09 | output devices
TALKING TO LIGHTS BY ALBERT CHING
I got a bit of a late jump to the week due to the launch of a project last Thursday that I have been working on called the Urban Launchpad (see below for some pics). I did have some big ambitions for the week of trying to have a spectacular output device (my Christmas lights) talk to my Android's accelerometer. Unfortunately, I discovered with the help of Neil and Adam, that Christmas lights run on AC power, which is much more complicated to interface with the boards that we are building than lights that run on DC power. Adam was nice enough to provide a few strips of DC powered LED strips which were beautiful in order to do initial tests for this week but as I worked through it over the weekend, got caught up in the workflow (milling and stuffing disasters) that I could never figure it completely out. Also, I was a little scared of the getting electrocuted. I would love to complete this trial as a lead in to my final project and perhaps find a way to retrofit our projects to AC output devices that are more common in our everyday lives.

The basic RGB output device

I really liked the RGB LED - it was both simple to make, understand and beautiful at the same time.

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The experimental LED strip workflow

I think I have maybe 65% of how all these parts fit together but I could not figure out how to connect each piece on my own and since I started my work so late in the week, did not have the right amount of time to walk through it with a TA. The elements make sense from the MOSFET and the wall wart having to fit the LEDs current and voltage requirements. The workflow for milling, stuffing and programming the Fabduino was pretty time consuming and for experimental purposes, I think it might be helpful to have a section on how to connect different inputs and outputs with alligator clips and pre-made Arduino boards just to see how the components fit together (esp helpful for those with very limited electronics backgrounds).

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Can sexy lights make walking sexier in Dhaka - and can we measure that difference?

Living Showcase was the first test of whether or not a 10 volunteers, 6 smartphones and lots of pieces of paper can start measuring the impact of urban-scale interventions on human behavior. If we believe that we ultimately make things to make our own and our community's experiences more meaningful, what happens to our iteration process when we can rapidly measure these impacts?