Interactive Flower Design

Summary:

This project creates an interactive emotional experience requiring the user to think about how an artificial flower could react in similar ways that a real flower would, and how those translate into other responses not seen in nature. It also aims to provoke thought around the emulation of natural responses, and going beyond nature with the capabilities of technology. Using the common iconography of a generic flower, it allows users to make a connection between the natural world and the artificial world, and how closely the latter can emulate the former. In essence, the system is a sound and light detector, taking the inputs and parsing them through a microcontroller. That data can then be output in the form of colored LEDs and rotating motors, creating a mechanical type sculpture. The interactive flower installation combines electronics and other artificial materials with natural input from the environment, bridging the gap between reality and simulation.

The flower that takes two inputs, light and sound. These inputs then influence the orientation of the flower and the color of the petals. Cycling between green and red, colors commonly associated in design with good and bad respectively, symbolizes the change in volume of the environment that the flower is taking in. These types of outward expressions can't be seen in real flowers however, as they don't have the ability to immediately show that an environment isn't suitable for growth. But with this project, we aimed to show how external factors can influence immediate change in the flowers and their behavior. Loud noises can be created easily by drumming, tapping, or yelling, and light can be simulated through the flash on one's cell phone, giving an emulated natural response similar to what would happen slowly over time for a living flower.

The purpose then is to spark that conversation between user and system, of what nature is and what constitutes a natural response. All things can be simulated with data, sensors, and outputs, but what distinguishes these from what occurs throughout the earth without influence? If we can simply emulate these interactions in a lab, what makes it so special to want to continue to seek those same things out in nature? These questions, and more, can be considered when interacting with this project, and it is our hope that people will think deeply about the relationship we have with the world around us, as well as the digital world we so heavily rely on and make use of in our daily lives.

WS2811/12/12B LED Strip

Breadboard (x2)

Small pieces of breakout board (x3)

180 degree servos (3x)

Photo resistors (3x)

1M Ohm resistor

10k ohm resistors (x3)

470 ohm resistor

Felt Fabric (3 sq feet)

Sound Chip

Solid core wire; different colors can be helpful but is not required

3D filament; preferably white but color does not matter

Paint; if wanted

Ardunino 33 IOT (x2)

1/4 inch thick 2ft X4ft wood board

1/2 inch diameter PCB (about 3 feet depending on how long you want the stems)

12 gauge wire

#2 screws (x3) - see above image for reference

Hot glue gun

Solder metal

Access to Laser Cutter

Access to 3D printer

Access to soldering Iron 1x

NeoPixels

Cut 6 pixels off of the strip, be sure to cut on the line so that the solder pads are evenly split.

Cut 15 five inch pieces of solid core and strip the ends so that they can be soldered; using different colors for power signal and ground (15 each) is recommended. Cut three additional pieces that are 18 inches long.

Paying close attention to the orientation, solder the three long wires to the end of the first NeoPixel. Use the five inch pieces to connect each NeoPixel to the previous one. When you are done you should have one long line of six NeoPixels.

Repeat this process for each flower, adding heat shrink or electrical tape to connections as needed.

Photo-Resistors

Cut two pieces of solid core wire about 18 inches long.

Using a breakout board, solder each end of a photo-resistor to the wire.

Repeat this process for each flower.

In this step you will create the circuit that controls the sound input and the color of the petals.

Follow the circuit diagram in the images above and populate your breadboard. There is also an images of a completed circuit to aid you if needed.

Upload the code below to the Arduino IDE and make sure that as the volume increases the lights changes from green to red. If the circuit is not working properly double check your breadboard as well as the solder connections on the light strip. You may have to remap the values in the smoothing code function based on what values your Sparkfun microphone (or other breakout microphone) is printing to the serial monitor. The schematic shows a single Neopixel, but for our project we soldered six Neopixels in a series to fill each flower's petals.

https://gist.github.com/EllieWright13/69478838faaee29e1ae132c493772d79

In this step you will create the circuit that controls the angle of the flower through servos attached to the base of the stem.

