by: Taylor, Amit, and myself

Otar is fun. Otar likes to tell stories. Otar likes to share.

Plug and Squeeze. Otar speaks through your computer’s USB port to a desktop widget that communicates with Facebook. With every squeeze, Otar’s stories come to life. To build stories of your own, you can pick images from Otar’s stories, caption them and send them to your friends.

A simple, easy to use system, Otar uses the body to drive communication through storytelling. Regardless of age, language, culture and literacy level, you can play with Otar.

Please read more on Taylor’s blog.

To use Otar, you must download and run the desktop widget.

Step 1 – Log in to Otar and let the squeezing begin.

Step 2 – Squeeze Otar to find the right image.

Step 3 – Pick a friend, caption your image, and then have Otar send it off.

Hopefully, your friend will already have the Otar Facebook application installed. If not, she may add it with a few simple clicks. Then, she will be able to review the Otar conversation you two have started.

More documentation

A more thorough description of our process can be found here.

For those trying to implement serial communication in Java through Eclipse, the archive below should be of great use. Make sure to add the native binaries to your library folder so that everything runs smoothly. The SerialInterface class provides a clean way to get to everything working. Serial Files

]]> http://www.blog.alexabreu.com/2007/12/13/i-am-otar-by-taylor-amit-and-myself/feed/ 0 http://www.blog.alexabreu.com/2007/11/08/kromicks-thermochromic-kicks/ http://www.blog.alexabreu.com/2007/11/08/kromicks-thermochromic-kicks/#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:11:36 +0000 alex.abreu http://www.itp.alexabreu.com/?p=29 Concept

Shoes that change color when you reach your target intensity zone. More change means more activity and more intensity!

There is no denying that shoe culture is bigger and better than ever. The big basketball shoe is definitely back for the attack. The Nike Air Force One collection is worn by rappers and hipsters alike, and having one pair just doesn’t do the trick. The louder/crazier the color scheme, the better. Of course, the problem with this sort of consumerism is the tremendous waste created by people owning pairs upon pairs of kicks. This got me thinking about creating a single shoe which could take on different color schemes based upon your current aesthetic preference. Why not have a a shoe which can go from business to party and back again? In certain ways, this has been attempted before through the LA Lights collection, and it is still somewhat popular among young children. The problem with LEDs as the mechanism for change is the loss of the traditional look and feel of a sneaker. LEDs are still too space-agey for shoes and cannot replace textiles and fabrics in the construction of a classic kick. While brainstorming, I began to think about about wearable products which have incorporated color change successfully while maintaining the look and feel of the intended garment. The first thing that came to mind was the Hypercolor t-shirt craze of the late 1980s. Despite the unfortunate side effect of accentuating sweat stains and the like, the Hypercolor t-shirt was adopted for its fun chameleon-like qualities. With that thought, I resolved to create a product which would have a similar captivating quality with a greater sense of control in order to limit undesired results. I’ve always had something of a shoe fetish and was interested in applying my concept to a an article of clothing which I believe says a lot about a person’s character and interests. And so, Kromicks were born.

The next step in my process was identifying how I wanted to use thermochromic pigment (dye used in Hypercolor t-shirts) in an expressive manner while also maintaining a sense of control over the color change. At first, I thought of simply allowing a user to control a simple switch or knob to toggle the color change functionality. For instance, if a user wanted to make his/her shoes change from black to red, he/she would flip a switch to get the desired effect. Although, I still believe such functionality would eventually be a nice feature, I didn’t believe such a simple reactive experience was enough. Through conversations with my teammate Seung Ran Woo, we converged on accentuating the original purpose of a sneaker. As designed, sneakers are intended for athletic activity. We believe a sneaker which highlights this athletic activity and movement will encourage the wearer as well as excite the spectators at the big game. I imagine the shoes as a physical representation of physical energy much like the ‘he’s on fire’ game play made famous in the classic NBA Jams video game. Imagine a middle school basketball player running up and down the courts at the championship game. Both he and the crowd know he’s giving it all he’s got because his shoes are glowing with intensity, and outshining all the other players on the court. Motivating, inspiring, and most of all fun.

Larger Version

Materials

Piezo – a simple sensor to track footsteps

LilyPad – a beautiful form factor of the Arduino to process footsteps

Small Electric Heater – to slightly warm the thermochromic paint to the necessary temperature

Proto Board – to manage power and take inputs from the sensor

Thermochromic Paint – painted on the Nike Swoosh to change color when high enough intensity levels are met

Air Force One’s – for a little style.

Images:

Protototypes

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Video:

Construction

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The Real Thing

Images:

After playing with the different LED circuits for a while, I wondered if I could connect a capacitor into a given circuit to alter the way an LED turns on and off. Rather than a static binary state, I wanted to fade an LED on and off electronically. Luckily, I came across a circuit design which claimed to do just the trick. I took a quick trip to Radio Shack and did my best to find the parts required to build the circuit. As expected, The Shack didn’t have quite what I needed, but I did my best to substitute parts bases on their limited selection. My main concern was finding an operational amplifier which would serve to increase and decrease the voltage accordingly. I picked out the LM324 in place of the LM1458, and was a tad frustrated when after first building the circuit, nothing much happened. I decided to rebuild the circuit and paid closer attention to the resistances in the schematic. The original schematic also called for a 9v power supply, but the LM324 has a higher voltage rating than the LM1458 so I opted to used the voltage coming directly off the power adapter at around 16v. After reworking the circuit, I got it to work somewhat. The LEDs seemed to fade, but the effect was a bit too subtle. I played with the resistance and capacitance between the two op amps in the circuit to change the frequency at which the LEDs fade. Using a smaller capacitor and resistor increases the frequency, while a larger resistor and capacitor decrease the frequency. I found the cutoff resistance to be anything greater than 40K–causing the circuit to stop functioning properly. Check out the pictures and video below to get a sense of what I did. Until next time.