Human Computer Interface - Research

I took a big interest in this wearable interface project as wearable art really appeals to me and this seemed like an opportunity to make a wearable garment that was not just artistic but also interactive which is quite a new realm for me.

Theme became my starting point for my research and since we were to "explore the relationship between the body and the computer" I began thinking about our relationships with computers in the modern day.

In the current age computers are a big part of many people's lives, and they allow us to achieve a great many tasks for a great many reasons. One function that is used by most people in one form or another is social networking. Online we are able to control the flow of information from ourselves about ourselves; this opens up a great deal of possibilities for us as far as identity goes. We can be entirely honest, embellish the truth to appear our absolute best or we may choose to be another person entirely. Arguably the online self we create may be closer to our 'real' self than the 'physical' identity we present when we interact in the flesh because we are in control of how we appear to other people and it is not as affected by factors such as physical appearance.

In the past we had only our 'physical' identities to present ourselves with, today we have both our 'digital' or 'elective' selves also. For my assignment I have decided to look to the future to a time when we could combine these two selves back into one, where we could change our appearance at will, clothes that morph and can be changed to demonstrate mood, fake confidence or display anything the wearer chose to share with the world. This adaption would work in the same way as an update on Facebook and would always be up to date and customised to the individual.

The below video by Nancy Tilbury is a thought provoking possible direction for future fashion, it is definately odd, but very arty and I like the way that her models fashion often comes from within themselves.

Digital Skins Body Atmospheres from Nancy Tilbury on Vimeo.

The ability to change is what I want to create in my garment and I think that this will be a point of difference and much more exciting than than all the change occurring through Max on the screen.

Max MSP

Animata

Project 1 - Demonstration Day

Demonstration Day proved to be a bit of a disappointment, after a few practices we performed for the class, our speech and slideshow combo had to be performed in another room as we didn't have access to a projector in the room we were set up in, however I do feel we addressed our theme up front which gave the demonstration of our work more meaning to the viewers. Our speech on theme and our project was given prior to our show, it is shown below.

"Some say robots are the artists of the future. With robots already taking jobs from humans in several industries, it's not surprising that we feel threatened by the prospect of robots staking a claim on the creative realm, which until now has been a solely human practice. Robots are unbiased and therefore are able to achieve true randomness or precision. This is where the possibility exists for robots to overtake humans in the arts.

Our work symbolizes the way the art world feels endangered by the sophistication and mathematical precision of these machines, while the human hand remains just that - human. We have set our work within the confines of a handmade prison, the robot however unperturbed continues to make sophisticated, multi-dimensional and multi-media art.

So, set your prejudices aside and enjoy our take on robot art."

Unfortunately our demonstration didn't go off as planned, we had a stop on one of the wheels that was too tight and we didn't realise this until too late, the photo that shows a series off circles was created because one wheel was jammed so instead of running our program the robot spun in circles, also tangling itself in the wool it was trailing in the process.



Although things didn't go as planned we still go the images we needed, I did realise from the exercise that the thread arm needed more development, there was the risk with the movements triggered from the robots sensors even if the program ran as intended that there still was a risk of tangles if hooks were missed or if the robot back tracked.



I enjoyed working with my group on this project and I liked our themes and media we used, they certainly made us different from other groups in the class.

Project 1 - Testing

With our robot and our performance arena set up all that was left to do was to tweak them until they were compatible. We had a new thread arm to test, the principle worked well but the whole relationship between the robot and its surroundings meant it seldom got close enough to the hooks to hook up and as a result we had loose trailing thread that managed to catch on everything. We decide to adjust and retest.

Everything required slight adjustments, the hooks on the arena were bent further to help them hold onto the thread no matter which direction the robot turned. The thread arms design was changed to a more solid build after two parallel blocks with rungs in between seemed to hook as often as the thread did; and thirdly we tweaked our program by shortening the ultrasonic sensors range and making it turn sharper, this brought the robot closer to the sides of the box so when it spun around the thread arm circled the hook and thus caught the thread before making its exit away from the obstacle.

This was a huge success for us as we had to try the trial and error approach to find the best values to control the robots movement in the limited space. We did still have occasional problems with hooking onto the thread arm and we tried several small variations of the design to find which worked the best.

With the demonstration coming up fast we decided to move our project to the chroma key room for our first formal trial.



