monies

Sorry I forgot to post this earlier guys. I worked it out so that it could be done in the fewest amount of transactions possible (I can show you the figures if you want) :). Here is what is owed:

Basia owes Kristi $11.60 (assuming that she hasn't already given Kristi $10 for the hexbot)
Basia also owes Tracy $11.80
Mandy owes Tracy $8.40


See ya in class Monday!
Tracy

Money

So, I know I owe people some money. Do we know exactly how much?

Reminder

Hi ladies. Here's a reminder of who needs to do what for our project. This is more of a reminder for myself than anything.

Bosia: Make soundtrack of insect noises, try not to get too creeped out by it ;), cardboard for the wall.

Mandy: Wear black, smooth clothing for Wednesday, any cardboard for the wall.

Tracy: Bring video camera, any paint pens you may have, cardboard for wall, paper.

Kristi: Black spray paint, dowel rods, paint pens, tripod, lighting.

If you can think of anything else I forgot, feel free to comment.
See you tomorrow at 10!

Final Project Decision and Progress

With broken Verbots and undelivered cameras, we have currently decided to go with Plan C: Hexbugs. We are going to create a visual documentation of our own debilitation from fear.

*Ideas:
-Have someone lay down in the middle of the paper surrounded by the Hexbugs. The Hexbugs will run away in fear when they touch this person. The person will also react in fear to being touched by the Hexbugs.
-The audience members surrounding the paper will be encouraged to name off one of their fears.
-Person on paper will be holding some type of noise making device (maybe a buzzer) that will cause the Hexbugs to run away. When should the buzzer be pressed? Maybe in reaction to the fears being named? Maybe in reaction to being touched by the Hexbugs?

*Conceptually why have we chosen to use insects to manifest our ideas?
-There's a common fear of insects in our society. Viewed as creepy and unsanitary
-Usually infest places that are unsafe for humans
-Most are easily hidden from us. Some only come out in the dark
-Feast on the decaying, associated with death
-Some are a danger to our health
-Although they are small, they can multiply and overtake an area with ease
-Associated with plague

*Conceptually why have we chosen to use charcoal as our medium?
-Charcoal is a remnant of destruction (fire)
-Dark and shadowy. Associated with danger, mystery, death

In-Class Project Discussion Sept. 22

Plan A: Verbot (robot that moves in different directions in response to audio commands)
We would program the Verbot to take motion in response to music (change direction in response to different notes on a recorder). The Verbot will be holding a mark making device (marker, charcoal, paint pen, paint-filled roller, etc.) and will draw on staff paper. The Verbot would draw on the floor, not the wall.
Should it be an abstract song created from a specific drawing or an abstract drawing created from a specific song or both? If specific drawing then what? Could be wavelength, music sheet, etc. If specific song, then what song?
Should we disguise the Verbot? If we don't it will be received as a critique on technology. If we disguise the Verbot, how should we go about it?

Plan B: Cameras that take pictures in response to sound
Could mount camera on a hiking path and document the hikers that create noise as they walk by. Do we need to hide or disguise camera? Aside from the choice of disguise affecting the concept, the camera could possibly get stolen if we don't.
Could set up in the FAD stairwell.
Could attach camera to a vehicle that will travel around and take pictures of the surrounding environment in response to the sounds of that environment. This would create a map of this place by visual documentation of the sounds. Should we show the marked path on an actual map of the vehicle? Might be too much noise pollution for the camera to work.
We could set up a scenario on campus in which there will be a sign that says "Don't ring this bell", or something to that effect. If an audience member rings the bell, the camera will take pictures in response to the ring. Favorable because it is an interactive piece.

Plan C: Hexbug (miniature robotic insects that change direction of motion in response to noise and touch)
Could attach mark-making device to many Hexbugs and release them in a confined environment. The Hexbugs will continually run away from each other. This can be seen as a critique on our society (as we become consistently dependent or technology and virtuality, we avoid real-life contact and relationships). The mark-making left behind by the Hexbugs would be a documentation of this.
We could do a performance piece in which we would surround the Hexbugs and yell out our fears. They will run away (in fear) from our shouting. The marks left behind would be a visual documentation of our own debilitation from fear.

Meeting today

Hey guys, I will bring to the meeting today: Newsprint, 1 sheet of Rives, markers, crayons, pencils, paint, ink, brushes, wire, tape, and wahtever else I think might be useful. :) See you at noon!

Hey guys,
I'm going to head over to Radio Shack today and see if they have the other robot we found online. Hopefully this will get the ball rolling on your project since we don't have much time left :(

Verbot 2

So the second verbot came in the mail today. He is pretty much in the same condition as the other one was when we got it. However, he shows signs of trying to move and what not when you give him commands, which makes me think he's in a little bit better condition. I'll ask Jim to look at them both and see what he says. But as of now, we just have two broken verbots :(.

digital camera ideas

What if instead of a sign that says "ring this bell (or whatever)", the sign said "DON'T ring this bell (or whatever)." Then we would be catching people in the act of breaking the rules so to speak... Just another idea...

Also, can whoever wrote down the brainstorming from Wed. type the major ideas in here? I think I've forgotten most of it already, and we wan't to get credit for it anyway. :)

Verbot Analysis

I talked with my friend Jim tonight about our verbot and he looked over it without much hope. He said there were a few missing springs and maybe some other issues, but he'd have to look at it closer. I told him we ordered another one and he said to just wait it out to see if that one worked and if it didn't than he'd take a closer look at the verbots. Interestingly enough when I turned on the verbot (mind you I hadn't touched him since class) he now spazzes out. Lights flash, and he tries to move and that's about all he does now. I don't know what happend, but I figured if all else fails he could still be used to make art, just in short jittery motions :).
Hopefully the new verbot will work out. We'll see.

verbot issue

According to this website: http://jeffhove.com/robots/verbot.html our problem is that the C batteries probably have a broken wire or contact. We should check those connections real closely...

