Tuesday, November 8, 2011


Smart thermometer (Stage 1):
Input: room temperature
Input: user preference
Arduino: compare room temperature and user preference
if user preference > room temperature
Output: turn on heater
if user preference < room temperature
Output: turn off heater



Arduino code:

//POTENTIOMETER
int sensorPin = 0;  
int sensorValue = 0;

//TEMPERATURE
#include <Sensirion.h>
#define sensirionDataPin  2
#define sensirionClockPin 3
float temperature;
float humidity;
float dewpoint;
Sensirion tempSensor = Sensirion(sensirionDataPin, sensirionClockPin);

//PIR+RELAY
int pirPin = 13;
int slpPin = 12;
int ledPin = 9;
int rlyPin = 11;


void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);

//PIR+RELAY
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(rlyPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(slpPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(pirPin, INPUT);
  digitalWrite(slpPin, HIGH);
}



void loop()
{
  //CHECKING MOTION
  int pirVal = digitalRead(pirPin);
 
  if(pirVal == LOW){ //IF MOTION IS DETECTED
      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);


    //CHECK TEMPERATURE
      tempSensor.measure(&temperature, &humidity, &dewpoint);
      Serial.print("Temperature: ");
      serialPrintFloat(temperature);
      Serial.print(" C, Humidity: ");
      serialPrintFloat(humidity);
      Serial.print(" %, Dewpoint: ");
      serialPrintFloat(dewpoint);
      Serial.println(" C");
      delay(3000);
   
    //CHECK POTENTIOMETER
      sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);  
      sensorValue = map(sensorValue, 0, 1024, 20, 40);
      sensorValue = constrain(sensorValue, 20, 40);
      Serial.println(sensorValue);
   
    //COMPARE USER INPUT TEMPERATURE + ROOM TEMPERATURE
      if(sensorValue > temperature){
        digitalWrite(rlyPin, HIGH); //TURN ON RELAY
        delay(5000);
      }
      else {
        digitalWrite(rlyPin, LOW); //TURN OFF RELAY
      }
  }
 
 
  else { //IF THERE IS NO MOTION
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    digitalWrite(rlyPin, LOW);
}
}


void serialPrintFloat(float f){
    Serial.print((int)f);
    Serial.print(".");
    int decplace = (f - (int)f) * 100;
    Serial.print(abs(decplace));
}

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Team Otto - Week 1

Smart Roof

- Opportunity: holes on the roof
- Needs: light, insulation, water heating, solar energy generation, ventilation
- Design intent: intelligently negotiate between different needs
- Advantages: modular, basic infrastructure allows for expansion, integrated system





Thursday, September 29, 2011

Some thoughts - trip to botanic garden

The inefficiency of tree's reproduction method:

Trees are hugely ineffective in self reproduction, however, the abundance of fruit produced are not wasted. Nature is a system and not singular organisms, so in this sense, one tree is providing means of surviving for a whole other chain of organisms.

Nature then, is perfectly balanced and completely efficient.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Team 4


Issue i thought that was apparent with the previous cylindrical reflective tube: 
- limited actual surface to capture heat, being only the circumference of the tube
- rely on the reflectiveness of the mirror material for efficiency
- solar panel not fully integrated into the solar capturing process, needs additional surface and installation

Solution i thought that was appropriate and effective to maximize solar energy capture for both water heating and electricity production:
- integrating solar panels with water heating
- rotating panels towards the sun
- maximizing surface absorption, rather than trying to concentrating solar power onto a limited surface (techinically complicated, and ineffective for the given situation. for one thing, the curvature of the glass is not a half cylinder, there is a specific curvature that we need to figure out)

Added value:
- let in diffuse light and block out direct light
- underside of the panels could be used for lighting at night (LED lighting or florescent lighting or w/e)

Potential drawback:
- high cost for installation (mostly the glass canopy and supporting structure)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Security

  • First we need to know what we are protecting ourselves from, and what does it mean to be insecure.
    • Insecurity and fear results from absence of knowledge, from the unknown.
    • Criminals hides their identity
  • There are 2 different ways to gain security
    • First is to increase the division between familiarity and the unknown. Setting up boundaries and gates in a process of self-denial. “What we do not know does not harm us”. Example: a castle, a stronghold, imperial China (the great wall)
    • Second way is to be curious and actively gain understanding of the unknown: progress. Example: Columbus, human race as a whole, if we know everything there is to know about something, than it doesn’t scare us anymore
  • Rather than dealing with the act of prevention and denial of access, security here is represented by an increase in self-awareness prior to gaining awareness of the surrounding,
Solution
  • Self-awareness is achieved through self-reflection, the ability to locate one’s self in a certain situation/context/and in relation to one another.
  • Augmented reality
    • Overlaying digital information onto the physical world
    • Make the physical world transparent, increase social connectiveness and eliminate physical boundaries
  • A system of augmented awareness
    • A layer of street installation
    • Not passive systems, but interactive systems to heighten awareness
    • Register movements, paths, patterns
      • Proximity sensors, motion sensors, heat sensors, sound sensors
    • Provide information through augmented reality
      • Information representation through digital mobile devices
      • Projections
      • LED
      • Sound
      • Make possible/provide convenience to social activities, events

