Wow, got in!

I lost the login info for this blog long ago . . . but found it in an old email address. I'm back? Jason

Stuff . . .

Had a great weekend. Looking forward to this and looking for Norwegian language courses in the area. Also, I considering putting WordPress into play and getting away from the static page stuff. No more static pages. Must by an iPhone and a new laptop . . . stuff for research, etc.

jg

Oh, come on!

Apparently the Grammys have dropped the polka music category.

BBC, Brock Broadcasting Company

My buddy Brock and his Brockenspiel were featured on the Beeb this week. In this episode, the Arduino.

Grow up.

As graduation has just completed and all have matriculated along to bigger and better things, I wanted to leave you with this . . . and also use this to gear up for the next semester. I wish someone would have sat me down and delivered this direct sermon to me when I was 25, alas . . .

Excerpted from Tomato Nation, do read the entire post, it gets better and better:

If you have reached the age of 25, I have a bit of bad news for you, to wit: it is time, if you have not already done so, for you to emerge from your cocoon of post-adolescent dithering and self-absorption and join the rest of us in the world. Past the quarter-century mark, you see, certain actions, attitudes, and behaviors will simply no longer do, and while it might seem unpleasant to feign a maturity and solicitousness towards others that you may not genuinely feel, it is not only appreciated by others but necessary for your continued survival. Continuing to insist past that point that good manners, thoughtfulness, and grooming oppress you in some way is inappropriate and irritating.

Grow up.

And when I instruct you to grow up, I do not mean that you must read up on mortgage rates, put aside candy necklaces, or desist from substituting the word "poo" for crucial syllables of movie titles. Silliness is not only still permitted but actively encouraged. You must, however, stop viewing carelessness, tardiness, helplessness, or any other quality better suited to a child as either charming or somehow beyond your control. A certain grace period for the development of basic consideration and self-sufficiency is assumed, but once you have turned 25, the grace period is over, and starring in a film in your head in which you walk the earth alone is no longer considered a valid lifestyle choice, but rather grounds for exclusion from social occasions.

And now, for those of you who might have misplaced them, marching orders for everyone born before 1980.

Good stuff for kids of any age.

Cube Project 2009

Hey, what can I say, some days you wake up with a silly idea and then all of a sudden you realize that you are going to have to buy all the components and make the damn thing. Ah, prototyping by fire. I present, Cube Project 2009, to show up May 15th at Columbia College Chicago . . . bite . . . chewing . . . too much!

With students Laura Thompson (I want to build things . . .) and Gary Krupcek (I am really wanting to look into this Pure Data thing) we are building 3 to 6 three-dimensional objects, presently mainly cubes, roughly 5 x 5 x 5 inches . . . or about the size of a CD case, but cubed . . . get it. The cubes are equipped with tilt switches and an on-board PIC microcontroller (very small computer), so the cube 'knows' what side it is on at any given time. For this project we are using the Arduino model of chip (specifically, the Arduino Pro).

The switch information (the orientation of the cube) is being sent via wireless (XBee Radio) to a computer running Pure Data. In turn, Pure Data orchestrates an ever-changing sound design enveloping a table where these cubes sit.

As 'interactors' change the orientation of the cubes, the sound design changes. Also, the cubes provide a visual feedback by glowing and pulsing at different rates and colors (in tandem with the sound design) as they are being manipulated. Right?

Here are some pictures of the third prototype (this one done in pizza box cardboard, it's free):


First, we take a side of the cube and secure four tilt switches. The switches are placed at 45° angles so they are forced to be either tilted ON or OFF. If they were lying flat, the little bearing inside might just get stuck in a horizontal position and not read correctly (especially if all four are oriented on the bottom. So the little pitch forces an either ON or OFF orientation.


Next, we put in a ground loop for all four sensors.


In that little section of cardboard are four resistors, attached to the incoming +5 volt, uh . . . voltage. The resistors are needed to control the voltage, so the microcontroller can read it as either ON (+5, High) or OFF (+0, Low).


Here, the resistors have been hooked up to the other lead of the sensors, and then a separate wire will come off the sensors and go into the digital input pins of the microcontroller. Why did we not take a photo of this last step, I have no idea.


And here is the final Protoype #3. See, we have two sensor arrays, and I have just realized, we only need one sensor array to make this work. Yippie, less fabrication!

So, next week, wireless modem programming and PCB etching. Look, I made a smaller (2 x 2 inch board) for the sensors.


We will make them this week . . . etching copper with acid, fun. We will let you know how things work out. Thanks to Laura for the photos.

jg

Happy Birthday FUTURISM!!!

100 Years ago today, F T Marinetti published a copy of his Futurist Manifesto on the front page of Le Figaro in Italy, kicking off a frantic wave of manifesto production which has yet to let up to this day where we find ourselves awash in a sea of -isms: Futurism, Surrealism, Cubism, Dadaism, etc.-ism.

Happy Birthday, comrades.

jg