Interfutz - Fall 2000
Monday 7 PM to 10 PM LAB,
Fridays 9 am to 3 PM DEMONSTRATIONS AND LABS
Todd Blair: Fabrication and Kinetics
todd@srl.org
todd@anselinc.com
Don Day: Electronics and Sensors
- home e-mail: ddigor@well.com
- day job e-mail: don@rgb.com
- day job phone: 510 814 7000
- home phone: 510 547 1260
- beeper: 510 720 6210
- Current projects
- webcam on a kite
- prop stabilized kite
- robot kite flier
- Recommended books
- Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill
- Forrest M. Mims III books at Radio Shack
Barney Haynes: Media and Programming
ccac office #510 594 3655
slab@pacbell.net
Week 1
Friday 9/8 Introduction to the class
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Delineation of the 3 areas of concentration / departure
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Expectations: Assignments and show
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Possible strategies and models
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Lab: One of us will always be in the Lab on Monday nights
Barney: Computers and the
Hybrid Lab (RM. 304)
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Tool and Key check out
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Computer Lab (tools & procedures)
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Software
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Authoring Software: Max and nato+0.55
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Hardware
Don: Power & Control
Electro Safety
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Hazards of the disposable flash camera
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powered by an innocent AA battery
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Sources of power
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Sun, nuclear power plants (PG&E), chemicals, lemons and potatoes
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Too much energy getting loose
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Circuit Breakers, Fuses (flash bulb in socket)
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Toxics
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Soldering, lead with the Romans, smoking the flux
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Heat
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a LITTLE too much energy getting loose
liquid metal on the flesh makes for a nasty burn
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Tiny objects close to your eyes
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Shock causes you to lose motor control
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Current through your heart can kill you
Todd: Introduction to Fabricating Electromechanical devices
Planing your design, sourceing your materials, research-research-research
and fabricating
Week 2
Monday 9/11 LAB
Friday 9/15
Next weeks assignment: Suggested Artists
Todd:
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Major Mechanical Components: show and tell
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Exercise: Make a flimsy articulated mechanism. (Please bring cardboard,
pushpins and utility knives OR wood scraps and nails)
Don:
- Electronic components, subassemblies and systems
- Their physical corporeal nature
- Exercise: Connect a circuit and make it go or glow or growl or grow.
- Power sources
- Solar Cells
- Chemical cells and batteries
- Power supplies (from wall AC to stable DC)
- AC (from the wall, or transformed to lower voltage)
- Connection methods
- Wire nuts
- Solder
- Heat shrink tubing
- Measurement
- Multimeter (volts and ohms)
- Oscilloscope (voltsn in time)
Barney: Max
- Intro to Max
- Exercise: Construct a simple patch and make it do something visual or
audible
Week 3
Monday 9/18 LAB
Friday 9/22
Todd: Fabrication and Materials:
- Materials
- Fastening and Joining
- Exercise: Shop
Don: Control elements and amplifiers
- Their physical corporeal nature
- Exercise: Connect a circuit and make it go or glow or growl or grow.
Barney:
- Connecting outputs from Max
- Exercise: Make a patch with an external relay output
Research Assignment part 1: Pick an artist
Steve
Wilson's Massive Artist List
Classical Kinetic Artists
- Hero of Alexandria
- Jacques de Vaucanson
- Marcel Duchamp
- Thomas Wilfred
- Jean Tinguely
- Nam June Paik
- Len Lye
- Pol Bury
- Nicolas Schöffer
- James Seawright
- Otto Piene
- Fletcher Benton
- Billy Klüver
- Robert Whitman
- Charles Frazier
Groups and Organizations
- USCO
- EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology)
- ZERO
- GRAV
- PULSA
Week 4
Monday 9/25 LAB
Friday 9/29
Component Research: Research using our bibliography and links to prepare for
the field trip and random motion assignment.
Todd: Mechanical Movement
- Power transmission
- Exercise: Build a temporary mechanism to transform movement
Don: Systems
- Integrating power and control
- Exercise: Connect an informationally full sensor-control element-actuator
circuit and try to make it work
Barney: Max
- Integrating inputs and outputs
- More complete control structures
- Exercise: Make a patch mediating a sensor through Max to an actuator
Research Assignment part 2: Present the artist's work
Week 5
Monday 10/2 LAB
Friday 10/6
Sources: Field Trip
- Retail
- Pseudo-surplus, Local and Mail Order
- Pseudo-surplus, Purely Mail Order
- Retail, Purely Mail Order
- Heavy Stuff
Week 6
Monday 10/9 LAB
Friday 10/13
Don: Debugging Physical Systems
- Measurement
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How to see the invisible properties of the components
- When do the components become something else
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Synergy vs. Entropy
- Cartesian decomposition
- Exercise: make the circuits from week for actually work
Barney:
Debugging Virtual Systems and Programming techniques.
Week 7
Monday 10/16 LAB
Friday 10/20
Random Motion Assignment DUE
Guest Artist critique
Sara Roberts
Week 8
Monday 10/23 LAB
Friday 10/27
Todd: Individual Meetings
Don:
- Black boxes containing consumer crap
Barney:
MAX Objects continued:
Week 9
DUE: Project Proposal/Description (in machine readable link or file, 323
words or more)
Monday 10/30 LAB
Friday 11/3
Don:
- Black boxes containing computer crap
Barney:
MAX Objects continued:
Todd: Variant Paths
Week 10
Monday 11/6 LAB
Friday 11/10 Variant Paths
Barney: Integration and Conclusion of MAX, nato 0.55 & ADB
Week 11
Monday 11/13 LAB
Friday 11/17 Alpha Prototype Due
Critique
Week 12
Monday 11/20 LAB
( Friday 11/24 Thanksgiving )
Week 13
Monday 11/27
Lab + Problem Solving
Friday 12/1
Lab + Problem Solving
Week 14
Monday 12/4
Lab + Problem Solving
Friday 12/8
Lab + Problem Solving
Week 15
Monday 12/11
Preparation for the show
Friday 12/15
Show and Final Critique
Grade Break Down
Attendance: Miss 3 classes lose 1 grade point, miss 4 you will not pass
(The Monday night Lab is not mandatory)
Active participation in class exercises and mini assignments and punctuality
20%
Week 4 9/25 Presentation Artist of choice 5%
Week 7 10/20 Random Motion Assignment 15%
Week 9 11/3 Project Proposal/Description (in machine readable link or file,
323 words or more) 15%
Week 11 11/17 Alpha> Prototype 15%
Week 15 12/15 Final show 30%
Missed or late assignments will result in the loss of associated percentage