The Project
Focuses on a specific mechanism for increasing self-awareness
Tackling a certain sensory experience


Sample/Inspirations

Sargasso Fields – Philip Beesley
A  two-week intensive workshop was staged August 2009 at the Royal Academy of Denmark, led by experimental architects and educators Philip Beesley and Mette Ramsgard Thomsen. The structure was reinstalled in Brussells for the Pluto New Media festival October 2009, and then was re-mounted for the Climate and Architecture exhibition in Copenhagen during the UN Climate Summit COP 15.  
Twenty-five architecture students investigated primary qualities of a responsive, sensitive architecture through cycles of making and designing.  The expanded, lightweight layers within this kinetic field are organized like a coral reef, as densely massed organisms Calls and responses ripple throughout this environment, stirring diffuse ripples of filtered air that trickle through the space.Power cells arrayed within a bamboo and silk ‘geotextile’ array at the lower levels of this stratified environment created their own power, generating small shivers and blinks that call out to the upper ‘parent’ layer of lightweight structure. The lower layer is radically diffuse, acting as a condensation layer that would harvest energy and support renewed fertile growth in the future. Suspended proximity sensors and touch sensors from the upper layer register these weak signals and amplify them through arrays of microprocessor-driven actuated components



















Light - Richard Box
FIELD , an installation by Richard Box , an artist in residence in the physics department at the University of Bristol, is a major undertaking which includes the installation of several thousand ready- made glass fluorescent tubes. The tubes are ‘planted’ at the foot of an electricity pylon, and pick up the waste emission from the overhead power line causing the tubes to glow when an electrical voltage is set up across it. The result is a field of light sabers that is just amazing and makes visible what would otherwise go unnoticed.



















Field of Light (eden project) – Bruce Munro


Thursday, September 15, 2011

Green Wall















Purpose/Problems addressed
- Urban agriculture on a household scale
- Grey water filtration, roof water run-off
- Passive air filtration

How does it work
- Integration of the structural lattice with greywater filtration system as well as irrigation system
- The structural lattice collects water from roof run-off or surface rain water
- Imagine the structural lattice as metal tubes with filtration soil inside, rain water flows through the tube interior and gets filtered and stored at underground cistern for reuse
- As water run through the structural lattice, water also flows through a permeable membrane thats attached to the plant pods, the reason why we separate the 2 soil compositions is because plant soil can not be used for filtration purposes (water will take away nuitrients in the soil)
- Plant pods can shift between exterior and interior
- exterior: controlled sun exposure
- interior: shelter from extreme weather, generate oxygen for interior, easy harvest

Componets/Funtions
- water collection
- roof run-off
- directly using plant pods
- through structural lattice
- structural lattice
- structrual wall
- grey water filtration
- contains plant pods
- permeable membrane between the structural lattice and plant pods
- allows passive irrigation
- controlled irrigation
- plant pods
- hosts plants/agriculture
- water collecting
- can be opened to both interior/exterior
- water cistern for clean water storage

Smart element
- moisture sensor
- sun/temperature sensor
- water directing/collecting mechanics
- irrigation control
- plant pocket folding mechanics
- structural lattice mechanics

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Regarding Changing Education Paradigms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Any form of creativity must be spawn from a solid understanding of the basic parameters. Fundamental knowledge must be acquired and understood in order for the information to be synthesized and reorganized into new ways of thinking. This general knowledge can be most efficiently acquired from school. This should not be viewed as limitation for creativity, in fact, without it there can be no creativity. For example, kids who are distracted by iphones, television and other modern entertainment technologies can only go so far as be audience to other people's creativity. By watching television does not give you the skills needed to produce a show; by playing a game on ipad does not give you the knowledge of programming the software; and by going to movies does not give you the ability to act. All of these things needs a systematic way of passing on previous knowledge before new products are resulted from new methods of production. The explosion of information of the last century demands a systematic way of filtering, organizing and passing on of information. I know school is hard ok? But there is no other way around it. And by the way, the education paradigm and lack of creativity is not the cause of the economic downturn, if you have studied in China you would know, what it feels like to go through the same exact reading material as your mother did while she was in elementary school. And China's economy? Not doing too bad.

Animating till 6am



Building enclosure system translated through organic skin system:
skin as protection - triple glazed glass with air pockets for added insulation
pupil dilation -  controlled shading through inflated membrane
sweat duct/hair - ventilation channel for passive air exchange and temperature regulation

ARDUINO!


Only if I had this to play with as a kid.