Mimicry Physics

Slider Prototype 1.0

“Mimicry Physics” describes my attempt to emulate physical behaviour and apply it on to an actual (physical) object; this implies correct haptic feedback as well.

The favours of an emulation are the changes of physical properties in real time and that settings of these can be naturalistic without being realistic. Further, all manipulation or input is monitored and the object can be used as an input device. This might be especially interesting for electronic instruments, as they usually lack a haptic control the way classical instruments have.

Limited to one dimension and being very low cost, this slider seemed to be the easiest way to get started. For now it provides a basic feel of an artificial physical object and can roughly emulate things like inertia of masses, friction and a surface texture (like being moved upon ripples).

The slider consists of a recycled printer (motor, sled+rail and positionig sensor), an arduino board with additional electronics on a › SensorAktor-Shield and two pressure sensors. For easier control and later on for advanced calculations, I moved part of the arduino code to processing, but going back to a stand-alone version should be possible as well.

After finishing this slider, plans are to advance into the second dimension and to start building virtual objects and instruments. Objects will consist of physical properties and behaviors (an object could e.g. become lighter when it moves to a specific side). The instruments will be able feature unique responses to inputs and properties like velocity and applied pressure, but can also be packed with an virtual object.

Video

http://interface.khm.de/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/slider1.FLV