Arduino Arts
You can use the Arduino not just for gadgets or fun projects, but also in artistic ways.
Especially in the new-media art area, you will find many amazing projects built with
the Arduino. One of them is Anthros,
a
a responsive environment that observes a small
area using a webcam. The area contains some “tentacles,” and whenever a person
crosses the area, the tentacles move in the person’s direction. Servos move the tenta-
cles, and an Arduino controls the servos.
For all people interested in new-media art, Alicia Gibb’s thesis, “New Media Art,
Design, and the Arduino Microcontroller: A Malleable Tool,”
b
is a must-read.
a.
http://makezine.com/2010/04/19/arduino-powered-kinetic-sculpture/
b.
http://aliciagibb.com/thesis/
motor moves to the angle you’ve specified. To see the effect a bit better, form
a wire or some paper into an arrow and attach it to the motor’s gear.
It’s easy to control a servo via the serial port, and the circuit we’ve built can
be the basis for many useful and fun projects. In the next section, we’ll use
it to build an automatic blaming device.
Building a Blaminatr
Finger-pointing isn’t nice, but it can be oddly satisfying. In this section, we’ll
build a device that I call Blaminatr. Instead of blaming someone directly, you
can tell the Blaminatr to do so. In the following figure, you can see the device
in action. Tell it to blame me, and it moves an arrow so it points to “Maik.”
Chapter 13. Controlling Motors with Arduino • 230
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