Here is my Sensor Research for this week’s assignment
When starting to think of ideas for this project I really liked the idea of the cube being a representation of me. The first thing that came to mind was creating a cube that didn’t like to be picked up. I thought about what sensors and the one that made sense was to use a proximity sensor - like this one from Adafruit
Adafruit VCNL4040 Proximity Sensor
This sensor would be able to detect if the cube was lifted off the ground. At which point it would start to yell! I could put an Arduino with a speaker in it to trigger the sound effect but then thought an iPad might allow me to create facial expressions and make the cube a little more emotive.
The next thought I had was if I truly want to be a representation of myself - what if I become the cube! By having me be the cube I could react to certain external stimuli, like someone getting close, or looking at the amount of light around me. The above sensor would be great for that.
I was thinking I could get cardboard, cut holes in it and paint it to give it some color.
I already have my eyes if someone was too close to the front of me. This idea of being snuck up on is interesting to me, I was thinking about how if someone approaches me in my peripheral I could react negatively while if they approach me from my line of sight I will be approachable. By putting sensors on the back side or even the sides of me I would be able to see if anyone gets close to me from any angle! Then based on that I can provide some sort of feedback to me whether that is audible or sensory.The other thing I could do is add vibration speakers to the left, back and front of me and map it to how close someone is.
The thought here was maybe I can use an iPad Teletubbie style to try and play a video that describes how I’m feeling at the current moment.