3 Technology
My role in the collaboration of the project consisted of turning the ‘Anatomical Exoskeleton’ into an interactive ‘Sound Machine’. I collaborated closely with the engineering team to find the best ways to track the movements of the machine legs (directed by the human legs) to enhance the body - machine interaction. The engineering team sent me the following design of the legs:
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Leg construction (courtesy of the Faculty of Construction, Computing and Technology, Nottingham Trent University 2003)
Since I had investigated different available sensors extensively in the first semester of my MA, I could confidently choose to equip the legs of the Anatomical Exoskeleton with pressure-sensors in the knees to receive an ‘on / off’ signal when the feet ‘stepped’ on the floor and, in collaboration with V2, four 3-D inclination-sensors. These were constructed from pairs of dual-axis micro-accelerometers to track movement direction and acceleration of the legs. They were mounted on two lower legs and the two arms. Covering two legs was sufficient since the 6 legs moved in two pairs of three simultaneously. A quick calibration of each acceleromator was recommendable before every performance as they can be temperature sensitive. My experience was though, after weeks of experimenting in the laboratory of theuniversity, that they were generally very stable.
Electronic diagram for ‘Anatomical Exoskeleton’ (Courtesy of Stock, engineer V2 lab, Holland.)
Design Design was always a top down affair with blueprints, master plans and models. Now it is a bottom up process, its algorithms growing in a telematic substrate (Roy Ascott 1996)
Looking at the diagram above, we can see that the measurements from these sensors are collected by a custom-built embedded Java Stamp device that transmits the acquired data from the A/D convertors wireless to MAX/MSP to trigger the sounds for the Anatomical Exoskeleton (MAX/MSP patch on accompanying CDR) in the MacOS-X host-computer via BlueTooth. In this way the movements of the 6 legs could be precisely tracked. The sensor system was built by V2 lab Rotterdam, Holland.