king talk

Everyone who did a Arduino project knows the icon from the first Arduino version till now. Does it look like its IDE is based on Processing? Sure not.

The current Arduino version 0017 is featuring our new icon redesign (see release notes for 0017). From this point on Processing and Arduino will relax at your Dock like brother and sister.

I developed the new icon in accordance with David A. Mellis (co-founder of Arduino) in five steps. The first version was still using the old capital A which was not the best solution. We wanted to create a look which is similar to Processing, so we switched to the same style. P and A are really looking familiar, so it was not that problem. For the third version we get rid of the both green background colors and switched to a color which I picked out of a picture showing the Arduino Diecimila board making it 100% »authentic«. Within the process the icon changed proportions and the electronic circuit background pictured changed its composition in a way, which was not right anymore. So we switched the style to the lines and dots from the board for version number version.

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As my project partner (Jens Franke) presented the world famous Earthwalk installation in Bogota, he was filmed by a Columbian TV station. The moderator is reporting about Campus Party Bogota (Columbia), the biggest network gaming event of the world. We had a chance to present the Earthwalk at several other events like Campus Party Valencia (Spain) and Campus Party Sao Paulo (Brazil) before. The Earthwalk project was done back in 2006 at a Arduino workshop held by Massimo Banzi in Schwäbisch Gmünd. The next Campus Party will be held on July the 27th in Valencia again. David Cuartellis, one guy of the Arduino developer team will be there for holding a workshop. Other cool stuff will be presented at Campus Futuro.

Side note: You can see Jens smiling at 4:10, the guy with the blue shirt.

»Providing dynamically changeable physical buttons on a visual display« was developed by Chris Harrison and Scott Hudson (Carnegie Mellon University / USA). It´s all about  a visual display that contains deformable areas, able to produce physical buttons and other interface elements. These tactile features can be dynamically brought into and out of the interface, and otherwise manipulated under program control. The surfaces they describe, provides the full dynamics of a visual display (through rear projection) as well as allowing for multi-touch input (though an infrared lighting and camera setup behind the display).

To illustrate the tactile capabilities of the surfaces, they describe a number of variations we uncovered in our exploration and prototyping. These go beyond simple on/off actuation and can be combined to provide a range of different possible tactile expressions. A preliminary user study indicates that the dynamic buttons perform much like physical buttons in tactile search tasks. The official paper can be downloaded here.

Another flexible approach called impress comes from Silke Hilsing (FH Würzburg / Germany). Impress is the deliverance of the touch screen from its technical stiffness, coldness and rigidity. It breaks the distance in the relationship of human and technology, because it is not any longer the user which is subjected to technology, but in this case the display itself has to cave in to the human. Impress is a chance of approach of user and technology, above all, from technology.

It is a matter of a flexible display consisting of foam and force sensors which is deformable and feels pleasantly soft. Impress works with the parameters position and time like other touch screens as well, but in addition to that, it reacts, above all, on the intensity of pressure.

The user can merge in and collaborate with technology more than ever. He can squeeze out information and fly through rooms, he can form three-dimensional and put objects in motion by deforming the surface. Four short applications allow an insight into an absolutely new world of deeply sensitive and intuitive interaction possibilities. This project was created by using Arduino and Processing.

via infosthetics & FH Würzburg Blog

While i was trying to get some informations about the new Arduino TinkerKit development i stumbled upon this video from last years »Arduino toyhacking workshop« in London 2008 (workshop 2009 video is here). It´s just a quick overview, but you can find more detailed videos of each project here at tinker.it. The idea of toy hacking is not actually new, but I still like it. Just go home and look around what you got and then tinker it. It´s doesn´t matter if it´s a toy keyboards, RC cars, a singing Santa Claus… whatever  ; )

So if you would use a toy keyboard you could make your own »piano shirt« like the girls from kobakant did. Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson often work with soft conductive and resistive fabrics to create wearable electronics from cheap, basic and off-the-shelf materials. That´s what it´s all about… You don´t have to spend much money and time for a quick ´n´dirty prototype. You just want to tinker around trying to get an idea if your concept is working or not by using materials which you have already at hand.

Toys are just an amazing source of cheap technology to hack and reuse. »Lowtech sensors and actuators« from Husman Haque (see article about primal source) and Adam Somlai-Fisher is a great example of this approach. You can download their PDF (1,1 MB) and learn something about personalizing your toys with the help of Arduino e.g. the sound responsive cat.

One result of ours is the toyhack of the famous »Big Mouth Billy Bass« which was originally constructed by the american toy company Gemmy Industries. We thought that it´s cruel to let Billy sing his same old song again, and again, and again… So we connected a microphone to his mouth and mp3 EQ signals to his back. Now he´s enjoying his life as a karoake fish. This hack was the result of a »getting started with Arduino« Workshop at the FH Joanneum was realised with the help of Christian Perstl and Daniel Fabry.

If you have some interesting projects about toyhacking in mind, just contact us. Thanks.

Say »Hello!« to our new vintage toy called Roland R-8 Human Rhythm Composer, one of the hottest drum moduls of the 80´s. The possibility to connect a MIDI Trio (In/Out/Thru) via the Logilink USB to MIDI interface to our computers, allows us to tinker around with some generative and physical computing stuff. Last week we bought this little masterpiece for about 50 EUR at a german website for online classifieds (www.quoka.de), which is my favourite site for getting cheap second-hand articles. Some results will follow…