Ani-Hack

I knew we had to learn a lot and pretty fast, but it really caught me by surprise when we already moved onto hacking. I knew I would end up learning about it but I didn't think I would be able to do something like this. And at first I admit I was completely lost on what to do. All I knew at that point was.. Break apart either a USB keyboard or mouse depending on what I had. So I did just that. And along the way I managed to get what I was properly supposed to do. By Friday I had the circuit board, the wires I needed ready and the scratched out the protective coating to reveal the copper ready for soldering. But I had to head home early that day so unfortunately I did. But, fortunately I already had the equipment I needed at home. The weekends did get pretty busy for me, but I did manage to make time for it in the end and by Sunday night, with a small burn i managed to solder on the wires but I didn't get chance to test it out on the laptop so the plan is to turn up tomorrow morning early and ready to try it out for the most part at least, fingers crossed that I get it working.

Ani-Remote

So firstly we learned about Animata, a program completely new to me, but now this time i got my hands on something else to learn about, Max/Msp. This program pretty much has functions to do just about anything you want, But it's not the easiest thing to wrap your head around. The first thing we had to use it for was to fuse it with Animata. By inputting switches, toggles and values into Max/Msp it would then affect animata making our picture move via mouse of keyboard buttons which was amazing. But not only that, we had the chance to use an apple remote to control the picture. In the same way but with a wireless apple remote. This really got me more into the project being able to do something like this so soon.

Animata

So, I've been eager to see what programs I'd be using and learning about in this course and across the past few days or so I got to learn about Animata. This program allows me to grab a picture, set vertices on it and place a bone structure on it. So basically by grabbing a picture and placing the bone and vertices where i see fit, I'm able to move the picture around like a puppet basically. It's really quite interesting and really makes it feel like I accomplished something after I learned how to use it effectively. I ended up using a picture of myself during my year 13 year for a good laugh and managed to make the picture of myself, in a nerd outfit suspenders, pulled up pants, taped glasses and all do a little dance move with a small pelvis kinda thrust action. Took a while to wrap my head around it but I managed to do it in the end which was quite an achievement for me.

Sweeper - Show time

Finally, it was judgement day and time to show the end result of our hard work. However, at first we came in early to decorate our base only to have it break apart to our surprise as we moved it outside for spray painting. Although the base was sprayed in a rush attempt it now had a black bottom and we covered the walls with both cellophane and wrapping for effect. This at least made it look a little better before we moved on with our show.

Group after group went as we managed to observe the great amount of work each group put into their work I couldn't help but feel nervous to see the degree of creativity and thought they applied to every inch of their robot for their artworks. But when time came for us to finally show what we could do, as a group we decided on showing our most unique piece, Water to Raro. We prepared it and with a new sheet of A2 paper placed it in the middle of our base. The class crowded around our project and Chad let them know about what the Sweeper was and what was the point of it. The idea of nightlife.

And so once the story was shared and both brains on, Daniel pressed the run button. At first it dabbed like it should moving out and about to our relief. However in a few seconds everything went wrong as it crashed into the wall quickly and continued to crash and crash despite every trial run resulting in no crashes or even a near crash. With this we had to stop the robot only to realize that once again another attempt to complicate what we had by decorating the base it resulted in another failed display. Due to the cellophane and wrappings uneven surface the ultrasonic sensors could not successfully function and pick up the correct distance from the wall only resulting in it crashing into the wall repeatedly.

We did all we could and we worked hard so we did not frown but came together to see how far we had come after every barrier and hurdle. And so we finished the day with our peer assessments for the designated robot of choice overall for each person. I chose to talk about Jason, Zoe, Leo and Oliver's project which circulated around the idea of the transition of energy.

But, by the days end it was time to go home after a week's hard work of NXT robot building, programming and brainstorming to a long holiday's break.

Sweeper - Final day

Working fast, working smart and working quick we managed to rebuild the robot completely from scratch into an entirely new model. We had not one.. But two ultrasonic sensors in the front to respond the both of the brains. And this time round we even had a sound sensor to control the speed that the sweepers moved back and forth at. However this time around the sweepers were now moved from the front to the sides. And the design?.. Nice and simple and not complicated at all or heavy. And really for the first time we were pleased and happy with the result we came out with.Now came time to finally create a base for our robot to create it's artwork in. Short on time and materials we poked around to find remaining roof boards and pieces, with permission of course. We hand crafted the base with cardboard, roof boards and metallic rods for support in order to come out with a little home for our robot to play in.


So with a robot that not only had proper working sound and ultrasonic sensors the motors all functioned appropriately with every cog and gear down to the last detail but, even a base for the robot to play in and, with smiles on and faces and relief from the anxiety of time we moved quick to try it out.

