Dyah Setyaningsih: Difference between revisions

This project is called "'''Respiring Reflections'''", a bubble machine which is connected to Pothos plants (''Epipremnum aureum'') in an enclosed environment. Read below to follow the process and the story behind the making of this project.

In the beginning of our semester, we were given some seeds to be grown at home. This was our first experiments for this class. I was growing Chia seeds (and also apple seeds that didn't really grow into anything) on a piece of cotton and inside a plastic bag. I have not done this since school time, so it was interesting and fun. During our first experiments in growing seeds, we documented our plants' progress. I documented it in form of pictures and diary entries. Other than the Chia seeds, I also grew Pothos plants (''Epipremnum aureum'') from cuttings.

Honestly it was a bit confusing and challenging to try combining/connecting plants and electronics somehow. But what I noticed during my plants' observation was that I was interested in the respiration process of my plants. The idea was to make a bubble machine which can visualize it. I think bubbles matche the concept of respiration, since they are somewhat transparent, just like respiration. With the bubbles, I was trying to simulate or reflect the respiration, hence the project name "'''Respiring Reflections'''".  

To build the final prototype for the Winterwerkschau, I decided to change the casing material to transparent acrylic sheets. I think it matches the concept that everything is transparent/translucent. Before building the real physical final prototype, I tried out several online tools to help me, such as 3D sketch plan, 2D blueprint and optimization software to cut the acrylic sheets, to know how much materials I needed. Because the dimension of my final prototype will depend on the bubble sticks (attached to the rotating stepper motor), and also the length of the breadboard, I decided to use half-size breadboard instead of a full-size one, since the full-size will be redundant for my project. The wiring diagram helped me to consider this, since I wouldn't need that much space of the breadboard. The half-size breadboard minimized the length (or depth) dimension of my prototype a lot. In building the final prototype, I learned a lot how to be creative in finding solutions with common materials or tools that I could find in the lab (either diyElectronics Lab in B15 or Electronics Lab in M5), at home or in the city. I'm glad that I made it work in the end:)

This semester I got a chance to experience what it feels like to be a student under Art and Design Faculty at Bauhaus University Weimar. This is not a class I usually take, but I had fun, although it could be stressful, challenging and confusing at times. I wasn't familiar at all with the artistic approach, I felt a little bit out of place since I was the only one not from the Art and Design Faculty. But Christian, Klaus and everyone in the class were really helpful and always had interesting ideas or suggestions every session. I felt really supported from beginning to the end.

Technically it was challenging, since it was the first time I learned ESP32, plus I broke my first one in this class... But lessons learned, always make a wiring diagram and triple check everything! I usually only deal with digital problems, so prototyping with electronics and physical mechanical things adds dimension in the project, which means when I encounter a problem, that problem could be in any dimension and I couldn't really pinpoint where. Throughout the class, I experienced that problems can arise everywhere: cables, ESP32, understanding of mechanical/physical things, materials, tools, device specification that needs specific usage in the code, etc. But that's just the art of prototyping, as my friend said. We're not doing a finished line of production, so enjoy the ups and downs, the successes and failures. Fail fast is also better.

I feel like I spent most of my time designing and planning for my prototypes rather than building the prototypes, both for the cardboard prototype (first prototype) and also the final one. I wasn't sure how it was supposed to be made, but I kept thinking about the measurements and the mechanisms so that I could make them work, at least logically in my mind. Sometimes even night and day, that I got a little bit overwhelmed. In the end though, I compromised the accuracy aspect and focused more on the functionality/mechanical things to make it work. "Just try it out" was definitely a motto for this project.

If I had to think about this project and relate it to my study program, I would have difficulties. I'm not exactly experienced in speculative design, and perhaps I'm not interested in that area in the future as well, but who knows. However, it might be a bit far-fetched, but I could imagine my bubble machine as an outdoor "smart home system" that visualizes the respiration of houseplants, since indoor can be messy. Bubbles can be fun to look at, especially for children. During the Winterwerkschau, I enjoyed witnessing that people of all ages enjoying the bubbles, but especially children. Some of my friends also reported this to me and it was heartwarming. And maybe add some indicators, to indicate if something goes wrong with the plants (so that the owner(s) can check). This idea can be elaborated further, which indicator(s) can be used, what kind of thresholds, what indicates "healthy" and "sick" plants, etc. A mechanism that could be added would be to refill the soap liquid from time to time (during Winterwerkschau I did it manually).