Testing Xbee RSSI

I was going to use the RSSI data to determine the proximity of the elements to the apothecary. When the element was brought closer the the apothecary the behaviors of each element would increase in strength. However after testing the signal strength I have come to the conclusion I will not be able to use this data. The orientation of the senders antenna could vary the signal strength about twenty points in the same location. Also it was overly reactive and under reactive from distance to distance and orientation to orientation. I will try to use a over head IR camera to track the elements. I will try to get a 3D print of an elemental bottle this Wednesday. I need help with the modeling in Maya so hopefully one of my friends will be able to come to my aid.

OpenFrameWorks L-System

I finished my OF L-system. I had to use some brute force code to make the string reiteration work but it works. Now I have to work on it growing over time. Then I will use it as a mask to grow images. By using C++ I was able to create a near instantaneous L-system. Here are pictures of 5 iterations.

XBee RSSI and Thesis Updates

Playing with the RSSI strength on my XBee's I have noticed they are not very accurate at close range. Thursday I will set up an experiment in my apothecary to see if it can detect the distance well. The closer the element is to the apothecary the more pronounced I would like its behaviors to be. Since the XBee signal strength is not accurate enough I need a different way to detect whether the elements are over the apothecary or not. By pulsing IR LEDs I will be able to detect which elements are upside down over the apothecary. With multiple IR receivers I should be able to triangulate a rough location over the screen itself. I should have an OF L-systems program running by Thursday. Right now I am having issues with manipulating strings in C++. I find Java much easier...but too slow. If all goes well I will post a video of that running as well sometime Friday.

Failed Social Hacking

So I was going to do a project involving connecting a TV to Wifi and broadcasting into it (the hacking part was I was not asking permission). However the module I need I have only found being sold in England. I have to up this one on the back burner for now. It will happen just not now. So my next project might be taking visual data and converting it into sound.

Automated Nerf Turret

I did a project on surveillance using a Nerf gun. I took the Nerf Vulcan and affixed a servo motor to the tripod base. Then using OpenCV in OpenFrameWorks I got the gun to track a single person in the room. The installation has the picture of the person projected behind the gun. Video documentation should be up soon. I need to rapid prototype a base for the servo since it is being held by three pieces of plywood and two C-clamps. The base will be attached to a tripod to make the art piece more mobile and the solve the problem of the servo wanting to turn because it weights less than the Nerf gun. I bought the servo's here. I used an Arduino Mini to run the sevro and an Xbee to transmit the data. I ran into several problems with the serial data. The Arduino was reading the data from the serial port too quickly and I had to send a header to make sure the data was received correctly. The OF Application had issues as well because the serial read is only read 60fps. I would only have the application send data when the Arduino wanted it (which as practically constantly because the OF serial is slow. The Arduino code for reading the serial will be posted soon.