1. BPA - Baby Products Association, London, Aries the night clock
2. 3rd Form Wave Vis. - Ars 2010 - Hybrid Media
3. IDEA/IDSA - 2010 - Aries the night clock
Thai Le
05/19/2009
05/15/2009
Aries the Night Clock
Aries the night clock from Thai Le on Vimeo.
[password to video is name of event that yuri got us tickets for]Aries is a night clock that projects time on your wall or ceiling. Use it to animate bedtime stories, help you fall asleep, explore shadow puppetry shapes or simlply tell the time. Aries light box will boost imagination, encourage experimentation and to brighten up any situation!
Nester the Baby Lockness Monster
Nester the Baby Lockness Super Hero from Thai Le on Vimeo.
Nester the baby Lockness Monster is a super hero in training. He is there to fight the bad guys, ghost and goblins that haunt your child's bedroom. No closet or under-the-bed space is safe from Nester’s electric blue demon fighting eyes. Never again will your child be afraid to go to the fridge or restroom in the middle of the night. Press on Nester's tail to wake him up. Nester is also voice activated, so you can just say “Nester!” and he will come to save the night. Nester can also dance to the sound of music. Set Nester next to a speaker and watch him dance like a supastar!
3rd Form Wave Visualizer
3rd form wave visualizer from Thai Le on Vimeo.
[video password = computation studio teacher's first name who created My Beating Heart(Parsons school of Design)]3rd Form Wave Visualizer is a synesthesia project. It combines 3 wave forms that we encounter on a daily basis. 1. visible electromagnetic light waves 2. water waves 3. sound waves. These three wave forms are combined into one and projected on the wall surfaces to specifically to visualize how the songs we listen to appear in cymatic wave form. Users are also invited to explore this with a theremin sytle control knob. Unlike other cymatic projects, the actual speaker surface here is both the source of the sound and cymatic originator. From this clear (handmade) speaker surface, light is projected from beneath on to walls to visualize waves. I see this piece being expanded in to a larger set of 8 speakers surfaces. Each surface acting as a crossover and projecting only certain frequencies of a song. Together they will play in symphony to a musical piece. All other elements of this piece will be removed from the installation so that all the observer sees is the clear speaker pieces. Some people will have a hard time understanding where the sound is coming from. They will eventually realize that the water surface is creating the sound. This will serve as the magic of the project. Ideally I would like www.projectplaylist to be available at the installation so that viewers can look up their favorite song online and visualize it immediately. It is my wish to allow observers to visualize their favorite songs in a new visual way. Hopefully the cymatic projection will show them visually why they love certain songs so much.
05/06/2009
04/21/2009
Sales sheet light clock
[Aries the bright night clock] projects time on walls using low cost,
yet brillaint LED lights. Typical clocks are hung on walls, solid, and
2 tone usually black and white. The concept here is to create a clock
that animates time through successive animations on bedroom ceilings
and walls. As this time artifact is made for children 6-12 years old,
flexibility of imagination and flexibility was an important factor. The clock can be
turned sideways and act as a shadow puppetry theater projected on to
walls. The concept is to allow users to interact with the artifact
through personal narratives and fantasy. The experience can be
individual or group (family, friends). The creator's concept in general
is to create objects that do no limit the users creativity - offering multiple modes and possibilities of usage.
04/17/2009
detail sketch phase 2 - Nester Baby Lockness
Nester the baby lockness monster will be made of:
1. felt material top side
2. foam bottom side
3. servo motor [or hacked bunny guts]
4. wired button
5. blue/purple led pwm
6. photo sensor
7. cotton ballz
8. threading
9. undecided beads for eyes
"I want my baby back, baby back, baby back lockness ribs"
1. felt material top side
2. foam bottom side
3. servo motor [or hacked bunny guts]
4. wired button
5. blue/purple led pwm
6. photo sensor
7. cotton ballz
8. threading
9. undecided beads for eyes
"I want my baby back, baby back, baby back lockness ribs"
04/14/2009
Plush Animal Concepts
Lucky - the dragon plush - wards off evil night time spirits. Lucky breaths fire (LED) from his mouth at the push of a button! Monsters will surely not disturb your child resting lest they feel the wrath of Lucky, the baby behemouh dragon-plush monster killer, bed time toy, evil spirit eradicator. Lucky is always looking for is dragon ball, place the ball in his hands and his tail wiggles with joy. Luck will always be on your child's bedside! Animal Autopsy - Easter Bunny
BeforeMath
AfterMath-printed circuit board
Videos
Animal Autopsy 2 from Thai Le on Vimeo.
