“ A project at the Visual Experience Department at Philips Research ”
Sissy (Sound-driven, Interactive, Self-conscious, System) was the outcome of my internship project at the Visual Experience Department at Philips Research in Eindhoven. Together with Lizette Reitsma I have been working on designing an interactive installation for a hotel lobby environment. The installation we have designed is based on the principles of slow technology. Read on..
With this philosophy in mind we designed an interactive installation consisting out of 630 flipdots, small chips (one side black, one side white) which when mechanically turned by means of a electromagnetic pulse make a very distinguish sound. The black side of the flipdots indicate the environment of SISSy and the white side represent SISSy. When it is too busy SISSy retrieves to his “home” (left side of the grid) and when it becomes quiet again he cautiously takes a peak outside and slowly leaves his home.
A distance sensor was used to increase the anxious character of SISSy. When you come to close near the installation, it will retrieve instantly. The white side of the flipdots will be used for the projecting of visuals. These visuals can be adjusted to the circumstances in order that it fits within the atmosphere of the hotel. Because of the visible techniques of the flipdots and the complementary sound, it invites you to reflect on the installation and to think about the system behind it.
Due to problems with the suppliers of the flipdots and due to the limited amount of time of our internship we were not able to include the flipdots in the prototype. However Philips Research is still interested in realizing the concept in order to display the installation at the hospitality lab of Philips. Currently the flipdots are ordered and if all goes well another team of interns will finish the prototype.
My focus during this project was especially on experiencing a professional work environment and the integration of technology. I have been very involved with the implementation of the sensors, furthermore I have made models and a structure for the programming of the behaviour of SISSy and I have been occupied with the programming of the code as well.
During this project we have gone through a very extensive idea generation. We made use of an idea & inspiration booklet to register our ideas and to visualize our process. We also experimented a lot with the shape of the installation by making real size and digital models. Furthermore we had several meetings with the manager of the hotel “het Koningshof” in Veldhoven to discuss our ideas and concepts and at the end we also performed a user test at this location. Below you can find more information about the process of the project.
Impression of the inspiration & idea booklet we used to communicate and register our ideas. To see more, please click on the picture.
We experimented a lot with different shapes and forms by making digital and real-size models. To see more, please click on the picture.
Here you can see me soldering and testing the sound pressure and distance sensors.
At the first picture you can see the scheme of the program structure I made. We used Flash to program the behaviour of SISSy. When you click on the picture the second picture shows several generated patterns using different parameters.
Different examples of visuals were made to project on the white side of the flipdots. Please click on the picture to see more.