PComp: DIAP 2014  Crys Moore instructor

“TOUCH ME”  by Phyllis Bulkin Lehrer

Touch me and I will make things move faster. Let go and they will slow down.. It’s Up to You!!!

This Physical computing project “Touch Me” is an attempt to create a physical entity with a relationship to organic matter that has a interaction with a virtual animated environment entity with a sensor. This beginning iteration of the concept involved working with the capacitive sense library, which allows one to build touch sensitive elements from a variety of conductive material. There is a potential to have several pins reading different touch sensibilities from one arduino. Time constraints prevented me from developing that aspect(which I plan to work with in future projects). Instead I have three connected sensor areas reading one pin. There are many variables to experiment with such as distance of conductive material in physical object and the use of various strength resistors to create levels of sensitivity. It is an interesting direction I intend to explore.

My practice is involved with the development of imagery-laden environments that suggest alternative modes of being. Animation is the lens I use to implement most of the imagery. Interactivity in a variety of forms is a layer of meaning and sensibility I am working with hoping to enhance and expand the paradigms I am developing.   This project is a beginning step in that direction. I wish to employ other aspects of physical computing potential actions to create a multifaceted language that does not only depends on projected movement as articulation but also includes physical movement of the perhaps atypical robotic type in tactile space.