Final documentation
we are all in the same boat is a biomimetic art installation which represents an ecosystem in which different organisms in a food chain affect each other. The version created for the senior show immerses the visitor in an underwater experience where creatures shriek and creak as they grow and shrink based on the other organisms present. The installation features a PVC pipe prism holding up a wooden frame with 25 pulleys controlling a growing/retracting string net and lights, a small mat on which to sit on, postcards on marine biology information, and a combination of clear and white barnacles with animated mouths and lit up with lights, along with proximity sensors (not set up at the moment).
The audience plays the role of an outsider to this system, disrupting the natural behavior of the barnacles and their prey, zooplankton. Barnacles will open up to feed or hide within their shells, and zooplankton masses will ripple in wave-like motions above them. The entire piece allows audience members to walk around the barnacle clusters and sit/stand underneath the zooplankton.
final installation videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GPMdTaKFqqiGf9su6
we are all in the same boat addresses isolation. We pigeon-hole ourselves into a single discipline—she’s a scientist, they’re an artist, he’s a historian—and as a result isolate ourselves from worlds of knowledge we could and should contribute to. Similarly, we isolate ourselves from our environment. We believe that humanity and nature are separate; that if we can’t see the results of our actions, they must have had no consequence. In reality, every organism’s behavior impacts another’s, which impacts another’s, which impacts another’s—and so forth. Through our interdisciplinary approach, we have created an interactive fine art installation based on the interactions of barnacles, plankton, and human beings. the installation shows us one way in which we impact life around us. Viewers walk away with greater perspective on their own impact on the world’s ecosystems, but also walk away with greater understanding of the importance of organisms they may not have ever thought about.
Research was based on a combination of art research, biology research, and technology research.
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Art research included biomimetic work such as the robot anemone at MIT and ruth asawa's wire sculptures. Same as fall research.
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The central biological component is trophic cascade, which designates the interrelation of organisms in a foodchain. Same as fall research.
a trophic cascade describes the interaction of predator and prey, as a food chain would, but also describes indirect interactions between several layers of the food chain.
it may seem esoteric, but fear is an important element of interspecies in- teractions. it doesn’t only affect predator-prey relationships: fear can have a cascading effect on all parts of an ecosystem.
plankton is a catch-all term for small organisms that oat through the cur- rent. it isn’t the name of a particular species, or even a family or genus. any organism that’s small enough to be completely at the whim of the waves is considered plankton.
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Technology research included looking for different types of hardware and components to implement mechanisms. This included research into arduino capabilities (I2C, servo shield), but also into mechanical engineering concepts and devices such as gears (revolution change: engineering book), pulleys, and elastic springs, as well as some research and tests into different mold-making (silicone) and casting (2-part polyurethane, epoxy, 3d print) processes.
the design was pretty set by the end of last semester so most of this information can be found in Fall documentation. Overall this semester's process was engineering and execution-focused. See fall design process section in sidebar -->
certainly, some branding work was done. see mood boards
and some additional design was done to plan the small-scale prototype
but most of the time was spent on execution and engineering.
We did many tests with servos, pulleys, and nets, made silicone molds and resin barnacles. We ran into a lot of trouble with getting exact measurements such that the pulleys worked and eventually scrapped the revolution-increase idea. servos worked at a small scale in our little net test but drained too much power at a larger scale, so we scaled down the number of animated nodes in the net.
As described above, the current MVP includes the lit animated zooplankton net and the lit animated barnacles, and the visitor is asked to sit underneath the zooplankton and experience the ecosystem, or stand around and look. They are encouraged to take some postcards with them to learn about the biological organisms and phenomena on display.
See meeting notes for detailed info
Sprint 1 (01/28 — 02/11)
- planned and prototyped small scale system
Sprint 2 (02/11 — 02/25)
- set design direction
- test silicone mold and resin
Sprint 3 (2/25 - 3/11)
- further prototype little rectangle net with LEDs and servos
- circular net test
Sprint 4 (3/11 - 3/25)
- make postcards
- prototype pulley system
- test proximity sensor
- design LED layout on net
Sprint 5 (3/25 - 4/07)
- prepare poster for rise
- continue pulley prototype
Sprint 6 (4/07 - 4/20)
- test new pulley prototype
- write code for wavy net / twinkling LED pattern
- send proposal to design show team (accepted... or so we thought)
- get 3d prints, start making silicone molds and resin
Sprint 7 (4/20 - 4/26)
- simplify pulley by removing gears
- test pulleys & lights
- acquire PVC pipes and paint
- assemble and install in-gallery
(process videos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOIEty0jOn182WQQ1BJOsAPco-DPKStQRjMiOpnYz1pWTH90MGcawUF9vIkKmS5XA?key=ckJycGFXQy04OHNfNzJSS1V2ZmZIZkh3b1RQUWF3 )
- Rayyan
- graphics
- art direction
- biology background
- Sarah
- software
- hardware
- wood fabrication
- 3D modeling / printing
- Tracey
- software
- hardware
- resin fabrication
- Max
- software
- hardware
- wood fabrication
- resin fabrication
- Rayyan
- postcards
- design guidelines
- color choices and painting
- aesthetic design decisions
- video material
- process book
- Sarah
- pulley prototyping and fabrication
- laser cutting wood components for frame and net
- Tracey
- software simulation of ecosystem (processing)
- meeting notes tracking
- proximity sensor testing
- LED and servo wiring / soldering for net
- Max
- lights/pulleys system simulation (processing) and hardware code (arduino)
- arduino code and hardware setup for barnacles, incl. fiber optic, LEDs, servos
- laser cutting barnacle box
- PVC pipe structure design
- biweekly sprints
- weekly meeting notes
- Note: Our sprint tracking became difficult at a certain point in april because things were changing fast, and instead we relied on instant messaging. The last 3 weeks has involved almost daily work sessions/meetings as we ramped up final implementation stages.
If you clone this wiki repo, the code and media directories include most of the relevant dated files, except some small test files from the beginning of the semester that aren't that interesting. The meeting notes also include other external files from trello.
- things we did well
- good planning at the beginning of the semester, and good focus throughout
- we recovered well from very last minute setbacks, improvising:
- a PVC pipe structure
- a pared-down net animation
- a sitting experience (we wrote "please sit here") rather than a standing one, which made the lights stand out more, and showed off the complexity of the mechanisms
- execution turned out very well despite complications
- we received positive feedback from students and faculty members
- things we can improve on
- did not leave room for complications / pivoting / simplifying:
- a lot of setbacks we couldn't predict but could have prepared for:
- pulleys not working properly, requiring many repeated iterations
- long time to set up entire pulley + net system
- bureaucratic difficulties with gallery
- long-drying resin
- a lot of setbacks we couldn't predict but could have prepared for:
- should have had a replanning stage where we reevaluated. We could have simplified the amount of pulleys and the complexity of the entire system. a lot of effort was put in to it when simplifying it would have made things easier
- less organized towards second half of semester
- did not leave room for complications / pivoting / simplifying:
- things we learned
- a lot of engineering details, which took up a lot of time and unexpectedly constrained our design process
- we could have achieved a similar effect with less engineering work and more simplified designs
- we focused on engineering iterations but thought less about experience design iterations
- things we liked about the class
- hardware resources and 3d printing readily available
- encouraging interdisciplinary work
- very little constraints
- things we wish the class did better
- more guidance in general. we were given very little information and spent a long time figuring out engineering details that could have been cleared up much earlier. This left very little room for design.
- lack of constraints made it hard to assess whether we were going in the right direction, and how to get there