Project 1: Reflective Statement

Reflective Statement

I found my group to be a very productive team. We not only stayed focus but also came up with very different and unique ideas. This was due to the members of my team having a wide range of skills and coming from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. The way our team communicated with each other also helped with how our project turned out. If someone felt that a decision needed to be more discussed or developed then they spoke up.

The biggest fault of the group came down to expectations and assumptions being used in a more optimistic way causing some processes to be reevaluated which took up more time than we had. This could have been caused by being too much focused on other parts that needed to be completed and not realizing the effect that any changes made to that had on the rest of the project.

For this idea of ours to be improved it would have to come down to more testing. By testing we could evaluate what the problem is and take out all irrelevant variables to find the best solution. Once one part of the project was further developed we could focus on testing how our robot went after that development and see if we had to make any adjustments.

I have found out from this project how I plan and assess things and that I need to broaden the way I produce my thoughts into more then just bullet points and small sketches. If I were to change this I might get a better understanding on what it is I want to get from my ideas.

Marty

Project 1: Part Four

One of the faults of our team was assuming too much instead of testing and over-checking. This was particularly the case when it came to the programming. It wasn't until after midday when we came round to putting the robot with all its tools into the box that we started having problems with the programming. Even with a light in the box it still had trouble detecting the walls and also due to the echo created by the box, it also responded to the sound of its own movement. The movements of the robot were also really jittery and rugged which, along with the amount of weight on the back of the robot, caused it to topple over after a short amount of time.

The old code

We overcame most of these problems by rewriting the code in a different structure to make it cleaner and smoother in its movements. The new code also caused the robot to react to both sensors at the same time unlike the old code. We also had to put the sensitivity of the sound sensor as minimal as possible as well as covering the mic with sponge to try reduce the amount of times the robot heard its own movement. The robot was also slightly reconstructed to bring more of the weight to the front of the robot and also use some leftover sponge to keep the force of the vivid strong on the paper. This took up a lot of our time and was the biggest problem we faced.

 After this was fixed we were able to focus on creating the art from the robot. We used A1 white sheets of paper for the paint art and clear A1 sheets for the vivid art. We cut out a whole in the side of the box to film the robot in the box. The box was also given a bit of colour which was nothing more than to give it a bit more character. We used the primary colours; red, blue and yellow since they would give the best mix of variety. There was two different colours in the syringes and one other colour on the sponge.

Final Robot

I am pleased with the final outcome of our paintings, it was what we envisioned and set out to create from the idea and meaning for our art. It was not perfect and could have been improved with further testing and better sensing equipment, but that might have made the art the way it is now and given it more of a robotic feel.   

Project 1: Part Three

Creating the box was more difficult than we thought. We used MDF wood since it was cheap and strong enough for our project. To make it stable yet be able to be pulled apart we discussed putting braces on the roof and floor of the box that could then slip the sides into place. For this we would need approximate measurements of the sides of the box. The roof and floor boards were made as 1200cm by 900cm as a decent size for the robot to move around on. This left the horizontal sides of the box to be the difference of the braces and for the vertical sides, the difference of both the braces and the horizontal pieces. The height of the box was to be 300cm, this was to have enough space for the height of the robot with a little clearance for the vivid. We found the best and most efficient way to create this box was at Jason's house (using Ryan's car to get there) where he had equipment we could utilize to create the box. Jason also works at a Bunnings Warehouse and was able to get a discount on the wood for the box.

Ryan working on the box

Me and Sam working on the robot

We were able to get syringes for the paint from the hospital before we started making the box. We had all of the supplies we needed when we got to Jason's house except the paper. This meant we could have people making the box while others reconstructed both the robot and the programming to fit with the syringes and sponge being put on. After the box was finished the main issue for the day was getting it back to the studio, luckily the box (barely) fitted in the back of Ryan's car with just enough room for us as well. This had to be the most productive day for our project. We completed the box, the robot and the programming all in one day. What we had not anticipated was how much effect the box would have on the robot and how long it would take to adjust that. 

Project 1: Part Two

For us to show the difference of the robots interpretation of art and humans we decided on having two images created at once. One would be the image of how the robot sees the world and the other as how humans do. These two images then will be able to be compared against each other in a way that will let people see not just art but also the robots interpretation of art.

Putting the robot inside a box would help us deliver in creating two images at once. We decided on having the image of the robots input of data on the roof of the box using a vivid to trace its path and then have the artistic output on the ground using paint. The box would have to be a size that was big enough to fit the papers of art as well as have room for the robot to turn when reaching the sides. It also had to be exact height of the robot with the vivid attached.   

We found that the best and most responsive way for our robot to function with human interaction was by sound. This was because of it being isolated visually from us and would be inefficient for us to use a visual interaction while keeping the robot and the art hidden. The response to the robot hearing a sound above a certain volume will be by deploying a paint covered sponge attached to the robot, downwards. This will cause it to make a splatter effect with the paint.

