EVALUATION
As a group, we believe through effective collaboration, the production of an interesting concept, the creative approach in transforming this theory into a physical outcome, and the quality of fabrication behind the final product, has been executed to a high standard that we’re very proud of. SensMOD has taught us many skills which we’ve sought to trial throughout our project, such as the understanding and application of theories by writers such as Gaston Bachelard, the principles of modular architecture, the coding and linking of different components via an Arduino board and their testing through software such as rhino and grasshopper. These all contributed to our understanding behind how interactions with sensors could be displayed physically through the creation of a responsive module. We’re very pleased with the fabrication of our end product and believe the quality of making has been drastically improved from the initial prototype. However, both the ‘cage’ and balloon could have been scaled up to provide a more accurate representation of our desired outcome. Powering the device from a car also limited the designs portability, therefore restricting its ability to be placed in a range of building entrances to test our concept elsewhere. This could be solved through linking the air compressor to an alternative battery power source. The main issue with our proposal was that whilst the balloon was inflating and the deflating, it was unresponsive to the movement of people entering and exiting the building, as the entire process must end before the PIR sensor could detect once more. It did represent our concept of demonstrating the decrease in unoccupied space within Bute building as more people entered, however as the code initiated deflation immediately after inflation had occurred, the balloon was constantly increasing and then decreasing in size in repose to one person’s passing of the sensor. It therefore didn’t represent the accumulation of these people entering the building. To achieve this effect, the balloon would have to continuously increase in size as movement is detected, showing the decrease in space available inside the building, however this could lead to the bursting of the balloon if movement is constantly sensed. This could be overcome by coding for the deflation aspect to only trigger the linear servo to push the deflation valve that’s attached to the balloon after x number of seconds that motion isn’t detected for. However, the direction of the movement sensed by the PIR sensor is unspecified, therefore the balloon cannot respond specifically to the changing capacity inside of Bute. This could be overcome by stipulating an entrance and exit door at the front of the building and placing a PIR sensor in both. This would provide two readings which the balloon could respond to; inflating when motion is detected in the entrance door by PIR 1 and deflating when motion is sensed in the exit door by PIR 2. Instead of the code initiating the linear servo immediately after the relay has turned off, the servo would spin 180 degrees once motion is detected by PIR 2, pushing the deflation valve connected to the balloon. We were unable to keep this design project under budget but would like to test the last method discussed on a larger scale if it was increased.
