plummeted since it has already been used for over ten year in mobile phones (Murph, 2009). This allows existing cameras to do away with physical displays and replace them with projectors that can project the visual onto any surface of any size. However due to the impractically of the need to project onto surfaces in dim areas, a physical display is indispensable. Laser displays are now preferred over liquid crystal displays as a fuller spectrum of visible light rays can be replicated, creating more realistic and vibrant experience even from the camera display. It turns out that users are more comfortable using larger more tangible cameras, and therefore companies do away with the ultra portables/compact of the 2015, since it has been sued from security and privacy in a number or cases. Hence, they invest in incorporating more functions such as the GPS for tracking the location of capture (Biggs, 2009) simple on board editing software such as Photoshop CS2, automatic photo tagging options (Swedlow, 2009) and compact zinc printers which was first discovered by Polaroid cameras in 2009. Other companies branch off in continuation of changing the form of the camera. These include ones that consist of cameras using the helicopter concept to keep it hovering in space (Wang, 2006), allowing more flexibility than the fixed tripods, expanding possibilities in camera angles. Moreover, this technology provides camera motions through replication of the user’s predefined movements, mainly for those passionate about individual film making. Another camera technology which attracts quite a bit of attention during this year is the 3D digital real image system first explored in 2009 in which captured images can appear to be three dimensional.

It is the year 2029, the camera industry has grown in scale and has contributed to the globalization through the internet. Google purchases BingMaps from Microsoft and incorporates it into GoogleEarth to provide internet users with the most comprehensive rendering of the world including options of viewing detailed images of specific areas. The major contribution of this technology is from cameras which have the GPS system, allowing photos which have been taken of things in the site to be compiled and sorted by user’s preferences. Google hopes that by year 2035, software will be able to stitch all the photos and videos into full 3d renderings of spaces (Watzman, 2006), providing users with personal virtual tours of spaces around the world. To promote a quicker collection of these images and videos, Google decides to release their first “Three-Axis” camera which has the ability to capture physical space as true three dimensional objects with color, form, and texture (David Scanner, 2006). In the functionality aspect of the camera, the zinc paper printing technology is unpopular due to environmental and price issues. Techniques such as the pixel roller (Stockholm, 2006) are adapted to make printing images on any smooth surface, in any size, possible.

There are no boundaries to the prediction of the future camera as hundreds of researches are already working to improve the latest contribution to this technology. Although it may seem improbable to see hovering cameras, some investigating over the internet proves that the idea is not so far fetched. Whether the camera will have added features, or change in its form, its role, as a mean of capturing and storing the world visually, will be preserved throughout its future developments. Traditional digital cameras such as the digital SLR will always be available due to people’s preferences in its freedom for self expression over cameras like the Google “Three-Axis” which simply capture every detail of a location without a need for creative construction of the image. Since individuals will develop preferences to their preferred technology, it begs to question why individuals are willing to spend hundreds after hundreds of dollars in chasing these technologies that may often be excessive.

References

Biggs, J. (2009, March 31). Nikon Camera has GPS. The Globe and Mail: Technology.
Retrieved July 29, 2009 from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/ Nikon-camera-has-gps/article701907/

David Scanner-scan 3d images using a regular pc camera. (2006, December 21). Retrieved
July 29, 2009, from http://zedomax.com/blog/2006/12/21/david-scanner-scan-3d-
images-using-a-regular-pc-camera/

FujiFilm. (2008, September 23). Newly Developed 3D Digital Real Image System
“FUJIFILM FinePix Real 3D System”. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/topics/2008/0922_02.html

Kurzweil, R. (2001, March 07). The Law of Accelerating returns. KurzweilAI.net. Retrieved
July 27th, 2008, from http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1

Masters, A., Seaton, S. (2006, November 01). Laser-based displays will deliver superior
images. Laser Focus World. Andrew Masters and Colin Seaton. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/277186

Munscher, D. (2006). Electronic:Canon Snap. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from

http://atomare.com/htm/design/electronic.html

Murph, D. (2009, March 12). Samsung’s MBP200 pico PJ, i7410 projector phone get ship
dates. Engadget. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/12/samsungs-mbp200-pico-pj-i7410-projector-phone-get-ship-dates/

O’Neill, N. (2009, June 11). Youtube adds Facebook Connect. Allfacebook.

http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/06/youtube-adds-facebook-connect/

Wang, T. (2006, January 24). Flying Stick Camera. Yanko Design: Form beyond function.

http://www.yankodesign.com/?tag=tsunho-wang

Watzman, A. (2006, June 13). Carnegie Mellon Researchers Teach Computers To Perceive
Three Dimensions in 2-D Images: Program Automatically Generates 3-D Models
From a Single Photograph. Retrieved July 29, 2009 from

http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases06/060613_3d.html

Sorrel, C. (2009, July 9) 5 Reasons You Can Ditch Your DSLR for an iPhone. GadgetLab.
Retrieved July 29, 2009, from http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/five-
reasons-you-can-ditch-your-dslr-for-an-iphone/

Stockholm. (2006, January 17). PrintDreams technology hits the market with success.

