Isadora light robots

[bonemap]

Hi,

I am in the process of creating light robots with Isadora and wondered if there are any other Isadorables working with microcontrollers who might benefit from sharing or collaborating. I am not a topflight programmer but have managed to get my networked micro-robots interfaced wirelessly and working with Isadora as the central hub. The concept is to create insect like groups of light emitting points that can be placed into trees and populate an exterior venue (like a botanical garden) where audience congregate and dancers perform. The project has been cancelled twice due to covid (2020-2021) but I have continued to develop the concept and the tools - thanks to modules like the Arduino Firmata actor which has made the workflow more streamlined in terms of Isadora's role in the development cycle. 

Best wishes

Russell 

[agentsimon2]

@bonemap I would be interested in a collaboration and sharing on this topic. I've been doing a few experiments with sensors and controllers 

[bonemap]

@agentsimon2

Great news! I will send through some information about where I am upto by DM.

Best Wishes

Russell

[bonemap]

@agentsimon2 said:

interested in a collaboration and sharing on this topic.

 Hi,

I can provide a bit of a description of the prototypes I have developed so far. I would see integrating a series of performers costumes fitted with around 90 LED RGB light points within sheer billowing fabrics. The visual concept for the costumes is a cloud of light. I invested in a small vacuum forming machine and recycle plastic milk containers to make diffusers for the RGB LED's, I am still experimenting with shapes but river pebbles around 60 - 100 mm have worked well. The costumes all have wemos D1 microcontrollers and code that link to the Isadora patch through OSC. I have also used a WIFI management code that simplifies the setup of all the D1 and NodeMCU in the system. This means they can be configured using a mobile phone or desktop and a common router address and unique ID that gets picked up in Isadora can be set. The other part of the project are Insect lights. These use simple robotics to animate 10mm RGB Led's mounted on 500 mm rods. The action of the insect lights is created by servo motors. Each rod has two servo's that work as a pan and tilt mechanism to articulate the rod with the led at the end. I am looking at one of these devices being made up of five rods. That will provide movement for 5 points of light in a cluster. I intend to make a few of these. These insect lights are also linked back to the Isadora patch through OSC.

That's about where I am with the project a the present time. Would be interested to hear what you think. You can send me a direct message if you prefer.

Best Wishes

Russell 

[agentsimon2]

@bonemap Sounds very beautiful. I'm interested in how you get on with diffusing the LED lights as that is something I'm working on at the meoment.

I haven't done much with servos as the ones I have experience with are jittery little things that need a good stable power supply separate to the MCU.

I'm currently working on a huge touch capacitor using a wooden frame and tin foil. I also have a  non Isadora based LED project using three sensors to control an addressable RGB LED strip. It uses three D1s talking to a ESP32 to control the color of the strip. It uses ESPNow which basically turns the ESPs into Radio receivers and transmitters, so no need for routers and WiFi.

I looked at a project called YoYo machines https://www.yoyomachines.io/ but as it uses a prebuilt Bin it makes it difficult to integrate into Isadora. The project allows you to control one of three things (a RGB LED, servo and an actuator) across a network..either locally or a separate network.