Workshop on biofilms with Katja Bühler
Introduction
During the workshop, Katja Bühler introduced us to special living organisms, such as algae, slime mold or mushrooms that glow in the dark. Taking into account the habitus, place of occurrence and ability of these organisms, we were given the task of developing ideas for a product as a group, in a start-up manner, which are made using the organisms we have studied and offer a solution to an everyday problem.
DIY vinegar mother
The first active task of the day was to put into practice the newly acquired knowledge about fermentation used in the food industry and to prepare our own vinegar mother.
Colorful nature
The purpose of the next activity was to collect samples of plants and objects in our environment so that we could grow the living organisms found on them in petri dishes. As a result, we obtained cultures of different colors, shapes and textures.
Buffet of fermented foods
We were invited for lunch, where only food prepared by fermentation was on the table, and we were surprised to see how much this natural process has an impact on our lives.
The invisible life of bacteria
The video shows how slime mold spreads, thrives and dies as it webs through its surroundings in search of nutrients. The work translates our observations in the laboratory into a hand drawn animation.
Workshop Pocket Science Lab (PSLab): Measurements and Robot Controls with Marco Antonio Gutierrez and Mario Behling
Introduction
During this workshop in January, we learned about the PSLab - Pocket Science Lab -, which is an open-source project. A small hardware extension board enables the collection of measurements and data with the phone or PC through different sensors.
PSLab can function as a:
Oscilloscope I Multimeter I Logic Analyzer I Wave Generator I Power Source I Accelerometer I Barometer I Compass I Luxmeter I ...
Sensor experiments
After learning about the functions and possibilities we started experimenting by connecting the PSLab sensors to the PC and giving commands in Python.
coding in Python
We were using the board as an oscilloscope to graphically display varying electrical voltages. For that, we connected two points on the device and changed the script to generate waves with different characteristics.
first setting: the waves are not visible, and the spectrum needs to be adjusted
adjusted waves
measuring two inputs
changing the displayed wave type
comparing the results to a living organism - ourselves-. Displaying the electrical voltages in our fingers.
conclusion
The experiments during the workshop are showing a small piece of the possible measurements with the small device of PSLab. For the results above only one sensor was used out of hundreds of existing options. The device allows us to understand the invisible factors of our environment without a laboratory or expensive devices. Besides collecting information, like humidity, emissions, sound, or light, the control of servos is also possible. It works as a translator between different mediums, the extracted information can be easily converted into an image, video, or sound. The easy control over a robotic arm holds the potential for quick testing of ideas and sketches, resulting in a high variety of complex artistic outcomes.