Electric Material

After considering different conductive materials, I chose the diode. It has the possibility to conduct the current in only one direction. The diode is made out of semiconductors and is fairly common in everyday products. The principle used in the diode is at the foundation of the transistor and i found them fascinating as well as by their apparent simplicity as well as by the amazing complexity and the possibility they offer. The diode is made out of two type of semiconductor material one with a surplus of positive charges (P-doped) and the other with a surplus of negative charges (N-doped). When put together, an interesting phenomena happens at the junction of the two, the negative charges are moving toward the positively charged part, creating a junction without any charges, thus making it an insulating section. To make the diode conductive we have to remove this insulating section, by make the negative charges return where they came from by attracting them with a positive potential on the N-doped part, and repel them by applying a negative potential on the P-doped part. Reverse polarity will make the insulating zone bigger until a breakdown.

Switch Sketches

My switch is using the conductive property of salted water to measure a predefined quantity (analog) of time and indicate it by turning on (binary) a LED. Basically it's an hourglass, but instead of using sand it's water, the wires of the circuit will be visible and suggest the functioning of the object. The choice of a liquid medium works well with the idea of time, which flows, freezes, makes waves and that cant be grasped. The circuit is composed of a LED connected to the battery trough two electrode that are immersed in salted water. The position of one of the electrodes can be adjusted thus measuring different length of time. The switch can be used as way to be more aware of the flow of time, avoiding those time gaps, by constantly reseting it. It can also be used as a timer for time-near events.

pictures of the switch

I simplified the construction a little bit. The LEDs are now inside and I use one of the pins as the electrode, the other pin is covered with glue to isolate it from the water. During the functioning, the water change color as a result of the oxydation of the electrodes.

video

In the dark, the effect is interesting, giving a smooth ambience and is fun to play with.

another idea: cetrifugal switch

material: shear thickening fluid

Material by wish we are surrounded everyday are either solid or liquid, bur rarely we come across hybrids, solid and liquid at the same time. Imagine a material that is normally liquid but when you apply any form of stress on it by squeezing hitting it it hardens and becomes solid. One easy way to make such a materiel is to take corn starch and mix it with enough water to make a thick mixture. You can play with it and as long as you don't apply any pressure it stays liquid, you can mold into any form and solidify it by applying pressure and liquify again when you release it.
source: Ooblek; the corn starch mix walk on water

This kind of materials are going to be used eventually in liquid body armour, they would be flexible and light and become solid at the moment of an impact. Of course those armours don't use corn starch but silica (sand & quartz) and polyethylene glycol instead of water. This mix then permeates Kevlar and allowing light and flexible shields, that hardens in a couple of milliseconds at any fast impact.
source: body armour

This kind of material can be used in some flexible tentacle-like wavy sculpture that alters the movement and freeze by the use of some kind of actuators that will give an impulsion which will solidify the tentacle for a brief moment thus altering the movement, freezing the time for a second. The advantage of using this kind of technique is the multiple possibilities in creation of the movement that the normal liquid state of the material procures adding the possibility to suspends this flexibility by a quick hardening.

animated object concept: The Chicken Simulator

click here for The Chicken Simulator Website

For this project I am working with Nicolas Noel Jodoin. Our animated object will be a chicken simulator. (have a look on the sketches for easier comprehension) Basically, it consists of 3 elements; a sort of vest with wings, a mechanism on the ceiling that will transform an up and down movement into a circular movement and finally the chicken. The idea is, by flapping the wings, make the chicken on the rope rotate faster and faster thus giving it more altitude (using the centrifugal force).

it's all about the chicken

Our simulator is a way to remind that chicken are birds, but somehow trough the long process of evolution they forgot how to fly. Our simulator might help them to relearn how to fly. Giving a hope of a better world, where fences are no longer an obstacle, where they main occupation wont be anymore, to serve us, humans, as food, but instead being free to chose their own destiny.

sketches for the chicken simulator

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Comments ont the readings

On the "Programmable Matter" article

I find it interesting the idea of having transformable object, like blobs that can take any shapes, even think that having solid objects is essential. Of course have our space filled with those electromechanical little creatures is a bit creepy and a step forward toward the end of our humanity as we know it. Even though i not that enthusiastic about a possible emergence and spread of those nanorobots I find it technically very challenging and interesting. Especially from the organization point of view, as they say in the article, the nanorobots must be able to work for common goal, without being sure about reliability of others nonorobots surrounding them. In this case the communication aspect is crucial and must be developed on a multitude of level, such as what is happening around the nanorobot, what is the global action for all to take. Such a system must be able to abstract and filter a lot of information, working with probability and approximation in a way like the neuronal cells do.

On the "Hacking matters" book

The possibility of creating artificial atoms is amazing, material with property that can change at will. Materials that can have some unusual behaviour. What can be even more interesting is if the possibility of creating structure inside of structures, let's say we have a very dense and huge array of qbits, maybe even in layers, then it will be possible to simulate any microprocessor or neuronal network, and modify it structurally on the fly, especially if it is connected back to the qbits array, creating a sort of auto-configuring bloc of matter that might one day challenge our domination of the world, ouahhahahahaha. I also like the idea of having it as an analog memory storage device, where multiple value can be stored by number of electrons you push into the q bits, and what might be even more interesting if some of those electrons are linked together (synchronized) then a change in one qbits will alter another qbits somewhere else, creating a sort of auto-reconfiguring data structure.

BIT_LOOP: ring network communication

COMMUNICATION: bit loop website is here

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