Animal Autopsy 1 from Thai Le on Vimeo.
04/10/2009
04/08/2009
04/07/2009
Sales sheet
User Testing
Cymatic 3Form Waves
3from Waves is a merging of the 3 types of wave forms in a sound piece. The piece is inspired by the Theremin instrument - typically used in movies and some songs. The 3 wave forms visualized here are
light waves, sound waves and water waves. A speaker vibrates water in a clear dish according to sound frequencies controlled by a knob&equilizer. Light is projected from underneath so that you can visualize the sound on the ceiling at night or perhaps a revenge of the nerds party? The speaker woofer in this project uses a petri dish like surface that contains liquid. When a sound signal from the Arduino (through amp found in trash!) hits the electromagnetic wires underneath the dish, it causes vibrations (repulsion and attraction from a magnet) and repititave ripple patterns - "cymatics". The piece is basically the same as any regular speaker without the metal basket, foam surrounds and liquid. Pictures below.
1. Light waves which are electromagnetic radiation waves visible to the human eye.
2. Water waves - micro and macro - water drops, pools, in sinks etc.
3. Sound waves hitting our ear drums.
Prototype that didnt work out too well, there wasn't enough juice in the Arduino signal to power things up.
One man's trash is another man's geek project
Hacking it
up and running - Long live Cymatics
bass = wet floor
Lights off - on the ceiling - looks better in person. "Are you not entertained" --- Maxiums Decimus Meridius
03/06/2009
user testing
Brief - After presenting 6 ideation sketches this week, my task was really to narrow my product down.
The votes were pretty spread out. I did get to eliminate 3 designs.
Feedback;
1. Form factor should not take too much table top space [Maral & Jennie]
2. Product should not be too static in RE to clock [Conway]
3. Caiti - my niece can't sleep with out her night light (go with the bedside product)
4. I like the mobility of the product, also it would be cool to rotate all the way around [Namrata]
5. Your sketches are very detailed, which is good, but you may be eliminating possibilities
6. Try to make your product more flexible for shadow puppetry [Grace]
7. Children love to copy parents and personify things [Lee]
I have no access to children here however, this is a product that parent and child would use together,
so getting class mate opinions are still very much worth while.
All the comments given were helpful. I have decided to remove the clock aspect of the artifact. The main
2 functions are really 1. nightlight and 2. a narrative toy for parent/child/friend participation. The
clock seems marginal in importance.
The new sketch will be a simple box light with different "states" of lights such as "night mode colors,"
"warm colors mode," "sky color mode," "hillside mode." There will be included 4-5 films for backgrouds such as " stary night mode," sun and moon mode," theater room mode" and "bridge." Also included are several characters on sticks as a starter pack for shadow puppetry.
User Profile:
Mother - Penelope, Son - Hoit, Father - Maximus Decimus Meridius (leader of Romes Northern Legions)
Penelope is a smart shopper, she only buys toys for Hoit if she feels it serves more than one function. More importantly, she doesnt like any frilly toys that she knows Hoit will not play with for long. She is always looking for ways to spend time with her son.
Hoit loves frilly toys, bright lights, and novelty. He is quite creative, but gets bored quite easily. Hoit is 6 years old and has a bit of anxiety during bedtime. Hoit loves bedtime stories from mom or dad.
Maximus Decimus Meridius is father to a mudered son, husband to a murdered wife and he will have only the best toys for his only other son Hoit. Maximus is very much a kidult and can act like a child himself when playing with Hoit.
