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INTERACTION DESIGNER / PRODUCT DESIGNER
Smart Light Box
3D Design / Physical computing
A prototype which allows users to interact with the brightness by the distance.
02 BACKGROUND
01 PROJECT DETAILS
ROLE
Interaction Design
3D Design
Physical Computing Arduino UNO Lasercutting
TOOLS
Adobe Illustrator Arduino Fritzing​​
COLLABORATORS
Yueru (Christine) Wu Xiaotong Sun​
MATERIALS USED
Wood boards
A4 Papers
Ultrasonic sensor Wires Wire light
100R Resistor Arduino Uno
Gule
Transparent paper Parchment paper Knife
Leading Questions
How can we use sensors to create a unique personal/interpersonal interaction which can give the users an interactive feedback loop?
Concept
Users could control the brightness of the papercut lightbox with the distance between them and the box. The closer the user is, the brighter the lightbox and also the clearer the pattern.
Theory
We used Arduino, ultrasonic sensor, and other electronic components, like wire light, resistor to create interactive objects and installations. The ultrasonic sensor as the tool to input data (the distance) into the computer system and the system then processes the data and output a response (the brightness of the lights (actuator)). With the change of the distance, the intensity of the lightbox will change; this feedback is an interactive system.
Design Statement
We were reating an interactive device by using the ultrasonic sensor, which allows users to interact with it to see and explore the graphics on the paper. This kind of interaction way can attract more people, and people will pay much more attention to this installation rather than pass by and ignore it.
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Inspiration
Papercutting is the inspiration for our object, and we chose to combine the papercutting in different patterns layer by layer and add the light behind them, to provide an excellent visual effect by using the contrast between the shadow and light can.
03 DESIGN PROCESS
Exploration
We choose to use the ultrasonic sensor to develop our object, during the researching we noticed that it had an output to send soundwave and receive it to measure how far is the object. We choose to use LED and through different brightness to visualize the changing of distance.
Conduct Ideas
After we decided using the ultrasonic sensor, we brainstormed several ideas related to the distance and light.
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For example, a phone screen that can change light automatically depends on the distance change between the user and screen, especially for the nearsighted user who can’t see the screen clearly without glasses, but we didn’t use this idea because the phone screen is too technical.
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Then we tried to develop an artistic idea that can attract people’s attention and interact with the installation. We design a forest scene with a moon silhouette as the background, the light will change the brightness depends on the distance, and when the audience gets closer they can explore more details of the forest.
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Pattern Template
We started to design the pattern template while we finalized the idea of the object. Most of the patterns are trees because the theme of our papercutting is forest, and we express the contrast between the pattern from different layers by using different sizes, different going directions. Then we designed the parts which used to construct the box.
Laser Cutting
After we finished all the digital files, we used laser cutting to get the physical components.
Fritzing Diagram & Arduino Code
According to the tutorials we found online, we first connected the circuit on Fritzing then connected the physical electronic components together on the breadboard to make sure that the circuit can work the way as we thought.
Building the Prototype
Next step is to build up the prototype, we first glued all the wood parts together to make them to the box format, then pressed the patterns layer by layer to see how does the final visual effect look like after we combined them together. Then we put the wire light behind those papercutting to ensure that the light can go through the papers.
Embellish & Develop
To embellish and develop our prototype, rather than press all the layers together we chose to type each papercutting on a piece of wood frame to make them have a consistent size and also can make them more stable. To make sure the layers won’t fall apart, we also used a piece of foam board to press them together.
We transitted the wires to a smaller breadboard to decrease the floor space, which can make the entire look cleaner. Also, we soldered the wire light and the sensor with some wires to extend the length of them to make sure that they can reach the position that we want.
Also, we fixed the wire light on the back and added another layer of parchment paper to blur the light, then the users won’t easily find the LED, and it won’t disturb the entire look.
To finish the prototype, we glued all the parts together and hid all the electronic components behind the prototype, and the final look is clean and complete.
04 REFLECTION & LEARNING
We successfully built up the prototype, and it runs well. This is my first time to explore the ultrasonic sensor and use it to build up products. During the process, lots of problems occurred and needed us to fix them. The fabrication and the selection of materials are essential to the prototype, and they will influence its final effect. For our prototype, the regular paper is too soft and fragile, but the single Mayfair paper is too thick to see the light through. We tried different ways to fix the paper into the box, which finally chose to type the paper to the wood frame first, then pile them up to create the multilayer effect.
This project helps us to develop the ability to use Arduino and also get familiar with the ultrasonic sensor, which is necessary for the following projects. This project also asks us to keep solving the problems right in front of us, which can lead us to display the best visual effect for our prototype. Also, if we have more time, we would like to develop the concept further.
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