Physical computing project

Flower Lamp
Let there Bee light
developed with Magnus Torstesson

How can we enhace a playful interaction with a metaphor?

The flower lamp explores a playful interface for creating ambient light. The metaphor borrows the shape and the beauty of a flower and also an association with light, in this case sunlight.
The lamp consists of 2 parts, a bee and a flower. The bee contains an IR emitter, and moving it towards the flower causes green and yellow LEDs to glow. At the same time, a loudspeaker produces bee-like buzzing from the flower. A permanent light can be reached by placing the bee inside the flower.

 
Solution/Approach

What’s a lamp for us?
Our idea is that of an ambient lamp, something connected with an atmosphere we want to create.

Basic assumptions on an ambient lamp:
-light
-on/off control
-slider control

We choose the flower metaphor because of:
the shape and the beauty of flower
the mental association flower-sun (light)
possible exploration of new kind of interactions

Basic assumption

By creating an interactive lamp the mental model we referred to evolved between this two objects:

Lamp____ interactive lamp___ Toy
functional_____VS________playful

Interaction

The object is made out of two pieces: the flower lamp and the bee.
The bee, our queen of the interactivity, works as a playful slider, when you move it away from the flower the light fade out, viceversa when you muove it towards the lamp a subtle bee buzz accompany your mouvement till the centre of the flower fading up smoothly the light. The light is on till you remove to bee from the centre of the flower.

Circuits

The flower lamp was realized with a basic stamp. Here you are the circuits:


1. IR receiver
2. Loudspeaker


3. Green and yellow LEDs


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