03/03/2009
[zodiac clock ideation]
6 variations of the zodiac clock Idea>>>
1. Look/Feel - Soft feel white plastic or bamboo. Mobile unit. 12~14 inches. Rotating projector.
customize projector file at home [thanks Paola for the idea]
Quick solid works mock up to show basic structure.
Role/Audience - All prototypes show in this post are aimed at children who's mothers may like to
-get them a night light
-a artifact that has multiple play purpose( customize, hand puppetry, use imagination here)
-a toy that parents and children can enjoy ( making custom cut outs)
They would be ages 4~10 I would say. It can be used as home decor if so wished.
Implementation - 3D print school facilities in 2 files bc max size is under 12" sadly. buttons towards the ends with arduin tucked in the back. LED tray in the round tunnel portion which will project in desired
angle towards the wall.
2. Night stand lamp.
Look/Feel - noted in picture. Main thing is that it functions as both ambient lamp and ceiling clock.
Since you stare at the ceiling at night not the wall so much.
Role - Gives children joy to turn off lights to go to bed after a good book etc. As a practical item, it's
dual functionality means it serves 2 purposed for the parents - night light and lamp. One less thing to buy right?
Implementation - chip board for main led housing and bamboo for the legs or High quality MDF or Bamboo if that's available (renewable source). See through material cloth wrapped and hot glued.
3. Hanging ambient shade lamp - 3 mode on/off/night light clock
Look/Feel - Very much like the lamps you can find at ikea with bamboo inner structure/ribbing. Outside wrapped in an opaque paper or cloth.
shadow projects 360 around the globe. More than likely mono-color.
Role- Although this aims at the same group, I would say that this maybe used by those who like cutesy/cool/eclectic things. The dual purpose
here means that it serves as a global light ambient lamp for a good part of the time. It would come with a 20ft. cord so it could really go anywhere
in a room - convenient for tight spaces- like kids rooms usually.
Implementation - I would probably deconstruct an ikea light and use that structure. The LEDs would be placed in a pizza like 2-3 inch cylinder.
I think 4-5 HIGH flux LEDs should do a good job at soft lighting.
4 & 5. Outlet cover night light with safety cover OR mid wall mount.
Look/Feel - This is really a basic night light with some clockwork. About 8 inches. White plastic most likely. There will be a slide cover for kids to cut out there
own designs, or slide in color sheets they can buy. Another possibility is this same prototype but longer as a mid wall linear clock for those who don't really care for nightlight-in-a-socket.
Role - Kids room and Hallways. You can tell what time it is when you wake up to use the restroom, midnight snack etc. As for the mid wall clock this really could be for any age. It may be better to use single color so it can go anywhere in the house, not just kids room.
Implementation - This may be a Solid Works printed file if it is wall cover. If not I would consider using chip board and fashioning a box for this setup w/HIGH FLUX LEDs.
6. Semi traditional wall clock
Look/Feel - flat white front & heavy weight paper. Roughly 12 inch diameter.
Role - Just the same as above but this clock would be more accurate to time telling since
it will have 2 wheels. Outer for hours and inner for minutes. The clock
would not read very well in the day so this is really a bedroom application.
Role - For the more practical minded person who may question the accuracy of
all of the above instances. This would be their answer.
Implementation - This one is pretty much straight forward paper front. The hard part will be
fitting the arduinos in neatly, as I might need 2 units.
Second Attempt Prototype
This time around I went ahead and used a laser cutter to cut the intricate shapes. I also added all other animals to the mix and slimmed down the model (2.5" tall).
Each LED has a separate bracket inside to focus the light.
I implemented 2 buttons to fade in on special characters using PWM and added an ALL on function.
So~ what did I learn:
* USE HIGH FLUX LEDs, ~ wider spread but still direct light.
* Use thin paper so there is less distortion around the edges of the cut shape
when light passes through the hole space
* Wire wrap is awesome but gets really tedious after about 6, is there a better
solution? I don't know yet.
code is available - send me an email - I'd like to take keep the site
as uncluttered as possible =)
02/24/2009
Student Lecture 3
Steve, Thai, Bruce - AnalogWrite, PWM, Fading LED's, Multiple LED's via PWM, Tri-Color LEDs, Cases, Switch Case, goto
Switch/Case with RGB LEDs from Steve Varga on Vimeo.
