Final Year Studio - Development - Initial Stepper Motor Test

After a while struggling with servo motors it has been decided to swap and change my design so that I can use stepper motors instead. Initial tests have proven very encouraging and show that the stepper motors are both smooth and reliable due to lack of physically moving parts inside. Due to the fact that the main area of development for my project is on the digital monitor, it is now looking as though I will not be able to finish the analogue style public display screen in time for the end of the year. This will not stop me trying in my spare time and constructing the housing for the screen, because all the trials and tribulations of development make up the body of my Special Study. So it will be useful to have the screen constructed and a stepper motor working for my conclusion where I can talk about possible implementation.

Final Year Studio - Development - Arrival/Departure Time Board Design

arrival board, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Using the above images taken from Bradford Interchange's train station as inspiration I will create an arrival timetable board for my Datamotive idea. Displaying search terms that represent key words that I have come across during the development of my idea, it will show the arrival times of each Datamotive, dependent on the finalised formula for optimum screen representation. This will work as an extra stimulus for widening the associative bandwidth of the installation environment as well as a 'witty' hint for users to find out more about my project.

Final Year Studio - Development - Review #3

datamotives review 3, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Just a quick report on review #3 of my studio project, Datamotives. I felt it went really well and I think I have concentrated what I was presenting more, resulting in less time spent explaining the idea and more time spent showing the various experiments I have done and first person research. The only thing to do now is make sure my elevator pitch isn't misunderstood and continue making my project!!!

Final Year Studio - Development - Servo SUPER DISASTER!!!

Above is the final experiment I did to try and solve the 'wobbly' servo problem. In the end incrementing the servo arm, changing to Oasis foam for the screen and programming the servo by not using the code library still did not solve the problem. A possible factor is that the small servos simply don't react well to being controlled from a computer, chipping all the gears inside them. A possible solution is use a stepper motor instead that has only one gear and is animated using magnets, resulting in very little wear and tear inside the motor itself, hopefully eradicating any kind of developing wobble. The only problem with a stepper motor is that it cannot keep track of what angle it is at, this then means I would have to use some kind of marker such as a light resister and laser to tell the stepper to reset its angle to 0 for further instructions.

Final Year Studio - Research - Domain Name Facts

As my digital screen development for my idea progresses it is becoming apparent that I will have to decide the number of characters going to be shown on my public display mechanical screen. Although according to the Length Distribution graph located on the link below states that most domain names (2006) are 11 characters long (not including the suffix (.com etc.)), I decided to go with a 10 character long screen (including suffix) so that I can then save two servo or stepper motors for the time of arrival of each URL. In the long run this will not effect the installation, because one of the main points of using two different mediums is to highlight the limitations of each, in this case the limit of not being able to vary in display depending on character length.

Link: Yalfa.com - Facts About Domain Names

Final Year Studio - Research - Grand Central Stands Still

While researching the theme of train stations and time I came across the above video created by improveverywhere.com, which involved 200 'Improv Everywhere Agents' standing still at Grand Central Station, New York. Train users are baffled and amused as it takes a while for each user to notice that some people are not moving in conjunction with the overall crowd.

Final Year Studio - Development - Relay Switch

relay 400, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Above is what I hope will be the component that will solve my servo wobbling problem. The image is of a relay switch that only powers the servo motor when the servo arm isn't at the angle it is supposed to be at. This then means that if the servo arm starts wobbling it stops, the instant it hits the correct angle. This in conjunction with slowly incrementing the angle of the arm and creating the screen out of Oasis foam, often used in flower arranging, has seemed to have also solved the problem and at the moment a single servo motor is working fine. Hopefully it will be a simple step to add more servo motors onto the single relay switch so it can turn all of them off as soon as they all reach their specific angles. Fingers crossed!

Final Year Studio - Development - Large Servo Test

With the small servos struggling to cope with the momentum and weight of the acrylic screens I thought it may be a good idea to test the torque on some large servo motors. As you can see above they operate in exactly the same way as the smaller ones but without attaching anything to them they already felt slightly loose in inside. So to finally test to see if they would work with out wobbling I attached a screen to the servo arm and tested a single servo unit. Unfortunately the weight was still too much, and still vibrating occured.

In testing this though I came up with a possible solution. My theory is that if I can get a light enough semi-circle screen to attach to the servo arm and use a two way switch to turn the servo motor off once it arrives at its specified angle, I may be able to salvage a workable screen. Possible materials to experiment with for the servo screen could by polystyrene or the 'Oasis' blocks used by florists in flower arranging. Both highly durable very light materials that wouldn't put too much strain on the servo motor and its arm.

