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Sky Scanner

Sky Scanner is a connected object that describes the weather through musical sound. It emerged from research into the lifestyle of accountant and entrepreneur Amar Latif who has been blind for much of his adult life. Because of his visual impairment Amar is oblivious to the visible aspects of weather which can affect our mood and provide a talking point. In a group we made a simple device that uses an Arduino to pull weather data from the internet and translates this into musical patterns.
14 Pins
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10y
By
Tom Kinnear
the logo for iff then, which is featured in blue and green letters with a white background
Weather Data
Talking Points
Weather Conditions
Vimeo Logo
To Create
Gaming Logos
Tech Company Logos
Logos
We used IFTTT(If This Then That) to create a function that would automatically tweet the weather conditions whenever they changed.
a diagram showing the different types of clouds and how they are used to describe them
The possible weather conditions were broken down into various categories and levels of severity.
a wooden table sitting next to a window in a room
Corner Desk
Office Desk
Blinds
Desk
Furniture
Home Decor
Here the product is shown as it might appear in the home of it's owner.
a musical instrument sitting on top of a table next to four dominos and a pencil
Musical
Sound
A drum beat and was chosen to represent clouds and a xylophone to represent sunshine due to it's bright and cheerful sound.
an electronic device with wires attached to it on a green mat next to a pair of scissors
Weather Information
The Movement
Arduino
Twitter
We used an Arduino(http://www.arduino.cc/) and Processing(http://processing.org/) to take the weather information received via twitter using php and translate this into the movement that would play the instruments.
a piece of paper with some drawings on it
The Project
To Play
Pattern
We had to devise a way to get the electronic and mechanical elements of the project to play correctly while hiding them from view.
a person is working on an electronic device with wires attached to the back of it
Mechanical Movement
Coding
We tested our code first using LEDs and a Piezo sensor to produce and light sound rather than mechanical movement.
an orange and white menu with clouds in the background
The automated tweets produced a record of weather states.
two men are shaking hands over an electronic device on a wooden table in a living room
A Daily Routine
Video Show
Daily Routine
The World
Music
YouTube
This video show how the product might be used as part of a daily routine and how different weather conditions correlate with different sounds.
an electrical device with many wires connected to it
YouTube
The xylophone and drum we struck by soleniod motors that sat beneath them. We experimented with playing these quickly, slowly and in various patters as a sort of musical code from which different weather conditions could be interpreted.
Related searches
Mechanical movement
Coding
Music box
Vimeo logo
Corner desk
the twitter logo has been changed to look like it is in different colors and sizes
The frequency of various weather conditions was recorded over a number of weeks.
an image of a cartoon character that is explaining what to do
Morning Routine
The Sky
Initials
We devised our initial concept for a device that Amar would pass by during his morning routine that would notify him as to the state of the sky outside in an unobtrusive way (i.e through musical sound)
a man sitting in an office chair holding up a cell phone
Nice Day
Amar shared with us some of his experiences as a blind man and described a situation in which others would comment on the sky by saying “Nice day isn’t it?” while often he himself was oblivious to the visible aspects of weather due to his impairment.
an old record player in a wooden box with a white frisbee on it
Music Box
the finished product has the appearance of a music box and is activated/deactivated by opening and closing the lid.