Poison

The Computational Sculpture Project was a long-lasting project that was developed over the course of ~9 weeks. The requirements included taking data from an outside API and representing the data with lights or movement. These sculpture projects are annual, each having a different theme.

This time, the theme was "Poison."

This project takes "Poison" in a more symbolic manner, as we wanted to show that politics are a poison to our society, with constant propaganda only working to turn people against each other. Whenever something moves in front of the project, it turns on, taking data from the NewsData API and using it to represent which party is creating more news articles each day.

Supplies

Here are the parts I used.

• Particle Argon - This controls the rest of the pieces below. Hidden inside the box.
• HC-SRO4 Ultrasonic Sensor - Found in the bottom right part of the project. Sends the distance of things in front of it to the Argon.
• Piezo Passive Buzzer - Makes a quiet buzzing sound, the kind you would hear in a quiet doctor's office. Hidden inside the box.
• Adafruit Neopixel Strip - Lights up with a variety of colors. Two were used, one is always orange while the other becomes red or blue depending on API data.
• Small Unnamed LED - I could not find the name of the specific LED I used. Lights up randomly to create a sense of eeriness.

Step 1: Making the Scene

My partner was in charge of making the box and all of the props that went inside it while I coded with the Argon. We put it all together at the end.

Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure what the process was behind making the box, but this step will be accompanied by some progress photos my partner took.

Step 2: The Electronics

Thankfully, putting the electronics in was very simple. There was a hole in the popsicle-stick wall for the HC-SRO4 sensor to fit, and a small hole in the cardboard floor for an LED strip to fit in and be covered by the test tube.

The wiring became a little messy while I stuffed it into the bottom of the box, but it works :)

But, what does it do?

The code runs in an infinite loop, first using the HC-SRO4 sensor to check if anything is within close proximity to the front of the project. If something is nearby, then the Argon sends two requests for data to the NewsData API, which then returns the amount of articles the top 5 right and left-leaning news sources have published in the past few months.

The data is then compared. If more articles from left-leaning sources were made, the project will light up with a blue hue, and red if more articles were written by right-leaning sources. The larger the difference between the two, the brighter the lights would become.