We had a lot of success when testing. note for above: the white line is created by a continuously shining light while the red is flashing in even timing.



These photos show trials in light and 2D, note the straight lines, curved lines and the varying sized turns when the robot encounters the wall of the arena. In the above left photo a black light is used in conjunction with the light exposure to reveal both the marker and the light.

As an extra for our demonstration Anneke and I wrote a speech and paired it with some images of robots in traditionally human roles, the intention was to get the audience aware of our selected theme and to encourage them to form an opinion on the role of robots in the arts so we might get the opportunity to shock them with our multi-dimensional work after we turn the lights on following our live light drawing

Project 1 - Working it Out

After our initial decisions we set about trying to make our ideas work, we did some testing with the crayons and immediately found that quite a large amount of pressure was needed to scratch away the crayon effectively, this may have been okay except for the fact we found that readying the surface for the robot to draw was quite labour intensive. This lead us to think about what was going to be a more practical and appropriate way of creating our 2D image and also how we intended to limit the space we were creating our art in.

This takes me back to some research I did on Anthropocentrism, we decided that we wanted to incorporate the theme visually into both the robot and its human built surroundings to show the robots indifference and the human's haste to extract robots from the list of contenders in the art world.

This change of direction steered us away from a series of obstacles and instead into a boxed surrounding, we liked the sense of containment as if quarantined or imprisoned the robot would be shut away, however as it is programmed it will continue to produce its art in accordance with its surroundings.

With our 2D image now needing a media we decided to try out a simple white pen on black paper, I like that the images graduated from a simple pen on paper, in the space above, to moving lights which image is only revealed when photographed with a long exposure.

We constructed a large square enclosure out of cardboard, black paper and framed with wood; instead of obstacles we tried a series of hooks constructed out of fencing wire and secured to the perimeter, this gave the enclosure a tough prison style look which was quite appropriate.

Programming of the robot became our next big task, we had already been trying out builds and modifying our program and had our robot responding to both its ultrasonic and its touch sensors; the next step in development was to build a device that would distribute the wool without pulling or catching overhead of the robot, it had to be capable of of bending to free itself from any existing strands while still being tall enough to ensure the wool hooked at every opportunity.

Project 1 - The Beginning of the Program and the Build

To achieve our objectives we needed to start thinking about how the robot would best be created to handle the tasks in front of it. Both the light and ground drawings were literally just created by the tracking of the robot and largely unaffected by how the robot moved, the desire to produce a 3D drawing however would require a lot more thinking and testing to get it up and running.

Our options for input sensors were light, sound, ultrasonic and touch; because we wanted the robot to maneuver around obstacles and not to get stuck on them we selected touch sensors and an ultrasonic sensor to guide the robot as best as we could through whatever we chose to throw at it. These two types of sensor are also quite compatable because the ultrasonic sensor can only sense an object if it is at 90 degrees to it, if the waves from this hit at an angle they will not reflect back into the sensor and thus it cannot 'see' the object in its path; this is where the touch sensors come in we have tried mounting one to each side of the front with a bow shaped structure connecting the two so if it hits at any angle either one sensor or the other will be pushed.



When making the program we want the robot to move until it encounters an object, either up ahead or by coming into physical contact with it, and then to maneuver away from it in a varying direction and at a varying angle (to keep things irregular and not form a specific pattern that would look too similar with each trial).

Our build will need to move and turn efficiently, to be able to protect itself from factors in its environment in order to keep creating its art, to sense and respond to obstacles and to distribute its wool and lines as it moves.

Project 1 - Our Drawing Machine

After some independent research our group got together and shared some ideas and inspiration. We all had some very different suggestions about the media we wanted to use as we wanted our project to stand apart from the ordinary as well as the other groups, we were aware that we needed to produce 3 different drawings and that lead us to the idea of producing multiple works of art at the same time.

I like the sophistication and the seeming coordination needed to be able to produce multiple works of art simultaneously; I think this fits the capabilities of robot art perfectly as while humans may have trouble multi-tasking to such a great extent, a robot can be programmed to run certain functions simultaneously and still respond to a variety of stimulus. I also liked this decision because it not only let everyone compromise on the best art form for the robot but it also displayed the complexity of the robot and its proficiency in the arts (something that humans may be dismissive of or threatened by.) The next step was to decide what media would work well together and what we thought would create the most impact both as a still image and when demonstrated to the class. Seb was particularly passionate about attempting light drawings with his new camera so we all agreed on a test run of this and set about to decide on two more ways of producing an image that would work well with this.



