How can we animate, inspire and involve people in the shift to an ecological culture?

Potential Encounter Scenario (‘User’ Scenario)

You notice a strange orange glow emanating from a back alley on your way home from work. You’ve walked past this same part of town almost every day for the past three years and its always been the same litter strewn back street as always, but tonight you notice a strange orange glow emanating from the far end. You begin to move in for a closer, and see a small house-like shape with a pupil of subdued orange light in the center of the roof. It’s an eye. Whatever this paper craft model is, it appears to be sleeping. Not that it this thing has circadian rhythm – it’s just a piece of cardboard – probably some kind of arts project. Suspiciously, you step forward, and feel a sudden jump in your heart as the eye opens, throwing a beam of light onto your body, accompanied by a strange mechanical sound. Who the hell put this thing here? You take out your ipohone, capture a quick bit of footage, and head back home out of the cold.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION and STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Proximity Activated LED

Click for video.

 
Ping and Led Code:

const int pingPin = 7;
const int led = 9;

void setup() {
  // initialize serial communication:
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode (9, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  // establish variables for duration of the ping,
  // and the distance result in inches and centimeters:
  long duration, inches, cm;

  // The PING))) is triggered by a HIGH pulse of 2 or more microseconds.
  // Give a short LOW pulse beforehand to ensure a clean HIGH pulse:
  pinMode(pingPin, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(2);
  digitalWrite(pingPin, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(5);
  digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);

  // The same pin is used to read the signal from the PING))): a HIGH
  // pulse whose duration is the time (in microseconds) from the sending
  // of the ping to the reception of its echo off of an object.
  pinMode(pingPin, INPUT);
  duration = pulseIn(pingPin, HIGH);

  // convert the time into a distance
  inches = microsecondsToInches(duration);
  cm = microsecondsToCentimeters(duration);

  Serial.print(inches);
  Serial.print("in, ");
  Serial.print(cm);
  Serial.print("cm");
  Serial.println();

  delay(100);

if  (cm < 20) { //if object is closer than 20 cm to the sensor...
// turns the LED on
digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
delay (1000); // Wait 1 second
}
else {
  digitalWrite(led, LOW); //if the object is  further away than 20 cm the program turns the led off
}

}

long microsecondsToInches(long microseconds)
{
  // According to Parallax's datasheet for the PING))), there are
  // 73.746 microseconds per inch (i.e. sound travels at 1130 feet per
  // second).  This gives the distance travelled by the ping, outbound
  // and return, so we divide by 2 to get the distance of the obstacle.
  // See: http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/acc/28015-PING-v1.3.pdf
  return microseconds / 74 / 2;
}

long microsecondsToCentimeters(long microseconds)
{
  // The speed of sound is 340 m/s or 29 microseconds per centimeter.
  // The ping travels out and back, so to find the distance of the
  // object we take half of the distance travelled.
  return microseconds / 29 / 2;
}

Proximity Activated Servo

Click for Video

 
Ping and Serve Code:

const int pingPin = 7;
const int servo = 9;

#include  
 
Servo myservo;  // create servo object to control a servo 
                // a maximum of eight servo objects can be created 
 

void setup() {
  // initialize serial communication:
  Serial.begin(9600);
myservo.attach(9);  // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object 
}

void loop()
{
  // establish variables for duration of the ping, 
  // and the distance result in inches and centimeters:
  long duration, inches, cm;

  // The PING))) is triggered by a HIGH pulse of 2 or more microseconds.
  // Give a short LOW pulse beforehand to ensure a clean HIGH pulse:
  pinMode(pingPin, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(2);
  digitalWrite(pingPin, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(5);
  digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);

  // The same pin is used to read the signal from the PING))): a HIGH
  // pulse whose duration is the time (in microseconds) from the sending
  // of the ping to the reception of its echo off of an object.
  pinMode(pingPin, INPUT);
  duration = pulseIn(pingPin, HIGH);

  // convert the time into a distance
  inches = microsecondsToInches(duration);
  cm = microsecondsToCentimeters(duration);
  
  Serial.print(inches);
  Serial.print("in, ");
  Serial.print(cm);
  Serial.print("cm");
  Serial.println();
  
  delay(100);

if (cm < 80) {
myservo.write(0);
}
else {
  myservo.write(100);
}

}

long microsecondsToInches(long microseconds)
{
  // According to Parallax's datasheet for the PING))), there are
  // 73.746 microseconds per inch (i.e. sound travels at 1130 feet per
  // second).  This gives the distance travelled by the ping, outbound
  // and return, so we divide by 2 to get the distance of the obstacle.
  // See: http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/acc/28015-PING-v1.3.pdf
  return microseconds / 74 / 2;
}

long microsecondsToCentimeters(long microseconds)
{
  // The speed of sound is 340 m/s or 29 microseconds per centimeter.
  // The ping travels out and back, so to find the distance of the
  // object we take half of the distance travelled.
  return microseconds / 29 / 2;
}
}

Servo with Eye and Light Test

 

Footage

Rationale for Technology Choices

For detecting the proximity of the ‘user’ or the human animal who might happen across this on their way home from a late night at the office, I chose to use an Ultrasonic Rangefinder (over other proximity sensors such as an IR sensor) because the piece is designed to be situated outside where light interference would cause problems with detection.

The Ping US Rangefinder is fairly accurate to within about 3cm, which suited this work as the servo needs to be activated when the user is about one meter away. A potential problem with this choice is that the user may be wearing sound absorbing materials such as wool, but in my testing this did not appear to be a problem.

My choice of servo was limited due to financial constraints at the time. The flaw of this basic servo is in the distinct sound it makes upon activation – something which immediately reveals the electo/mechanical interior of what might other wise be a fairly enigmatic structure. A better choice would have been a small rotary motor which could have been set up to receive a smaller charge (thus quieter mechanical sound) that winds up a piece of fabric that would be painted to resemble a closed eye. The effect would have been closer to feeling like your approach suddenly woke this creature up, and its now looking you in eye.

Basic Description
Sensor activated, made-from-waste forms that attempt to evoke a sense of mystery and character in what otherwise might seen as inanimate husk of matter.
Film

Concept and Background Thought

What is the relationship between the Ecological crisis and our day to day sensory experience of the world we inhabit? This is the question my work on the Doing module has grown out of, and will be explored in more depth in the Thinking module.

The central concept is that today the vast majority of those who inhabit the modern technological landscapes are victim of a perceptual crisis which, in the West, has its roots in Descartes’ mind-body split and in the emerge of a language whose written words (including these letters) are entirely divorced from the world they re-present.

The perceptual crisis has many other roots, but the belief in nature as an inert machine devoid of any sensitivity or sentience has become deeply entrenched in today’s western culture.

Do we have any chance of healing our conflicted relationship with the planet that grew us and continues to sustain us we continue to speak of the more than human community as a set of resources, devoid of any sensitivity or sentience?

Will these cardboard forms solve the crisis of perception? No. They are an early experiment in evoking a sense of intrigue and personality in discarded material salvaged from the city.