cold description: When magnetic sensor on upper arm senses magnet on lower arm, blower is triggered, which inflates prosthetic bicep muscle. When a stretch sensor created with conductive fabric is stretched across the inflating bicep muscle, a sounding pitch becomes lower as the muscle becomes bigger.
warm thoughts: Here, I’m playing with an interest in prostheses. In some ways, robotics (and technology in general) in our everyday lives already act as prosthetics. In this prototype for a 2-sensor 2-actuator system, this symbiotic relationship between humans and robotics technology is (perhaps reversed) and reflected as a non-functional, cosmetic flex of the human muscle. In relation to biomimetic robotics, this set up is somewhat reflective of an ectosymbiotic system.
Reading about robotic gardeners reminded me of my Uncle Rodger. He farms over 80,000 acres out in Kansas and purchases new equipment every few years. Last summer he and I had a conversation about his process and he mentioned various robotic equipment including this combine harvester. The machinery uses GPS and various sensors to guide the combine along the planted rows, turn around, and align itself again harvesting in the opposite direction. An employee still rides along to monitor the behavior of the machine. Rodger said that employing these robots they are able to yield more of the crop otherwise missed by human error. After poking around the web I found this post on arduino forum where a DIY’er modified his combine to behave in the same why with relatively cheap components.
I had to start over on a different board after I realized the other one had printed white rectangles encompassing several pin holes meaning that they were connected internally.
Apologies for this bad documentation taken at 1 am, when the sensor was still working.
Cold description: Sharp analog distance sensor as input. Values above 200, or objects close enough to sensor, trigger actuation of blower (via arduino & break out to relay module switching blower power on and off)
Warm description: When Nancy “sees” her own reflection in the mirror, she augments her voluminous hair and lips.