Here is a short video of the Switch/Case circuit that was presented in class:
Switch/Case with RGB LEDs from Steve Varga on Vimeo.
And here is the code:
02/20/2009
02/19/2009
[Time Piece] & [Toy Fair09]
I am glad we had the chance to visit toy fair this year. Thanks Yuri for getting us tickets!
My favorite 2 toys oddly enough, were not electronic. They were:
4D puzzle of New York - Build NYC as a puzzle in 3D as time [4D] progresses
~ this means from grass to infrastructure, from building to building.
You are instructed to remove the Twin Towers and then go in to the future
where you place in the Freedom Tower. Its cool to be able to see the
skyline of NYC at difference eras in time. Comes complete with history guide booklet.
---
Rbit Wheel - Nick posted this up as one of his favorites below. I really loved the thing.
It really seems so simple to just get on the thing and start skating. They didn't let
me sample the equipment but it really looks like something you can do without knowing
how to actually skate [roller blades, skates etc.] - which is a huge benefit to kids
that are having a hard time learning how to skate and feel discouraged. Really
it just looks like a lot more fun than regular skating - minus the high speed aspect
of roller balding, but I don't think they market would really care too much about that.
[picture posted on Nicks entry]
[time piece] - Okay a huge reason why I am here and a great inspiration for my work is JAMES CLAR he IS the Man. His works are really clean, simple and CREATIVE. Below is just one of his
amazing pieces. Its not high-techy, but that's the beauty of it. You look at the thing and say
oh....I could make that - but maybe I wouldn't have thought about seeing it in that way~
by the by - When you have kids one day and they ask for a car...tell 'em you get the a new TOYOTA, then you can give them this instead!
Cheers!
02/10/2009
Time Piece from [far & old] East
Okay so originally I did a time piece using LEDs in hour glass formation shown above....but then I got kinda bored with the thing.
---
I remembered when I took a trip to Vietnam many summers ago I heard someone chiming a symbol and stroking a drum in the middle of the night!....I found out that the sound was the village time keeper anouncing the time in Chinese zodiac notation. So hear is my ode to mr. one-man-band, batteries included, chime man time keeper guy.
This rough is prototype v1.5. The next version will have all 12 animals & represent the passing of one full day - ancient analog - digital mash up style.
dragon cometh [1976, 1988 by the by]
"there...Grrrrreat...."
"silly wabbit PIC-Chips are for are for kids" (jp i like pic chips too)
party like an animal!
Cheers!
02/04/2009
Favorite toy?
Howdy, I think everyone from class has met me already right? I'm the dood that works in the office at the 10th floor lab that always stares at you funny when you walk into the lab - little do you know you are all part of my evil experiment....j/k. Actually, I am just bored....
As you might have guessed im from Texas [Houston]. I got my undergrad from UT Austin in Advertising/Communication. Freelanced in graphic design for a couple of years, then got into construction. First procurement>scheudling>real estate agent> then finally to developing and marketing. I felt the next natural & creative progression would be responsive enviromentments [P-compy stuff], and where else better to get schooled and owned at the same time then Parsons?
At this point I think I would be lying if I didn't say Legos was my favorite childhood toy (Second runner up would be a lighter. At some point I ran out of things to safely burn without causing funny smells that I would get in trouble for, so I got bored of that quick) Sure there were a ton of others toys I played with when I was younger, but ultimately legos = workhorse.
1. It gave He-Man something throw bad guys through
2. it gave my Transformers new weapons to stick in their permanently clenched, yet attachable, fists
3. it gave my GI soldiers a battle field
4. it just let me build whatever it was i wanted to build be it a car, crane or crazy thingy do-a-majiggy
In short it allowed me to be creative.
For this class, I would like to understand the limits of using the arduino as a final solution for interactive product development - without thinking about redesigning final product in say PIC chip. Here I am refering to products created in 1-10 units and not mass production.
