Project 02

Team 2

Sotiria ALEXIADOU
Georgios ANAGNOSTOPOULOS
Georgios ANDRESAKIS
Yannis APOSTOLOPOULOS
Eleni CHRONOPOULOU
Hara GAVRA
Iraklis KOUROUNIS
Eleni LETSIOU
Evangelos-Alexandros MAISTRALIS
Vasilis PAPALEXOPOULOS

Scenario 2

Our second scenario involved the theme of storytelling.

Storytelling is not only an integral part of play, but also essential for developing narrative and memory skills. How are the narratives enacted? Children recruit passive and active toys as well as reconfigurations of the environment. Passive toys include a traditional repertoire of playthings. Active toys create a category of responsive and interactive playmates.

To sum it up, our second  team was assigned to create spatial configurations to help children develop their narrative and memory skills through play.

Proposal

 

ARRANGEMENT

 Script 1 == Neighbor checking

_ starting from one cube as a reference, placed on a grid with fixed boundaries we give to the cubes the prescript to check for its possible neighbors and make a vicinity.

Script 2 == Clusters

_ starting from one cube as a reference, placed on a grid with fixed boundaries we give to the cubes the prescript to gather in clusters, in different positions.

Script 3 == Population

_ starting from one cube as a reference, placed on a grid with fixed boundaries we create different shots of possible arrangements, changing the number of the cubes that can be seated inside the grid. 

For each cube the reaction comes from within its core. Therefore in the centre of each cube there is a core where the processor is placed. From there two or three cylindrical tunnels reach for the surface in order for the cubes to be able to express themselves more distinctly.

But what is it that he wants to express and how?

Each one interacts not only with the stimulants of children around it but also with its alikes and with environmental conditions.

Its behavioral pattern manifests mainly through light between blue and red and it enhances it with tones of green according to the surrounding soundscape.

BEHAVIOR 

Each cube acts as a unit and in clusters. The arduino arrangement controls 4 sensors and results in 2 ways, audio and visual.

The sensors are a photocell (light detector), a microphone (sound detector), a force sensor (haptic detector) and a thermo sensor (temperature detector).

The thermo sensor acts initially detecting in which range of temperature the cubes are introduced, and decides on which range of colors , between red (hot) and blue (cold) the cubes will start  glowing. Differences in temperature due to human presence or general temperature alterations will lead the cube in a different color range.

The microphone detects possible sound from the people but also from the cubes “voice” and adds amount of green value in the color leading the cube in brighter color zones. The soundscape and the differences that will be produced can be clearly viewed on the brightness of the cubes.

The force sensor acts as an on/off switch for the cube setting the system off for a couple of seconds after it is pressed. The system comes back on its starting condition.

The photocell has two roles, the fisrt is to give immediate notice to a drastic lux value change by producing a short sharp noise and instantly changing color to white. The second will be explained later.

Each cube has also three basic behaviors.

It can get irritated when there is too much action around it. If so it will turn purple and produce and irritating fast noise. 

It can get frustrated due to minimum action around it. If so, it will turn green and produce a slow -notice-me- sound. 

The third behavior concerns the clustering of the cubes. If many cubes come together a flickering effect starts to happen, the lonelier the cube the most stable lights , the most clustering cubes the most flickering lights. 

All these changes can be captured by the photocell, and control the time that will be needed in order to reach the limit in order to drop in each different behavior.