Ambient Display
Collaborator: Zhiyuan Li
We created an ambient display that informs the user on how much time he/she spent on social media on this day by changing the shape of a display made out of fabric.
What is an ambient dispaly?
“It is an aesthetically pleasing display of information which sit on the periphery of a user’s attention. It generally support monitoring of noncritical information.”
How we built it
The display includes:
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We did experiments on the extension level of different types of fabric and the estimation of needed servo's torque.
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Laser cut fabric frames
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3D printing components
- Servo motors
- Particle photon device
The fabric is stretched on a laser-cut acrylic frame. We 3d printed hooks to hang the display on a pegboard
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We designed and 3D printed this servo linear actuator base that holds the three servos together: one motor for linear motion and two for rotational motion. The particle photon device is used to get data and control the servos.
Two discs of variant sizes were stitched into the center of the fabric.How it works
The user inputs the maximum time he/she want to spend on social media for the day. Through "TimeDoctor" , an application for productivity, the time spent of twitter and facebook will be tracked. We will get the data using TimeDoctor API and display the data through changing the fabric shape.
Based on the time the user spent on social media, the center of the fabric will be pulled inside and the two circles will twist the fabric. Users can get a idea of the time amount they spent on social media by glancing at how deep the fabric center is and how much the fabric is twisted.