Project background
Concerned that an increasing number of Silicon Valley individuals are having difficulty relating to art, Stanford decided to promote a Technology in the Arts program and commissioned the ME218 class to provide an opportunity to bridge the gap between technology and art. As part of this program, students in ME218a created Automatic Reactive Technology (ART) for the viewing pleasure of the public. These projects combined electronics, software, and mechanical motion to bring unique interactive ART exhibits to the Silicon Valley community. On November 30th, 2016, Art Reviewers Touring Institutions of Suitable Technology (ARTISTs) had the opportunity to survey the gallery and interact with the various ART displays.
Overview
As Stanford students, whose unofficial mascot is a tree, we hoped to give the ARTISTs of Silicon Valley and the world the opportunity to experience A Year In the Life of a Tree. During the ART experience, the ARTISTs had the ability to connect with nature by helping an artificial tree grow, change, and experience weather through each of the four seasons just as any actual tree would over the course of a year.
Requirements
The ART must...
- ...be usable without the guidance of a Master ARTIST
- ...power up into a welcoming mode that maximizes sporadic creativity and encourages interaction
- ...produce an ART2See piece that acts as an interactive visual exhibit
- ...take approximately 45 seconds to complete the experience
- ...reset within 30 seconds after an ARTIST is finished
- ...utilize 3 distinct ARTIST interactions
- ...have one interaction involving large scale motion on the part of the ARTIST
- ...have one interaction involving non-contact sensing
- ...have one analog input
- ...include haptic, audio, and/or tactile feedback
- ...have parts that visibly move under the control of the Tiva LaunchPad
- ...be self-contained
- ...include a creative display of the passage of time
ART Experience
A wire tree wrapped in felt and covered with leaves was fitted with fifteen LED strips, one along each of its branches, with each strip containing six RGB LED’s (Figure 2). When no ARTIST is interacting with the tree, the strips change color randomly, while the timing motor rotates back and forth continuously and a lit arrow pulses to indicate that it is waiting for an ARTIST to arrive (Figure 1).
Prior to pressing start, the ARTIST puts on the glove and headphones indicated by the pulsing arrow. The start button begins the ART experience by turning all of the LEDs off in anticipation of input from the ARTIST. The ARTIST can "grow" the branchs by interacting with proximity sensors placed near flowers on the tree (Figure 3). The branch will grow to the color selected via the analog slide on the front panel (Figure 5) . The ARTIST wears the “magic gardening glove” which provides vibrotactile feedback when sensors are successfully tripped (Figure 3). Weather events can also be triggered with the weather button (Figure 5). A dial at the top of the display indicates the passage of time by ticking through seasons of the year (Figure 4). Each proximity sensor controls one “branch” consisting of three LED strips. When a sensor is tripped, each of its strips changes color in turn. The new color is set by the analog slider, and the colors available to the slider depend on the season. The weather button triggers different weather events based on the season, after which the tree returns to its pre-weather state. In the spring, the weather is a gentle rain sound in the headphones while the tree pulses a dim light pink on all branches. Summer brings thunderstorms, with sounds of thunder and flashes of yellow from the tree (“lightning”). In the fall, the leaves pulse reds, oranges, and yellows while gradually dimming (i.e. leaves falling off) to the sounds of wind. Lastly, during winter, the tree flashes holiday colors while playing winter music. Over the course of the year, a snapshot of the tree’s state is stored each time any branch(es) changes color. At the end of the year, these snapshots are played back for the ARTIST so they can revel in their creativity. When the replay is finished, the tree goes dark before returning to the welcome mode. |
Meet the team
danning
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Matthew millerFirst year
MS student [email protected] |
Davis
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isabelle
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