Workshop with Daito Manebe (Part 2)

Warning!!!
The following workshop uses electric current to stimulate human muscles, it can be deadly or may have short/long term effects if use improperly. If anyone interests in performing similar experiment, please consults and works with professionals (electronic & medical). A disclaimer was signed for all participants for this workshop.


Part 2 is using myoelectric sensors to detect of the electrical potential generated by muscle cells when these cells are electrically or neurologically activated; for details, check out Electromyography. Three patches were attached to a set of muscle. The stronger the muscle group, the stronger the signal can be detected.

The signals can then be transferred the computer through USB wirelessly. Since the signals are relatively weak, they may be easily interfered by electric devices such as a computer monitor; stay a few feet from a monitor is recommended.

Electronics signals can then be applied to play with various musical instrument simulation functions in MaxMSP.



With practice and using multiple sensors attached to different groups of muscle, the performance can be sophisticated.



Finally, the signals can be also use to electric-shock another participant (Part 1), also as seen in Daito Manebe’s performance earlier before. The signals have to go through a different algorithm. First, weak signals (noises) are filtered out, then signals are transformed into a distinct square-wave form, instead of a continuous sine-wave form as in a music note. As experienced in Part 1, electric current in a sine-wave form causes the recipient more pain, especially to delicate body parts such as the facial muscles.



In this exercise, live human muscles are used as an interactive input & output devices; quite an eye opener. The procedures are relatively simple, I heard that myoelectric sensors are quite expensive and Daito Manebe is planning to released the remote sensor units as a commercial product. I'm less interested in this, may be a massage robot would have been nice.

Workshop with Daito Manebe (Part 1)

Warning!!!
The following workshop uses electric current to stimulate human muscles, it can be deadly or may have short/long term effects if use improperly. If anyone interests in performing similar experiment, please consults and works with professionals (electronic & medical). A disclaimer was signed for all participants for this workshop. A few pictures with warning, please read.

I was slightly reluctant to write about this workshop since it is potentially dangerous. Mr. Daito Manebe was a mathematic major and had worked as an engineer for Panasonic; I had seen him performed for over 15 minutes on stage and presumed he had researched into the topic and made his electronic equipment with the highest specification. The below was the output device that gave small doses of electric shock.

The device had a rotating switch in the back to control the level of current. We tried to attach the patches to our forearm to have a feel of the shock to begin with.

The pulse of the current was proportional to the sound output from the computer; sound level was controlled by a program MaxMSP; either from a pulse of fixed frequency to even a favorite tune of yours. The sound could be monitored with a headphone or a speaker.

Most people claimed the shock from playing a song hurt more. Then the patches were moved onto different facial muscles. Since facial muscles are more delicate, only a fixed frequency should be used.



Continue to Part 2

art.ware workshop with Daito Manebe (Intro)

The fourth part of the workshops was hosted in the School Of Creative Media, City University on Jan 17, 2010 with Daito Manebe, a visiting artist from Japan.


Below are some interesting projects he had been involved in.

1. scoreLight a project by Alvaro Cassinelli, Kuribara Yusaku and Stephane Perrin of the Department of Information Physics and Computing at the Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory of the university of Tokyo.



2. Night Lights (YesYesNo – Joel, Zach, Pete, Kyle, Todd and Daito)



3. Pa++ern
Design you own pattern on twitter and make it into embroidery T-shirt, by programming language developed by Daito Manebe & Motoi Ishibashi with a a simple and elegant interface. Don't over-design a tee with patterns, it will cost dearly... ;-)



More of his work can be found on his youtube channel and his blog.

The workshop started from 11am till 4.30pm, a small photo galleries has been uploaded here. It was full of cool yet shocking (Ooouch!) activities. However, it is getting late, I will describe them in details soon. Stay tuned...

Part 1 & Part 2 are up...

Beginner Course in "Practical Electronic Circuit Assembly"

As recommended by Samson, I took a course offered by HKFTU Spare Time Study Center (translation is pretty straight forward), introducing electronic components and basic circuits. For just HK$780, there are 12 lessons of 1 hour and 45 minutes each, including some hand on experiences to assemble electronic stuff. First lesson tonight, let’s see.

* Updated Jan 23, after 3 lessons.
Mr. Lam, the instructor is an experienced, about to retire, electric engineer originally from Singapore. He spends quite a bit of time writing notes on a white board. So far, his 3 lessons covered a few fundamental physics laws, properties of resistors, capacitors, relays, diodes and LEDs; suitable for people with no electronic background.

He only travels to Hong Kong over the weekends and works mostly in manufacturing factories in China. He offers his limited free time to answer students questions in electronics, including circuit designs or sourcing components. I have tried to get some electronic components and it can be a frustration experience when knowing not enough. He also likes to talk about the “horror stories” in term of quality control in electronics, or rants on culture shocks working in China.

** Updated April 18, upon finished the whole course.
Basic electronic components and concepts of basic circuits were introduced. Every lesson, about 30-40 minutes were used in writing notes on a white board; not the most efficient way to learn. 4 small projects of soldering electronics on printed boards; including making a water-level alarm, “who press the button first” quiz circuit, clap on & off device and a rechargeable-battery charger.

Electronics were made with a sole purpose and meant to be designed as cost effective and reliable. However, after worked with Audrino, processing or Max/MSP; the same electronic components can be programmed to perform multiple purposes. Technically, I was still not able to trouble-shoot if something was not done properly. Personally, I felt like as if I were picking up a new hobby at a very beginning stage. The course was decent, but I would prefer not to pursue further in this manner.