Limelight is another art project I was lucky enough to work on with Eric Paulos.
It is a sculptural object designed to provide the user with an
awareness of the current condition of actual threats that should be of
concern. My role in the project was to give form to the device and protype a working model, intergrating the various technologies into a usable form. The housing is epoxy resin fiberglass with an ABS chassis holding the electronic components. Packaging all the various electronics was the biggest challenge as internal space was limited. The RGB LEDs had to be diffused to achieve the soft glow of the cast acrylic spines which turned into a trial and error process. All in all I am very happy with the way it turned out but would like to make changes in it someday.
From the EIU website: It is an automated, electronic, personal, tactical, threat
detection and indication system that identifies, monitors, and
interprets the numerous local and global indicators that might signal a
threat. Limelight is designed to provide the necessary balance of local
measurements and global monitoring to provide an accurate awareness of
threats. However, the privilege of obtaining this information and
easing the mind of the user is not without its price: the relinquishing
of privacy and personal biometric data as well as the profiling of the
individual's usage patterns, location, and activities. Standing at
around 40 cm and weighing less than 4 kg, Limelight has a variety of
local sensing equipment onboard that samples the local environment
thousands of times every second. The measurements are carefully
compared to "normal parameters" as well as globally changing indicators
to watch for any sign signaling a potential threat. The rules used to
determine a current threat are also in flux, constantly being updated
and reconfigured via the wireless remote network connection to
Limelight from the EIU server. To answer the most common question, yes
it is functional!
More information at http://eiu.org/experiments/limelight/
Once again my role in the project was to develop the working prototypes.
This consisted of adapting various helmets to contain the electronics and housing a wearable computer on a belt or backpack. My favorite part of the design is the gimbled laser pointer mounted on the helmet, It is positioned by two micro servos that work though a controller to position the x-y axis.
The "Tele-Actor" is a wearable computer which basically allows a human to be remotely controlled, thus a human/robot. It consist of a computer, cameras, remote controlled laser pointer and microphones connected to a wireless digital network. Live video and audio are broadcast to remote operators via the Internet. Ken Goldberg has used it for many projects exploring telepresence and group dynamics. For more info click the linkwww.tele-actor.net
