#7 Revisions
This week I revised the telescope design based on the mockup, and the experiences I’ve had making it, testing it with other people, and using it as a reference to generate the final design. The construction process changed several ideas about how the final product should look and function. Testing it with other people also let me discover strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities with the design. The physical model itself also gives me a reference point to create a design that I’m able to manufacture, assemble and fit the necessary electronics in that also fits the desired design language.
Specifically, I’ve been focused on the paddle portion so far. My plan to use a Makey Makey was based on the familiarity I have with them. I’ve started looking at an Arduino as an option, however, since it would talk to the encoders also on the device, and could also handle a variety of different paddle-detection methods. I’ve considered working an infrared led strip into one side of the slots and a series of photoreceptors to the other, using tiny limit switches, and either reed or Hall effect magnetic sensors (along with a magnet embedded in each of the paddles). The magnetic sensors have an advantage in that they would be invisible and unlikely to be triggered by objects other than the paddles inserted into the slot, but on the other hand I’m concerned that one could be triggered by a paddle in an adjacent slot, and that this option could take some time-consuming tuning. There’s also alternatives to an Arduino, including this straightforward-looking Midi interface (that may not be sold anymore), and the expensive but very cool I-CubeX. I’m not sure either of these would be that much more effective than an Arduino in this case, but either could be great in a more complex human-interaction project.
Based on all this, I also had to create a design that could be easily manufactured, fit these electronics and work with the desired style. To get a sense of the style, I finally dove into the Roman satire I’d checked out earlier and revisited some early research into Ancient Greek woodworking. The translation about which I had been most excited – over a century old! – turned out to be very abridged, but the other more recent editions (‘50s and ‘70s) are full translations (and I also found a webcomic of the story’s first half). The author Lucian mocks the stories of famous so-called “historians” that try to pass of false or exaggerated stories as their own personal experience. Without writing a full analysis on the topic, I feel that both the story and its satirical thesis fit the theme of the telescope at least well enough for now. There’s also a few interesting points that the telescope could connect specifically to (a looking-glass from the moon to the earth, and an “island of dreams”), but that sort of thing will be more important later on.
Lucian urges us not to let the truth of any story reduce the joy we glean from it, but also cautions us not to mistake the beauty and craft in a story for veracity. I like to think of this telescope as the sort of device that he himself would construct as “evidence” of his ridiculous story, to give the part of us that wants to believe this fiction a little more ammunition. It all rather reminds me of Andy Kaufman.
With that in mind, I’ve revisited and expanded my earlier research on Ancient Greek crafts woodworking, and used those ideas, with the reference of the physical model and the electronics I’m looking at to create a design for the paddle section that can be assembled of several easy-to-construct pieces, with only one complex shape that can be easily milled (upside down) on a CNC and inserted into the rest. This is only one part of the telescope, and it’s clear now that translating the mockup and early into something realizable will to take more time than I’d anticipated, even just last week. I’m optimistic that I can offset the added time on this design phase by ending up with an end product with less pieces to construct.
