arduino

Final outcome:

Our final arduino outcome was the thought bubble idea we had discussed previously. The user sits on a pressure-pad arduino circuit, which would then trigger a projection of a thought bubble behind the user. We decided to go for something fairly innocuous as our first graphic outcome, and projected playful images of things like kittens, toys, etc., to suggest the user is happily day-dreaming.

I think implemented properly, the idea could become something very worthwhile, however, the intricacies of the arduino programming and a reliance on Flash meant that our interface was much less slick than we envisaged. The pressure pads were very small and not overly consistent in their readings, so a smooth animation became quite difficult to achieve. A graphic interface such as the one we proposed to make needed to click immediately in the mind of the viewer, and unfortunately we were never truly confident enough in our grasp of the medium to provide a seamless, self-evident experience.

Twitter:

We felt that if the project were to continue for longer, it could possibly come to include some degree of twitter integration. If the outcome was to be situated in the foyer of the LSAD for example, it could be interesting for the LSAD's twitter feed to be projected, perhaps as bulletins, announcements, or tweets more specifically relevant to each course. A twitter account could be set up for students to tweet to for direct, live projection. In the art and design field especially, a web presence is an increasingly popular and important trait amongst successful practitioners, and an involvement of twitter could be welcomed by students

We found in our research that there are already a number of of arduino/twitter cross-overs, including this project where the creator is able to have a tea machine arduino controlled by twitter. If I were to work with arduinos again, this would be an area I would explore more fully