Tracy

camera trigger thingie

I emailed the place with the camera sound triggers during class and got an e-mail back pretty darn quick. Here is the transcript of our e-mails:

Hi Tracy,

They are free! We will send you some - how many do you need? The only
thing that you ask is that you document what you make and send us the
details!

Just let us know your mailing address and we'll send some along.

Cheers,

-Jer Thorp
Glocal Artist


On Sep 15, 2008, at 11:16 AM, Tracy Workman wrote:

> Hi there! We found your website while searching for objects to help
> us build a sound operated art maker for a school project (We are
> students at the University of Florida), and we would really like to
> get a glocal camera trigger board kit. Are there still any
> available? How much do they cost?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Tracy
>


I told him to send two. I'm pretty sure that it should come with all the bits that we need. The kits described on the website said that they did. Except of course for a digital camera to hack and an altoids box :) If someone knows somebody who is good with the insides of a digital camera I have an older one that just recently stopped taking pictures for some reason. You can still look at the pictures in memory but the camera doesn't seem to see through the lens anymore. It's only about 2 megapixels but if we could get it working I think it would work just fine for this project...

Tracy

alternative robot

Here's the link to the new robot at radio shack. 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2720169&cp=2032062.2131305&parentPage=family

stuff for monday

So I put batteries in the verbot.  He powered up and recorded voice commands but then he wouldn't respond to the commands that he said that he recieved.  It could be several things... There may just be too much electronic interference in my house.  It could also be corroded battery connections.  A few of the connections were blue so I cleaned them with a toothbrush, water, and baking soda... but they may need a more rigorous cleaning.  Can someone else bring some steel wool or something?  or maybe those connections could even be replaced... Lastly, I opened it up to see if there were any loose connections and didn't see anything but I only half took him apart.  If it turns out not to be interference or battery connections we can take him thoroughly apart Monday and see if we can figure it out.  Perhaps someone in class knows alot about electronics and can look at it and see whats wrong really quickly.  If it's just a bad part on the circuit board or something we can probably fix it. :)  Here's hopin'!

Tracy

Monday

just wondering what should each of us bring to class so we can all contribute and work on this. Tracy, I know you are bringing the Verbot. Are you also bringing the recorders?

Verbot arrives

Hey guys the Verbot came today.  He looks like he is in real good shape but he takes like a million batteries.  I don't have enough batteries on hand to test him today, but I'm going to go to the store tommorrow and pick some up.  Hopefully he will work as the instructions describe :). Either way I will be bringing him to class on Monday so we can brainstorm and experiment with him.

Tracy

Proposal

I'm guessing you guys got Katerie's email about having to post all of our discussions on the other blog. I think that every time we post something on this blog, we should repost it on the other blog. That way our group can keep track of things still on this blog without having to search through everything on the other blog, and yet we still get credit. Whatcha think?

Sound-Sensitive Camera

I found this thing: a way to modify a camera so it takes pictures through sound-sensitivity, kind of like that thing we looked at in Make magazine. It looks kind of complicated, though. Does anybody know how to read circuit schematics, let alone make something from them? :(

equalizer t-shirt

check this thing out! ...I don't know if we could use it or anything but I ran accross it in my search and it's way cool :) http://www.tqualizer.biz/tqualizer/t-qualizer-flashing-equalizer-shirt.html

Tracy

Modify a Verbot?

So these little guys are actually kind of hard to find with all of the parts (namely the remote), but I found this site:  http://www.bigislandtoys.com/robot.htm  that has two.  Scroll down to the bottom and you will see them.  There's really no way to know if they are going to work or not, but they are pretty cheap and if t doesn't work we might be able to use the pieces or something.  What do you guys think?  If you guys are keen on the idea of altering a sound controlled robot then I say we go ahead and get it and see what we can do with it.  Basically it works by saying 9 different voice commands...stop, go forward, turn right, turn left, lower arms, raise arms, etc...  plus it looks cool :)  Let me know quickly if you can, they could sell before monday.

Tracy

modifying an existing robot

okeedokee, well here is one idea...  Some of the robosapien toys can be modified to respond to voice commands.  Check out this site http://www.robotsrule.com/html/robopet-videos.php and consider the possibilities of adding mark making tools to the robosapien pet.  There are a few used ones on amazon.com for between 30 and 40 dollars... There was also a voice controlled robot from the 80s called a Verbot by Tomy (my cousins had one) and it can pick things up. I'm keeping my eye on a couple on ebay that aren't too expensive yet, the auctions end in the next couple of days so do a little search on them and see what you think.  I think they have definite possibilities.  So modifying a robot is one idea anyway :)

Tracy

Recap

So from what I gathered from the other blog, the supplies our group needs is going to consist of: black plastic or cardboard, dark colored tape, foil, scissors, an xacto knife, various lenses, a digital camera, and a tripod

What Katie is bringing: cardboard boxes, foil

What I've got: xacto knife, scissors.

I'm more than willing to go pick other stuff up if we need it.

P.S. I liked the idea for your future classrooms, Tracy. I think high school students would really enjoy that.

Welcome to our very own blog!

Hi there group 2 here is a private blog to sort out our discussions for the apparatus project!