It was finally time to test out the true effectiveness of Raro and water. For this experiment we worked around to find a way to use the brush bristles. Ripping apart the bristles from the brush we tied a bundle of bristles together with a rubber band. We filled both of the small jars with water reasonably close to the top and stuffed each bottle with a bundle of bristles. This allowed water to seep through the tiny holes. And attaching it onto NXT pieces on the front with a rubber band it dabbed at the paper to complete one of the designated art pieces as we started with randomly places Raro on A2 paper.
Now to move onto our second test. Paint. We filled the small bottles each with a reasonable mix of water and paint to make it nice and slushy for the paint to seep through. This time, using cotton pads we taped the tops of the bottle with a thin layer of it that allowed the paint to seep through on each dab. And we taped the sweepers with cotton pads as well while allowing the pads to soak up paint before starting the experiment. With a new sheet of A2 paper we let it go in its' own little base again dabbing at the paper with dabbers and sweepers. The end result proved positive but one thing that became noticeable was that the orange dominated the recessive yellow color. We chose these colors to represent the night life which was our main idea for this project however, due to the fact the yellow wasn't mixed as well as the orange nor was the bottle as full the yellow did not come out as well as it could of.
Last but not least came the light graffiti. Attaching on the three LED lights with blue tack we had one light on each side of the main brain box. And one light in the front between the two ultrasonic sensors to act as a guide in the dark helping the robot recognize objects. This proved to be the most successful with the most vibrant and powerful result. Using shutter speed and time we managed to absorb 30 seconds of light in the dark room as the robot roamed about without hitting a single wall.

All in all we came out of the day managing to not only finish our robot of many trials and errors but all three artworks ready for our demonstration the next day.

Sweeper - Materials

With minds anew and money in the pockets we got out and about to gather what we could and needed to make this project work with a bang. Initially we went on a mission for magnets but came out empty handed. But with each adventure came new ideas until we stopped on the idea of mixing Raro water together where the Raro would start on a sheet of paper and the robot would go around sprinkling down water to change the color of the paper for effect. And so happy with the idea we searched our wallets.

Now came a thought, what else could be done? Searching the recesses of our memory we recalled the idea of light graffiti. So we made another mission to another store to buy us LED lights for attachable use onto our robot. Luckily for us we already had material from home for use such as a small water bottle. And cotton to keep the water seeping through the bottle but not too fast. The straw was also the fail safe should the cotton prove too strong a object to pass through.









Now to complete the package we needed things to really complete our robot.
1) Brush bristles for the sweeper.









2) Glow sticks for emphasized light effect.









3) A cool robot to put everything on.









4) For everything to work.
Now.. Number just didn't seem to go as we first planned. We had the materials and we even had the robot. But once again for the weight of the accessories, mobility proved all but impossible to maneuver appropriately to the programming. It moved but not that great having a strong lean to one side.
The cotton as feared was too strong a object for the water to pass through and not only that but the straw was just as unsuccessful.
The hair bristles did not rotate underneath the sweepers as planned.
Sensor wise?.. The ultrasonic sensors were not responding to our programming and commands which made any trial impossible to being with, and.. We couldn't use the Glow-Sticks until show time seeing as they only last a good eight hours so we had nothing to show for three days of work in the end.
So after another hard days work we crammed our minds together and decided to come back tomorrow fresh with ideas and a clear head. And so we did.

Sweeper - Construction

Now, came time to put the ideas to the test. We got together and voiced out what we thought we be good to do. And the main idea we circled around was the idea of a sweeper like the street sweepers. But for the other two mediums it would be an issue. We came up with a sprinkler or spinner on the top of the robot to sprinkle out paint, rotating dabbers to simple just dab paper and glow in the dark paint for something different, and light grafitti. With thoughts like these in mind we moved quickly to create our robot.

However now came the job of having to attach the numerous motors to a single brain. But it couldn't be done. So obviously, having two groups we had two sets of brains to use and so we did To result in a large scale robot with one main piece and the other piece behind simply acting as a trailer.










However, many issues came about with the main one being the weight hindering the mobility greatly. Despite the presentation the robot couldn't do much if it wasn't able to move. So after a long days work we had to come to the decision yet again on what to do. That's when it called for another brainstorming of ideas and mixing of brains to come up with something unique that could work. But we still maintained the idea and consistency of the sweeper and rotating top throughout each thought.

Programing (Again)

We got a quick lecture on the printing process and the significance of it with the normal Monday 9am class. But after that it came time for something familiar. The NXT robots were already back after only a weekends break. This time around, we got the chance to mix up two groups so now it was me, Ron, Jack, Tyrone, Daniel, Chad and Ma'ake in a group. This time around our job was to create a robot to draw three different artworks without any external help. External being us. So we made the decision as a group to head on home to brainstorm and research up what we could do and so we did.

Programming - Hunter

So we got wind of signs of our first taste of programming. James introduced us to the idea of creating a new chess piece where we'd decide the name, movement style and capabilities in groups of three. So to mix it up a little I got in a group with Jack again but this time with Ron. So after some brainstorming and discussion we came down to the idea of the hunter.

This guy basically embodies everything that is 'the' hunter. Basically It can move left, right or forward one square. But because of it's personality once it spots a prey it'll never back away meaning it can't go backwards. But having natural born skill with the bow and arrow this gives it the capability of attacking any piece to squares to the left, right or front. However, should there be free space in a one square radius of a defeated piece it jumps to the spot to always keep two moves ahead of everyone else. A simple personality and simple movement. Or at least we thought.

