July 16th, 2010 - So far…
I still have so much to do on my project and I really wish I could continue to do this for the duration as I have found it a useful and inspiring. But mostly it’s been great to sit and reflect slightly on what I’ve been doing through documentation you clarify and question your own ideas hopefully streamlining your project into an interesting final piece. Group discussion is something I miss since graduating and now working on my own. So this has been refreshing to open me up to new ideas and questions I think even though I only left college a couple of years ago I have adopted a slightly reclusive attitude towards my work not really understanding where I fit into the context of art and or crafts?
So Far…
This is where I am at at the moment. I have attached one of the kalimba’s to a base stand with a lightweight aluminium arm coming out to hold the servo motors. The idea is that one servo will propel the striking arm backwards and forwards (changing the note) while the other servo will raise the arm away from the kalimba and then back down so it touches (striking the note).
Unfortunately I have not tried out any code with this yet so I don’t even know if this will work yet. I am intending to use the servos in conjunction with either the sharp IR distance measuring sensor or the Ping ultra sonic sensor I’m not sure yet but I think the Sharp has a shorter sensing distance so this would lead to a more private and intimate feel where as the ping has a longer range and would be effected more by people more in the background. I actually quite like the idea of the two working together so it you possibly could play with the piece yourself but it opens itself to a collaborative piece even if it is an unexpected one.
I sent a really useful link to some coding using the sharp sensor controlling a servo. I used this in a previous project and I think I should be able to just modify this slightly to at least get one motor moving (code is at the bottom of the page):
https://wiki.engr.illinois.edu/display/ae498mpa/The%20Sharp%20GP2D12%20Infrared%20Range%20Finder
I am hoping to exchange some skills working with Vincent to help me with some my coding issue in exchange for some metal fabrication assistance. So hopefully this wont hold me back to much and I can carry on with the project into completion. If what I have done with the arm out to side with the servo’s on doesn’t work I might need to reposition the arm in front of the kalimba and possibly use a Pan and Tilt motion.