We originally were going to have just the sponge make the art by itself but because we thought the paint on the sponge would run out to fast, we wanted to give it some sort of method of either keeping the sponge wet or to disperse more colours beside the sponge. This took up a lot of time but eventually we came up with using medical supplies to hold and slowly dispense paint while being attached to the robot. This meant we could include two extra colours into the art as well as the sponge. I found this idea to be the unique feature for our robot that gave it character as an artist using its tools to create.     

Prototype version of robot

For the movement we wanted it to be random with no way of knowing which direction it could be going. We introduced another sensor to determine how close it was to the edges, this was the ultrasonic sensor. Once it got to a certain distance away from the walls it would randomly turn. This was to give it more of an art like look and become unpredictable in how it was created.

Things I have been looking at.....

Here are some things that I have been looking at online that could have some relevance to the projects I am doing. Or are just cool. I will continue to update it.


High speed robots

Aggressive Maneuvers for Autonomous Quadrotor Flight

Black Widow gone wild (stop motion)

Squealing and Blinking: An Analog Artificial Neural Network as Art

Chess

How The Wizard Of Oz Should Have Ended

Cyclotrope

Visual Illusions

Tron Legacy Special Effects

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

SixthSense technology

Philips Carousel Commercial- Frozen in time 

Robotic Implants

Balloon Popping Animation

Robot with a sense of touch

Hereafter visual effects

Ball Drop Sounds

Animated optical illusion

Star Wars Scanimation

Project 1: Part One

Started the first big project this week. After practicing with the Lego Mindstorm software we have now been tasked with creating a robot that can make art from its interpretation of communication given by humans. The robot has to be unpredictable with what it will create from the interactions that we give in a sense that we know how it is creating the art but not what it is. There has to be 3 creations from the robot to show that it is not on a set path.

Our group began researching on some other projects on what seemed to work well by being simple yet different. We came along ones that were from the years before on YouTube using a box and materials to create their art. It gave us an idea of what we wanted to make; something that could show both the internal and external state of the robot. We found this was an idea that not only produced the art but also gave a bit of background and meaning behind the project. It also gave different components to how the art was to be made for not just the robot, but for us as well.

The Opportunist

Tuesday

We started one of our small projects today. We were put into groups of 3 or 4 and asked to create a chess piece today, but we gave it more depth then a name and a move. We found it better to understand our piece by creating a basic description and then form its movement and look from there.

We decided on making a piece called 'The Opportunist'. It could be both taken in modern and older times. It was found to be resourceful and is very independent, but could be seen as useless against a row of opponents. It can move in or up to a 'C' movement to move or take out an opponent player but cannot jump over players.

I also had the chance to look around at other peoples pieces and found this one quite interesting.

It was able to completely change the game of chess by giving the piece 'The Thief' a few simple set of rules. I found this different to what most teams had thought of and was intrigued by having a piece that was not controlled by any players. 

We then were told to make our pieces not digitally or out of marble, but rather lego. We had to make a lego constructed robot to be programmed to take on the role of our chess piece. At the time I was more focused on how we were to make this work but thinking back on it I have found a different way of bringing out a character without needing a image or description to show that.

Marty

Situation Shuffle

Last Thursday we were put into teams of 4 and given certain roles to play as we completed tasks around Auckland city. The roles were :
The Actuator - the subject of the work.
The Controller - directs the Actuator.
The Tracker - charts the progress of the Actuator.
The Sensor - sits outside the group and observes it.

We recorded what happened and used this to present the next day to the class as a presentation. We used skills that the group had such as how to use editing programs and techniques to improve our presentation.

You can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybdR7IXnaE0

I found our group did not read the instructions well and did not get the full idea of the project. We seemed to focus on what we wanted our project to be rather than try some ideas and see what it comes up with, which may have restricted us a bit. A big issue that came up was how we were going to end our project, we had a good idea and went with it but did not think about the ending until the last 15 minutes of the project. This caused us to have some quick thinking and might have caused the story of our project to deteriorate by not having the ending that we wanted.

As the sensor I found I may have been too involved in the project rather than observing and couldn't focus on the other roles in my team other than the Actuator, this was to make our technique work. It also caused me to observe the members of the public towards me and the Actuator in good detail.

Overall I found we performed well under the circumstances but has taught me that if we keep things open we will be able to chose on a idea that works well rather than stay on the first good idea we have.

Web Thinking

Today we were split into groups and used post it notes to answer questions onto the white walls. It was easy until we started connecting all related notes with other peoples on the walls with pins and string. This was to give us some idea of the 2 degree of separation in New Zealand.

We recorded this information in our journals typed it into excel. I found a new program called Gaffe. This was to make our webs on the computer easily and creatively.