Follow the circuit diagram in the images above and populate your breadboard. There is also an image of a completed circuit to aid you if needed.
Upload the code below to the Arduino IDE and make sure that as the light input increases the servos move around 30 degrees. Double check the output of each photo-resistor on the serial monitor and change the values that are mapped to the values that your resistors are reading. If the circuit is not working properly double check your breadboard. Less light should rotate the servos to a smaller angle, while increased light will rotate them closer to 90 degrees.

https://gist.github.com/EllieWright13/85e452a83775ae8150321aac62a86406

In this step you will create the pieces the are used to assemble the flowers.There is a 3D printed "bulb" that sits on top of a PVC pipe to hold all the wiring and LEDs, that then gets covered by a sewn felt fabric piece.

Print three copies of the provided .gcode (sliced for a Lulzbot Taz Workhorse). Depending on the printer and material, it can take up to 12 hours to complete ,so this step can be started ahead of time. Any color PLA or PGET works and is rigid enough to hold itself together.

Cut the PVC tubing into 10-11 inch pieces. If desired, use spray paint to make the PVC and the 3D printed semi-sphere green.

Trace the outline of the assembled flower head lightly onto white felt, then sew this outline and cut around it with a 1/8 in seam allowance. To make the cover more refined, cut a vertical slit and flip it inside out for the raw edges to be hidden inside. A small cut will be needed on the other side to fit the photo resistor through the fabric.

Once your prints are complete you can assemble the pieces into their final shape. Please refer to the images above as needed.

Cut six pieces of 12 gauge wire about 1/3 of an inch long and add a dab of hot glue to one end of the wire.

Thread the wire through a petal, a peg on the flowers center, and another petal. Add another dab of hot glue to the end of the wire and hold it in place until it dries. It is important that the petals are able to rotate freely around the wire so double check that the hot glue is not attached to the petals.

Repeat this process until all petals have been attached.

Take your soldered NeoPixels and bend them into the flower you just assembled making sure that every petal has one pixel. It is okay if there is extra wire sticking up in the middle as it will be covered later. Be careful when bending the wire so that your soldered connections do not come loose, you may leave the NeoPixels plugged into their circuit during this step to watch out for faulty connections.

Carefully glue the assembled flower to the flat printed circle and thread the long wires through the cylindrical hole.

Thread the wires from breakout board with the photo-resistor through the front of the flower and out the cylindrical hole.

Using a 1/16 drill bit drill a pilot hole through the bottom of the PVC tube. Attach a screw through the arm of a servo and through the PVC. To make sure that the stem stands upright, your servo should be at 0 degrees and then the PVC should be attached at a 90 degree angle.

Thread the long wires from the flower through the stem and glue thee stem to the flower. Double check that the flower is facing the correct way before gluing. Glue the semi-sphere to the back of the flower to hide any extra wires. You can then slip the fabric cover over the flower head once all of the wiring is through it.

For the enclosure, it was important to plan out the size of the flower box. The main purpose of this enclosure was to cover the wires and give the design a clean look. Initially, we bought 2 ft x 4 ft and 1/4 in thickness birch wood which was cut down to fit our final dimensions 5.5in x 18.25in x 5.75in. After sketching out the dimensions for the flower box, a design was created for each piece with detail added on Adobe Illustrator. Then specialized cuts were made with the laser cutter. Each piece was designed to fit in together with interlocking friction fits reinforced with wood glue, as shown in the picture.

With all of your materials, enclosures, and circuits together, you can start the final assembly. The breadboards and servos take up most of the space in the bottom of the wooden enclosure, and have to be measured carefully to allow the wires to reach across boards for everything to be powered correctly. Secure the servos and breadboards with a strong, fast drying adhesive, like hot glue. The servos may need to be elevated with scrap material so that they are all the same height from the base of the enclosure. For ease of access to slide the cover on once everything was inside, a miter saw was used to cut each channel through to one side.