Now came the reasoning for our creative design from a quick brief by James. The aim was to place our robot that replicated the idea of our hunter in a square. Give it a fifteen second wait time before it began and we battle it out and compete with the fellow robots. The aim was to get out as far away from the box as possible without getting stuck. First time around we didn't get anywhere and just got caught in a huge mess with fellow robots. Then came round two, the bout of the losing robots. And even though we only moved mere centimeters from the square we won which came to a great surprise. This was because the other robots got stuck by either walls or other robots while our one just spun in a circle. Not the original plan but it worked wonders.

So basically we got our first real taste of programming from the wonderful invention of the NXT robots meant for ages 10+...
Now came the real challenge and the second task. With another quick briefing we were now placed with the task of getting the robot to travel from the entrance of the Creative technologies entrance through one sliding door and all the way to the main office. Following a taped line to make the process a little easier and the aim was to either knock on the door with our robot or make the robot say something. Now the excitement really settled in. At first anyways.

We got straight into the building together and it started to become apparent that it wasn't going to be so easy. The time consumed to construct the robot was the real limitation but when the time came down to it we gave it a few trial runs and it made it out and right before the main office's door. So we thought we could at least pull something off and not look that bad while doing so. However, it only managed to get that far through pure programming as the robot had faulty sensors and estimation wise and time wise we did pretty well.. Until the real show. Despite our previous successes the robot gave out and got stuck right on the second door only just passing the sliding door, not the best result.. But, a result none the less. So this was our first but not the last taste of NXT robots.

Orientation Week - Barbeque!

What better way to end the first week? Watch a few presentations... And FOOD. Got to get to know the first, second and third years with a few conversations here and there and end on a good note by heading home with a stomach full of 'free' food.

Orientation Week - Situational Shuffle

Another day, another unusual task to carry out. This time would be more socially active. We were given a set of cards with instructions. With each card draw we carried out the tasks in Auckland City. I wasn't certain about what I'd be coming up against in Creative Technologies but, never would I expect to do the things that we did. We got out and about quickly and formed quick social bonds before the week's end even. To do this we each had our own groups to carry out this special task. I was with Tyrone, Jack and Leo. And we were each given separate jobs to carry out. I was the controller where i simply drew and gave the card to Tyrone the actuator that had to do whatever the card said on the spot. Leo was the watcher that took the pictures and videos and Jack was the Tracker that marked down where we were on a given map and what was done during each step. We had our fair share of laughs without running into any big troubles. But we finished the day with a reflective statement and a video where Tyrone rapped out a beat that narrated what we did at each step.

Orientation Week - Data Visualisation

Two days passed, three days in and the excitement of settling into creative technologies truly began to settle in. Now it was time for task two and time to get out about. We were set with the assignment of exploring the city to determine what kind of data we could visually present that approached both the visually creative and statistical aspects. So in a group comprising of Tyrone, Jack, Leo and myself we decided on collecting the data of something common in the city. And the thought of drinks came about and we set out to queen street to find a nice spot to camp out for an hour as we observed the drinks in hand that people walked about with. We noted down what we observed and by the hours end we headed back to the computer labs.

We wanted to present the data in a way that would avoid the representational aspect and so the idea of bubbles relating to water but not completely symbolizing drinks came about. However halfway through producing our idea it became evident that it was too much like a graph rather than visually appealing and so we decided upon two separate projects. One for the visual aspect and another for the statistically dominant aspect. So one had bubbles on a graph where the scale of the bubbles represented the most common beverage. The other was presented on a morphed pie graphs with visually appealing graphics printed on a can.

Now all we had to do was present it the next morning as a group.

Orientation Week - Social Mapping

Finally I got my first real taste of Creative Technologies where we set out to complete an unusual task. We split up into groups of around 15. It was a little unsettling when i knew no one. However as the seconds gradually flew by the familiarity settled in as we proceeded with the instructions. Answer opinion based questions onto sticky paper from James, stick them onto the wall and connect it with wool from name to answer. The ambiguity of the exercise was soon revealed as our job was the collect the combined data of the group and load it onto a program called Gephi. The first of many programs.

Gephi only proved to be a confusing software to familiarize myself with however i managed to wrap by head around it by the nights end once I managed to input the data correctly. Once visually visible the next assignment was to arrange it in a unique fashion and so i chose to arrange it as a star.

Now all i had left to do was to head out next morning, and print it off in A3 to let the group see the finishing result and compare.

Orientation Week - Introduction into BCT

So, basically i turned up to my first session of the bachelor of creative technologies without a clue of what to expect. As i sat down looking around to see the range of people and new faces where i knew no one i knew it'd be challenge to settle in. However I sat there listening to what James as he described the adventures that awaited us as my interest only peaked by the day's end. And we finished early and were sent home with two task. Get a journal, and set up this blog. So here I am and here starts the first of many blogs to come of what adventures I'll be embarking on in the near future.