Week 4 Readings

This week's readings focused on techno-aesthetics and the critical design of an object. I think we all already talked a lot about techno-aesthetics within our aesthetic hack reflection. However, I found Simondon's examples of techno-aesthetics interesting. For example, the Eiffel Tower, which is a radio tower, but is also a great tourist attraction. It works well for both and it is aesthetically pleasing. 

I thought that this was a cool example, but am also still thinking about how this relates/compares to the examples of things that are created purposefully to have these two different purposes, such as the two-headed wrench. I think that this is the difference and separation between critical making and critical design. The two-headed wrench had purposes in mind and thus had critical design. The Eiffel Tower on the other hand had one purpose in mind, but ended up serving two purposes. 

I like the idea that the aesthetics of the project are for the creator or the object. It is aesthetic to them. The aesthetics are what they feel when physically creating the object. How does it appeal to their senses? What are they aware of while creating it? And when thinking of the critical design of their project, does it make a clear point? Does it make the audience think of their purpose or the political statement they are attempting to make? What is the thought behind it?

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This week in class, we got to focus on making with our table groups. A group to our right was working on trying to make a cube of lights, but figured out that they couldn't  make it into a cube. A group on our left made a very cool mini model of a record player. it was made of cardboard and paper and I thought that it was really cool what they had done. 

When we started working on our project, none of us really had strong opinions on what we wanted to build. We definitely didn't have the same ideas about what to do. We started by trying to combine the Arduino board with the Makey Makey board. However, we didn't end up figuring out how to best attach them and what that would end up creating. We ended up focusing on the Arduino board.

Our group worked on what we're calling 'Bee Bop Robot'. We used the board that the Arduino board and bread board were attached to as the base. We then made the connections to the servos (2) so that they would spin. We made makeshift wheels out of plastic bottle caps. We attached those using the holes in the board and wires. The wires didn't tie knots very well so we added objects under the wires to increase the tension and hold the wheels closer to the body/platform. 

While we were figuring out how to physically attach all the pieces with the materials that we had, we also had to figure out the code segment of the project. Most of us had taken CSE 142, but that didn't mean that I necessarily felt super comfortable figuring out how to code for the Arduino board. 

This was a photo of the final product of the robot/bug with all the essential pieces (no speakers).

The problem with using servos as wheels is that the motors only allow them to spin 180-degrees and then they have to spin back (and then forward again). We wanted ours to inch forward, so we designed rear legs for the robot from pieces of a plastic bottle and had them sliding downward so it could glide forward, but bent them at the back so that it couldn't/wouldn't move backwards when the motors rotated backwards to reset.

We had to change the direction the Arduino board was facing because it was getting in the way of one of the wheels. We considered what was critical about our design. I think that something really great about our design is that with the materials we were given it was not obvious that we could create a robot. We at first didn't have a second wheel (only one person had a plastic bottle in our group), but we ended finding another bottle in the garbage can in the classroom. 

We made use of resources and it was really fun to see the final product. When it was finally moving, I think that everyone in the group felt a sense of accomplishment. Also, you can see in the video above that our robot was struggling a bit to move and it's hind-legs would sometimes get caught in the fuzz of the carpet. We discussed its personification and how its pathetic attempt to move made us empathize with and feel its helplessness. This often lead at least one member of the group to feel obligated to help it along on its way.

We decided to add a speaker so that our bug would make noises. It was just a part of the appeal of the robot overall. I thought that we should add insect noises since our robot looked like a bug to me. We also thought about making "wan wan wan" sounds since it looked so sad sometimes. But we ended up just adding a beeping noise for every time that it moved forwards.