We liked the results of the tests and learnt that even the littlest amount of light would effect the outcome of the picture, above we have two of the tests, the left uses a light flashing in the S.O.S pattern to produce an irregular dashed line, while the one on the right is a more literal path taken by the robot with brighter spots in the places where it had paused.

I liked the idea of a light drawing because it turns out to be more than exists in real-time, it represents time and space and movement and cannot be truly appreciated until you can see the photograph; this could be a neat effect as we could show the audience the performance which would be rather intriguing but not reveal its full potential until the image is shown soon after.

We wanted to create a 2D image and a 3D image to compliment the light drawing, as these would be produced in the dark we aimed to shock the audience with the complexities of what we had created when the light was again switched on.

Our initial ideas were using a crayon covered floor with bright paint underneath and to have the robot scratch the paint away as it moved, this was a practice that we hadn't participated in since primary school and was an idea that had appeal because it created the image by subtraction which was more interesting to us than adding say ink or paint. Secondly we liked the idea of the robot as not just a machine but also as lego which when combined with the crayon image kept to a youthful theme.

For the 3D image wool was suggested to be paired with a series of obstacles that would be sensed by an ultrasonic sensor instructing the robot to turn around the object thus looping the trailing wool and creating a 3D pattern. Duplo was chosen to be used as obstacles as we needed a flat surface for the ultrasonic waves to bounce off and still be caught. Our biggest perceived challenge with this was robot design, we need to be able to navigate the robot through its work without it catching on its own previous work.

Project 1 - Robots ( artists and issues )

I sought out artists whose passion and belief of integration between art and technology allowed them to push borders and challenge preconceptions.

Max Chandler was the first artist I uncovered whose philosophy on robots intrigued me.

www.maxchandler.com (Gallery), www.artwithrobots.blogspot.com (Blog)

"Robot Art is a large topic. I make robot generated art, that is, I use the robots to extend the kind of marks that can be made. The robots are tools that increase the mathematical precision of the marks and create opportunities for random and beneficial accidents. The robots also contribute to making an art that is uniquely 21st century."

His gallery contains art in many medias all produced from his collection of robots. Chandler has a very liberal and new age view on his work, he speaks of combining art and technology and of both the artist's and the robot's roles. He creates sophisticated images using a wide range of techniques and constantly evolves his practice.



From his work I realised the evolving possibilities when a life has been dedicated to robotics art ,although we are unlikely to achieve the same level of sophistication in such a short space of time I am still inspired by his work and the especially the idea of robots as the 21st century artist and how this may be threatening because of many preconceptions held by the public.

The second artist that I found was Leonel Moura.
www.lxxl.pt/artsbot/ www.leonelmoura.com

"We can make the machines that make the art. We can create a non-human life devoted to the artistic realm. That is, art as it could be.
The art of the 21st century."

With an impressive and varied number of works displayed on his website and a number of ideas about preconceptions and the link between art and science it is Moura who introduced me to the word 'Anthropocentrism.'

"Anthropocentrism is either the belief that humans are the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective." It is not uncommon to see this theme portrayed in science fiction, it is the equivalent of race supremacy and seems to make up a central theme in many books and movies. Popular and recent movies such as 'Avatar' and 'District 9' use this theme as a metaphor as well as classics such as 'Star Wars.' It seems to incorporate both fear of and assumed superiority over non-humans be they animals, aliens or robots.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a4Aq15HYAo

In the course of my research I have uncovered both some inspiration and knowledge on types of art that could be created and possible ways of programming the robot to achieve the desired end result. I also love the idea of anthropocentrism as a theme or issue I think there is a wide perception of robots providing a threat of some kind to humans, it may not be a front of mind issue but movies such as 'Terminator' and 'The Matrix' have put the possibility of machines taking over the world into the subconscious of many; this coupled with machines and robots having already taken jobs away from humans in some industries leads to a perceived threat, an issue that I would like to portray.

Project 1 - Drawing Machine

For our first studio project we were challenged to program the NXT's we had been working with using the Mindstorm software, our goal was to communicate or express ideas via an interactive drawing machine. We were to produce 3 drawings with our machine and demonstrate it to the class.

