Articles

Just posting this stuff so i dont forget about it..

Autism Gives Woman An 'Alien View' Of Social Brains

by JON HAMILTON

It takes a smart brain to invent a spaceship. But putting one in orbit takes a brain with extraordinary social skills.

That's because getting from concept to launchpad takes more than technology — it takes thousands of people agreeing on a common goal and working together to accomplish it.

Humans have succeeded in part because we evolved a brain with a remarkable capacity for this type of complex social interaction. We automatically respond to social cues and facial expressions.  We can look at the world from another person's point of view. We are predisposed to cooperate.

But all these things are so much a part of us, they're easy to take for granted.

Unless you have autism, like Lisa Daxer.

Carly's Voice

My name is Carly Fleischmann and as long as I can remember I've been diagnosed with autism. 

I am not able to talk out of my mouth, however I have found another way to communicate by spelling on my computer 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq--75v4lI8

First PCB for the Touch Toy

These are horrible names and they will change any way heres the first PCB layout. Its the simplest of the three but much more complicated than anything Ive done before. Its off for printing and assembling and hopefully will work when I get it back.

The other two layouts are almost done. Im simultaneously working on the look and feel. Will post sketches tomorrow.

Some more circuits..

Light Displays running lights that light up according to the position of the toy.

Finally , finally, finally got the microphone working. Thank you Victor!

Acceloro makes the lights blink

Sensory Cooking Toy

The circuits for the 3 main toys weren't working and were driving my crazy. So I took a break and worked on another toy concept Sensory cook- adding sensory feedback to play cooking; through the actions/ tasks involved: opening, pouring, stirring, shaking. 

I wanted the electronics to be as simple as possible, no IC chips just simple switches. The circuits below are DIY sensors and switches are easy to make and cost practically nothing. These can be used as simple switches or in a more complex programme can send a range of readings. 

I made a DIY Tilt switch with copper foil, a coin and a match box. Got the idea of using a coin from Spooky Projects DIY switches but I needed it to work with a tilt so I thought of using a mat

chbox and it worked.

This a Pressure/Force Sensor made from copper foil, sponge sheet and fusing fabric (buckrum). Its not as sensitive as it should be; also need to figure out how to increase the area of the sensor and main

tain sensitivity. 

DIY Pressure Sensor Instructable.

I also made a 4 way Tilt Sensor which can be used for sensing shaking and swiveling actions.

DIY Tilt Sensor Instructable.

 

Noiseeeeey

Bend the sensor and you get 5 notes but ofcourse its not as simple as the idea seemed. The sensor send stream of uneven readings that jump. I learnt how to smooth the readings which helped. But smoothing is directly proportionate to the delay in sound output, so I guess Ill have to figure out some compromise.

The potentiometers Input is mapped from 1 to 3 so it sends only 3 readings(notes) to the programme.

Collaborative Play

The Idea of Collaborative Play has become one of the central ideas of my project. What does it mean? When does it happen? How do you create a situation where more than one person must act in order to trigger a reaction?

Below: The project Face Fight done by ITP at their 2009 fall show. Where one person feels another persons presence without actual physical contact; they must co-operate to achieve the task at hand.

Two players sit across the table from each other. They grasp handles. They stare straight at each other through a darkened tunnel, their faces perfectly aligned. The handles are physically coupled: when one player moves his handle left, the other is forced to the left. As the handles move, a line appears in the air between the players' faces, tracking its movement, creating a drawing. Each player tries to trace the face of the other. Where their faces are symmetrical, and therefore aligned, the players agree on the drawing to create and collaborate. Where their faces differ, the players are forced to negotiate a strategy for eliding the differences or to compete for physical control of the drawing point. When they have completed their drawing, the players get a single physical copy of the drawing to share between them.

I made a Flex Sensor!

I made a DIY Flex Sensor which I found an Instructable for. Its not very accurate but does show a change in reading I'm going to find out if its possible to calibrate it and smoother more useful readings. Its pretty cool that it actually works. 

In the tutorial they use Non static black poly bag which i searched all over for but couldnt find. But it seems regular thickish black poly bag works ok enough.