My components are ordered and are expected to arrive on Friday by the end of the day, so I thought I should take a stab at writing the Arduino sketch to control my luminaire. Having experience in both Processing and Arduino definitely helped me with this sketch as I do not yet have the hardware to test it with, I know it will need tweaking especially the delay and the number of steps, but I think I am at a good point with it for now until I can actually test it. All I have to do now is think of the actual guts of the lamp, and rethinking the overlap between the panels. I would like to light the lamp with an LED array of some sort because I could power it off of my Arduino, but I do not know if it will work correctly as LEDs tend to be pretty tight in their beam spread. I also need to figure out how I am going to get power to this lamp. Right now the Arduino runs off of a 9v source and the stepper motor off of a 12v source. Hence the reason I would like to use LEDs. Another idea I had for control would be to write into the code for the lamp to turn off at a certain time, but seeing as it won’t be attached to a computer I cannot determine the current time on the Arduino itself (without the implementation of another chip which I forgot to purchase). So my current solution to all of those problems is to get a long power strip (because they are legal in our building) and plug everything into the power strip within the luminaire itself.

Thoughts and problems that have yet to be resolved with very little time left…!

//Controlling a stepper motor with a PIR motion sensor.
//Written by Geoff Sosebee with example code from:
//Dan Thompson @ http://danthompsonsblog.blogspot.com  and
//TigPT @ http://lusorobotica.com

int dirPin = 2;
int stepperPin = 3;
int numSteps = 1600;
int timer = 500;
int PIRalarmPin = 0;
int PIRalarmValue = 0;
int alarmValue = 0;
int alarmValuePrevious = 0;
int ledPin = 13;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(dirPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(stepperPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(PIRalarmPin, INPUT);
  delay (2000);  //delay 2 seconds for PIR to scan area
}

void step(boolean dir,int steps){
  digitalWrite(dirPin,dir);
  delay(50);
  for(int i=0;i<steps;i++){
    digitalWrite(stepperPin, HIGH);
    delayMicroseconds(100);
    digitalWrite(stepperPin, LOW);
    delayMicroseconds(100);
  }
}

void loop(){
  PIRalarmValue = analogRead(PIRalarmPin);
  if (PIRalarmValue < 100) {
    alarmValue = 0;
  }
  else {
    alarmValue = 1;
  }
  if (alarmValue = alarmValuePrevious) {
    if (alarmValue = 0) {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
      Serial.println("motion");
      delay(10);
      step(true,numSteps);
      delay(500);
      alarmValuePrevious = 0;
    }
    else {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
      Serial.println("no motion");
      delay(10);
      step(false,numSteps);
      delay(500);
      alarmValuePrevious = 1;
    }
  }
  delay(timer);
}

I am looking at installing a screen installation at the end for the 4th floor, middle, architecture bay.  The installation would encompass the center window volume.  The hight of the installation is a question that I haven’t answered, but I currently have the idea that I would install the screen over the lower window pain and possible the upper one too.

I. Student Presentations

• Jerome Alemayahu
• Adam WIlson
• Arpad Takacs
• Ashley Koger
• Erika Malpaya
• Bob Carbaugh

II.  Discuss Mary Guzowski’s Daylighting for Sustainable Design

• Name a key strategy for carbon neutral daylighting design.  Can you give an example of how to use this strategy?
• How can concepts from today’s presentations or Light & Shadow project be used to make a building more energy efficient?

III.  Review Final Projects in Process

Next reading:  Olafur Eliasson Encyclopedia
See Facts > Leaf Through online preview of 100 pages and browse volume on reserve in AAA library under Cheng – Ho studio

I have successfully processed and fabricated my first luminaire.  I do not want to say the design is completed, but I learned more than I can ever hope for in this mock-up.  The prototype is based on a 16″ diameter sphere which is about half as small as I am wanting, up it allowed to me to look at the individual connections and the connections at the top and bottom panels that I had been struggling with.  This will allow me to go back and tweak my definition where it needs some attention.  Attached are two videos, one of the strip assembly and the the other of the luminaire assembly.  In the end, the fabrication and construction of the luminaire took about 3 hours.  An hour of that is dedicated to laser cutting, about 90 minutes to the assembly of the strips, and thirty minutes to the actual construction of the lamp.  Those times do not include the assembly and disassembly that had to take place as forgot to include the lamp inside.

This gets me to the points that need attention…

• Individual slots for tabs need to be taller to allow for a bit more pivot.
• Slots at the top and bottom panel need to be wider to accept the top and bottom pieces.
• The geometry of the top and bottom tabs needs to be redefined.
• Proper sizing for the lamp socket needs to be accounted for (this has been implemented, I just forgot to measure the socket and guessed).
• The connection of the top to the bottom needs to be re-thought.  Do they need to be attached?  It makes it easier to construct if they are.  How do they attach to one another?  Currently they are sewn together with spacing, but this drastically cuts down on space for the lamp and the electronics.
• A hole for the Motion Sensor to reside in on the bottom.
• Structure for all of the electro-goods inside.
• Re-evaluate the squishing motion. Overlap is too great currently. Does each strip twist at the bottom or top so it does not interfere with its neighbor? Or do I use an acrylic strip inside along each strip to control the motion more?

I have also placed my order for my electronics.  I picked up a few stepper motors from Free Geek, for which I have found wiring diagrams.  To that I have purchased a Stepper Motor Driver for my Arduino, a Proto shield also for my Arduino, a few PIR Motion Sensors and some other odds and ends.  Still to come is my Arduino sketch which I hope will be pretty simple.  I have sketched it out and I think it is pretty straight forward.  I will be checking for motion underneath the lamp every 5 seconds, if their is motion the steppers will allow the lamp to extend, if their is no motion then the steppers will either contract it back up or keep it contracted, depending on its current state.  So, I basically know how to write each piece of the code, I just have to put it all together.  However, the last time I said I could do it without knowing if I could actually do it or not I spent a good 60 hours on the sketch, an amount of time I cannot afford to spend on this project as I have 3 weeks left for my Thesis.

stripAssembly

luminaireAssembly