Uprise
December 2019
4.031: Objects & Interactions
The assignment was to “evoke time.”
Some of my most cherished is the time I spend standing.
Most of us spend too much time sitting, and that’s especially true for wheelchair users. I worked hard over many years in neuro-rehab to redevelop my ability to stand, as you can see here.
My goal for the assignment: a kinetic, wall-mounted reminder for me to exercise that precious ability I reclaimed. A clock that “stands,” to remind me to do so.
My baseline was one hour standing per day, so I wrote the Arduino code to record time spent on the pressure plate (see below), then subtract 1/23rd of a minute for every minute NOT on the pressure plate.
That way, I would continually recharge the clock to vertical, then it would slowly retreat to the “sitting” position over the following 23 hours – a visual reminder to “keep standing.”
The linkages are 3D-printed on a Markforged, and contain embedded carbon fiber.
Is any design/build really complete without some late-night Dremel time?
The pressure plate, a laser-cut wood sheet with standoffs, and a pressure-sensitive resister in the middle.
An early animation in CAD, before the clock “face” was shrunk down so the linkages would appear to float in space via an internal timing belt mechanism instead of an external guide.
