Plant Radio
Why
Plants change and shift all the time, but what causes those changes? Sunlight? Water? But what about sound? Questioning sound and the relationship with a plant form.
Tools
Arduino Processing | Digital Sketching | Rapid Prototyping | CNC Machine
What
Exploring the combination of tech and digital spaces with something as physical as nature and organic forms. I love plants and how they are lively creatures that have their own personalities that changes from time to time.
How
Thinking about not only the interaction between the user and the radio, but also thinking about the interaction between the plant itself and the songs that play on the radio and seeing how that experience reflect with each other.
Design Process - Discovering and Sketching
With sketching, I wanted to explore some of the possibilities that I’d imagine this magical form to look like. How would this form take shape and how would it be controlled? I thought this would be the best time to play around with different forms of interactions that weren’t common but just as instinctual to pick up and figure out quickly that would resinate with users and respecting the plants themselves and really understanding each one as its own.
Design Process - Creating
While creating the space for the plants to reside, I though about tuning and changing between channels along with volume control and how to create a seamless experience that would be exciting to do every time. I took advantage of Arduino processing to really make this prototype come to life while also understanding the code and the complexity of customizing the technology to respond the way I imagined.
Fumbles and Stumbles
I felt like this was an appropriate section to add because through out this project, there were times I felt like giving up because everything seemed to being going in every other direction but the one I envisioned. I was tested on my endurance, my patience, and later my appreciation for what goes into putting these parts together. I found myself asking for help when I was in trouble instead of waiting to see if it would resolve itself and I was proud of what I have accomplished in the end.
Design Process - Executing
Design Process - Finalizing
The final prototype was a three layer encased plant radio where the top was a place to house all of the plants which encased RFID tags that was linked to six different channels. The second level was revealed when the top slabs separated which was a section for changing the channels or tuning as well as volume control that was controlled by a rotary encoder. The last piece was a cavity that was attached to house the speaker, Arduino board and sensors for the radio.