This lead to several questions in the initial brainstorming process; what options did we have for input data? What was an interesting and original form of output data? And finally what were the current issues surrounding robots and the arts or robotics as a practice?

My group for this project consisted of Anneke, Seb, Daniel R and Dylan. We decided to do some independant research overnight and convene and share first ideas the next morning.

Situational Shuffle

For our third orientation week exercise we "explore(d) conventions by following simple instructions and observing how the conventions of the systems interface with an environment."

We were divided into groups of four and each given a role within the group. The Actuator was the subject of the work and was the one to perform all actions and tasks, the Controller reads the instructions and directs the Actuator, the Tracker charts the progress by mapping the actions completed and drawing the appropriate icon on the pavement when an action was initiated, lastly the sensor documents the entire group through the whole process.

As the actuator for my group my day included being directed around town and completing various exercises such as following a 'lady in red' and recording a conversation. I had no say in what my tasks were and only a little in how I carried them out; it was quite a liberating position to be in to be told what to do, although I felt it did raise ethical questions in how I wanted to fulfil tasks.

When reviewing the exercise I realised we were working as a system or a machine of sorts, by giving each member of the group a task all of their own we were performing an imperfect and very human simulation to help us see how different parts interact to create a working system. This exercise taught us to work together on a human level or to interact in a more metaphorical sense as a system. It helped us explore the nature of systems and made for an interesting day performing the exercises then experimenting with the best ways of documenting and presenting the process to a large group of people, in a way that made it different from a number of similar projects. We went with a power point presentation that showcased our map, photographs and movies, this was an easy to follow format but lacked a bit of excitement which I will reconsider next time. All up an interesting exercise to get us thinking about systems and putting ourselves in the head space of various parts and get us thinking both practically and creatively.

Data Visualisation Project

Continuing on from our first day's visualisation, we had to gather data ourselves from an everyday activity and create a wordless visualisation that was non-representational of the subject matter.

As our studio is located just off the busiest street of Auckland city there were certain that there would be some trends in subject matter such as pedestrians and traffic; as we mulled over ideas in a local coffee shop we found the perfect data source for our assignment. The manager of Gloria Jean supplied us with a record of sales for the day which was broken into a variety of categories the basic of which was hot beverages, cold beverages and food.

The categories provided us with the numbers:

Hot Beverages 129 which rounded to: 58%
Cold Beverages 24 12%
Food 65 30%

We came up with a model that was simple and appealed to multiple senses, we wanted the viewer to be able to link the data with its origin without being too predictable in our display.

Our solution was a 3D model made from cardboard and coffee. We used simple circles (2D from the aerial view) or cylinders (3D) with the circle size, cylinder height and shade/ strength of coffee demonstrating the ratios in which the data was distributed.

Tufte's principles provided food for thought but I don't think I fully understood how to apply them most effectively. I liked our model as I felt it was representative of both the data and the relationship between between the values. The smell coming from our project at the time of presentation was an effective extra and really made me think of all the different media available that are effective but not typically used. I liked the simplicity of our design from the shapes through to the materials although it only worked because there were small distinctive categories within the collected data but never the less I felt it was easily understood which was our main objective.

Social Mapping Project

For our first studio exercise we were split into groups and given a series of questions to answer, we used a wall of the studio to pin our name to with our answers connected by yellow wool. We then proceeded to take a different colour to connect answers that were the same (ie. all the people whose favourite coffee is a mochacinno)

Our next step was to label and record each name with a number and each line connecting the similarities with a number also. This information gave us an opportunity to use the computer program 'Gephi' to visualise the data in another form and to experiment with layouts to find which way we found the data easiest to understand.

From reviewing the many ways our group members chose to visualise the same set of data we discussed which we found easiest to understand. In general we liked clear labels and a multitude of techniques to show which were the most commonly occurring nodes, examples of this were labels or nodes that increased in size as they became more frequent. Colour was also a very effective way of separating the most and least popular nodes and made for an attractive looking visualisation. Finally the least cluttered layouts were far less confusing as densely overlapping lines were hard to follow to their source and generally counter productive to an easy to read presentation.

Unfortunately my own presentation wasn't correctly saved and as a result I no longer have the file to review but I do hope to experiment with Gephi again as I think it was quite an effective data communicating tool