Inside MalleablePillow

Overview

Tidlig skitse

Tidlig skitse

The basic thought behind the MalleablePillow is to explore continuous and co-located coupling of actions and effects that are tightly connected to the child when using his or her body. There has been several versions of MalleablePillow developed during the project. Early versions used accelerometers embedded in egg-shaped styrofoam balls to detect the movement of each section. Later versions were based on sound-reactive to kneeding principle. The constructs were a semi-transparent white fabric casing groups of LEDs distributed along clusters of glass marbles, each with a microphone picking up the kneading sounds from the marbles and using the sound amplitude to light up the corresponding LEDs (See figures below).

Detta bildspel kräver JavaScript.

MalleablePillow 1.0

MalleablePillow 0.5

MalleablePillow 1.0

The first attempts to MalleablePillow were using four accelerometers to detect the position of each section of the pillow according to the gravitational field. And the relative position of each section according to the general configuration of all four accelerometers. This setup was never tested in the Multi-sensory environments participating on the SID project.

Materials

  • Four arduino boards (1 master and 3 slaves)
  • four ADXL330 accelerometers

Software

MalleablePillow 2.0

MalleablePillow 2.0 was built as a semi-transparent white fabric casing groups of LEDs distributed along clusters of glass marbles (simulating a grape-cluster shape), each with a microphone picking up the kneading sounds from the marbles. The signal from the microphones was filtered and pre-amplified and then used as an input to an Arduino board. The board controls the LED groups using PWM signals.  More kneading gives more light intensity on cluster closer to where the kneading takes place.

 Materials

  • Marbles of different sizes
  • plasti bags
  • 1 RGB addressable ledstrip of 6 segments
  • styrofoam balls or synctactic foam balls
  • IDC flat cable (10 channels)
  • 4 x IDC 10-pin connector pairs
  • 3 microphones with pre-aplifier
  • 1 arduino board
  • enclosure box
  • semi-transparent white fabric for covering the design
  • 5V Power supply

Software

MalleableRing (MP 3.0)

MalleableRing used the same principles as MalleablePillow 2.0. But had seven sections instead of three. and they were distributed along a large ring shape instead of a small elongated grape cluster shape. The structure was supported by a light plastic tube and each section was filled with marbles of different sizes, plastic sheets and cellophane paper. This produced different tactile and sound qualities as part of the kneeding interaction. It allowed varied forms of interaction in a larger area that could be used for, e.g., wearing around one.

Materials

    • Marbles of different sizes
    • light plastic tube
    • plastic sheets
    • cellophane paper
    • 1 RGB addressable LEDstrip of 64 segments
    • 5 x synctactic foam balls
    • IDC flat cable (10 channels)
    • 6 x IDC 10-pin connector pairs
    • 5 x microphones with pre-aplifier
    • 1 arduino board
    • enclosure box
    • semi-transparent white fabric for covering the design
    • 5V Power supply

 

Software

MalleablePillow 4.0

The latest version of MalleablePillow was similar to versions 2.0 and 3.0, in the sense that it used sound-reactive to kneeding as an input and light as an output. Similar to MalleableRing, it was built into an actual pillow case filled with marbles, cellophane paper and plastic sheets. However, it used a more flexible addressable ledstrip that allowed more malleability. One side of the pillow was of a white-transparent fabric, while the other was of a darker, more rugged fabric that introduced different tactile qualities.

Materials

  • Marbles of different sizes
  • plastic sheets
  • cellophane paper
  • 1 RGB addressable LED-chain 20 segments
  • IDC flat cable (10 channels)
  • 8 x IDC 10-pin connector pairs
  • 7 x microphones with pre-aplifier
  • 1 arduino board
  • enclosure box
  • semi-transparent white pillow-case
  • semi-transparent dark rugged fabric
  • 3 AA batteries and battery holder

Software