Final Year Studio - Research - Flip-dot Display System

sent email to first, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

I also emailed First buses to ask what they do with their flip-dot display screens once they replace them with LED equivalents. Unfortunately I did not get any response from them and I am still waiting.

Final Year Studio - Research - Split-Flap Display

screen email, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Although at the moment I am using servos motors to design my analogue screen, I am still trying to source a split-flap display to understand their availability. As I mentioned below Thomson & Craighead's Beacon project uses this display system so I emailed them, asking where they got theirs from. Unfortunately it was bespoke and made by Solaris themselves at great expense, it is also important to note that Thomson says the technology is now discontinued.

Final Year Studio - Development - Servo DISASTER!

Above are the first initial servos that I have been experimenting with and they are now clicking, sticking and whurring as all the gears inside them are loosened. Partly a weight problem and partly an accident they have loosened inside by myself rotating the servo arms when they are not live. Also it seems the shear weight of the momentum when the arm stops has forced the gears to loosen. To solve this I am going to first try out a couple of new servos, not rotating them when they are not live and I will also tape them up when not in use to irradiate any unwanted rotation. Secondly I will code the movement of the servo arms so that they slow down progressively as they reach their instructed angle. Hopefully this will solve the problem and stop them vibrating so vigourously, like above. Their condition will be evaluated in a weeks time and a decision to then continue down the servo motor route will be made.

Final Year Studio - Development - Typeface Experimentation Poster

datamotives typefaces visual.indd, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Above is poster I created investigating the difference in display aesthetics between various fonts, both modern and traditional. Doing this allowed me to understand why certain fonts are used in 'Non-places' and certain ones are not. For example since my project is all about using the associative bandwidth of the train station or airport terminal to express my theory, it would be wrong to use a sci-fi looking font. Instead I have opted to use simple Helvetica, because it is seen as the world wide standard when designing informative signage. This means then that people subconsciously expect this font to be used in areas of connection, thus this will be the font used on my servo screen.

Final Year Studio - Development - Datamotives Intro Poster

dm intro poster.indd, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Above is an introductory poster I have designed to show what my project is about. As well as creating the strap line 'Using the metaphor of the train station to investigate into out interaction habits with the Internet.' This combined with the idea of a GSER or Great Search Engine Railway, I think really expresses the thinking behind my idea very well and seems in class to be working. All there is to do now is to put some components on the microchip illustration to create a more 'lifelike' board.

Final Year Studio - Development - Datamotives Screen Visual

Untitled-3, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Above is the screen design for the on-screen part of the Datamotives project. Taking influence from both transport map design and signage graphic design, the actual mapping of the data is circular to show the elapse of time and create suspense. The user will use the application by typing in a term in the search box and clicking on the search arrow button. The application then plots the top five search results on screen using their IP addresses for position. The websites then arrive one by one with their arrival times also being shown on the servo screen. As the website arrives it is shown on the screen while a timer starts to count down, once the timer reaches zero the website departs and another one arrives. The user at any moment will be able to cancel the search buy simply typing in another term.

At this moment in time I am starting to experiment with the PHP cURL function, but it is clear to me that this application for successful integration with the servo screen will have to be produced in Processing. This may mean that the graphics will have to be simplified but where I can I will try and be true to my original screen design.

Special Study - Subject Area Plan

After narrowing don my ideas the main focus for my Special Study will be to investigate into how the aesthetics and physicality of media used in areas of connection or 'Non-places' such as airports, railway stations and search engines, effect how inhabitants understand and use the data on offer to them.

I hope to ascertain a greater understanding of how non-places have a efficiently controlled and encouraged public interaction using various mediums through time, as well as looking into how a media's "Associative Bandwidth' is used to both inform, entertain and move people through these environments.

Subjects to look into include:
- Associative Bandwidth Theory - Bruce Mau
- Global Image Economy Theory - Bruce Mau
- Non-place Theory - Marc Auge
- Airport Terminal/Train Station Environment Design
- Split Flap Display Screens
- Flip Dot Display Screens - Magnetic Core Memory
- Rollsign Display Screens
- LED Display Screens
- LCD Display Screens
- Future Interactive Digital Screens - Jeff Han
- Future Heliodisplay Screens
- Airport Sign Graphic Design - Norm
- Map Design - Harry Beck
- Helvetica Font
- Subliminal Signal Sense Stimulation
- Cloud installation - Trioka
- Beacon installation - Thompson & Craighead