iSerendipity

Now that we have the mechanical pod moving along the track, we need to figure out the LED lights. Firstly, each pod will be able to light up when it senses pressure. This can be controlled by a switch hooked up to a wireless battery and LED.

Next, in order to convey the idea of pods changing colour according to activity clusters, we first considered each pod carrying 3 LEDs of different colours and activating each one depending on its location on the track. The implementation details started becoming too complicated, especially if the pod needs programmable lights, meaning that the moving elements require wires connected to the BasicStamp board.

Thus, we decided on a simpler solution in which the coloured lights for each section would be statically placed on different locations on the actual track that will switch on whenever it senses a pod travelling over that section.

Colour-changes on each individual pod would have required a more complex pod construction of a non-rotating bottom layer to hit a specific switch location and use a bearing on the top to allow for pod rotation above the track.

Our circuitry diagrams:

The mechanism below describes a rotating bottom disk, while a top disk stays static. Our pods will be moving along a track guided by two pins, one of which follows the circular track on the top disk, and the second pin follows the slot on the bottom disk for back and forth movement.

We currently have a cardboard prototype of these elements but are trying to piece together the pieces so that the centrepiece of the top layer will be held up and kept still while the bottom disk rotates.

My inspiration form was the jellyfish-like motion. I try to use two fish lines to control the movement of jellyfish. By dragging one fish line to control the turning joints, the jellyfish’s feet would move up and down. At the same time, there is another fish line to carry the whole body. The design of the white shell is to mimic the jellyfish form while hiding the internal construction of the mechanism.

The original inspiration was the movement created from a tornado, but as the project progressed, I found more aesthetic beauty within the simplicity of two single strands of wind moving entwined together. The mechanism employs two different directional movement, including a parabola direction and another back/forth. Thus, the flexible material of the strands together with the motion of the mechanics create a modern reiteration of dancing in the breeze.