http://www.printdreams.com/inside/pressrelease_eng_20060117.html

Swedlow, T. (2009, July 28). iPhone Augmented Reality Apps to Be Available in Apple App
Store by September. InteractiveTV Today. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from

http://www.itvt.com/story/5295/iphone-augmented-reality-apps-be-available-apple-

app-store-september

The idea that the three dimension physical world can be depicted on two dimensional surfaces has its origin in the Aurignacian caves 32,000 years ago. These caves covered with painted figures show possible hunting scenes of their everyday task. Subsequent people groups including the Egyptians, the Greeks also seem to understand this concept of illustration. It is possible that the concept of transferring the visible things onto flat faces was passed down the human race. This idea is reflected in the camera as it converts the visible physical form into shapes on flat pieces of film, sheets of photo paper, or electronic displays. Secondly the idea that realistic copies of reality can be depicted instead of just symbols and shapes came to notice in the 15^th century, when Van Eyck brothers first demonstrated atmospheric perspective and an understanding in lighting in their paintings. However it was not until the discovery of the “camera obscura” or the pinhole camera that made it possible for people to actually capture reality as it is seen. This is essentially a darkened chamber in which the real image of an object is received through a small opening focused in natural color onto a facing surface (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). This discovery was made as early as 500BC, but was not fully acknowledged until the 17^th century where it was used as a drawing tool by superimposing the image on paper to be effectively used to attempt to draw, trace or paint it. Up till this point, everything that inspired the camera required much human skill to produce images. It was only in the industrial evolution that developments made it possible to do away with the paint and the brush.

In the Industrial Revolution, people understood the principle of the camera obscura and made developments. One of the manufacturing processes during the 18^th to 19^th century included the refinement of the lens as they were used in telescopes and microscopes. By replacing the small opening with a lens reduced its focal length and overall size of the camera. The problem of Camera Obscura was that it provided an image that was temporary, which could not be lastingly captured on to paper for later reference. Through experimentation, French researcher Joseph Nicephore Niepce succeeded in creating the first photograph by using paper that was coated with chemical and allowing the image to be captured into it (Haslego, 2005). Despite the image only lasted a short while and took hours of exposure, many more years of experimentation have resulted in images that required short exposure time, that would not fade away and which did not require immediate processing. These cameras and developing techniques are precedents to the digital camera because they are the most basic function of any camera which is the ability to take photographs, through focusing and recording images on a photosensitive surface.

The most significant advances occurred after the Industrial Revolution when televisions and computers emerged. One notable invention which directly precedes the digital camera is the television camera tube invented by Philo T. Farnsworth who also is the inventor of the electronic television. This device is an electron tube which has a light-sensitive receptor that converts optical images into electrical television video signals (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms). It works by converting light intensities focused on it into trains of electrical pulses to be transmitted and read by other devices capable of interpreting such signals. When these signals are passed into a television, a duplicate of the image appears on the screen. This contraption paved the way for the charge-coupled device which performs a similar task. The charge-coupled device works similarly by having not just one sensitive receptor, but an array of light-sensitive diodes, to capture images (Snyder & Hammoud, 1993). Arranged in rows and columns, the photodiodes become charged when light falls on them. The amount of charge depends on the amount of light, which may be built up over time (Dictionary of Astronomy, 1997). And like the television tube, these charges are read out column by column and converted to digital form for display with the exception that the digital form can be stored digitally. In the digital camera, the charge-coupled device along with memory card replaces the traditional film-based mechanism which greatly reduces its overall size, increase its capability and versatility.

On the whole, the idea of flattening the visible world, the invention of the pinhole camera and the development of light sensitive receptors are all precedents in technology that are indispensable to the foundation of the digital camera we now own. Whether it is the built in cameras in mobiles or the digital slr, all should come to appreciate the years of technological effort others put into creating a device that is the essential tool for recording the modern life visually.

References:

Camera. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition. Retrieved July 06, 2009, from Dictionary.com website:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/camera

Camera Obscura. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition. Retrieved July 06, 2009, from Dictionary.com website:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/camera obscura

Charge-coupled device. In A Dictionary of Astronomy. 1997. Retrieved July 07, 2009
from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O80- camera
chargecoupleddevice.html

D. L. Snyder, A. M. Hammoud, and R. L. White (1993). “Image recovery from data
acquired with a charge-coupled-device camera,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 10, 1014-1023

http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=josaa-10-5-1014

Haslego, C. (2005). History of the Camera. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from
Ezinearticles.com: http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-the-Camera&id=18736

Television camera tube. (n.d.). McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical
Terms. Retrieved July 07, 2009, from Answers.com Web site:

http://www.answers.com/topic/camera-tube

http://www.sfu.ca/~tta25/TECH114-Famebook/TECH114-FamebookProfile.html

Just realized that famebook has bought the right to protect their name.
So maybe I will make modifications to change it to Fakebook, Fabebook,Favebook, Fadebook, Fatebook, Farebook, Faxbook, Fayebook or Lacebook, Pacebook, Racebook…

Sorry Famebook.