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  • Author Author: balearicdynamics
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Art-a-Tronic Episode 8

balearicdynamics

Introduction

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The last assembly effort was finding a way to fit the Raspberry and the PI camera together with the "ears" inside the reduced space of the head. Then, I can finally close and dress 7 of 9. In this episode, I will show how I have completed this last task before moving to the software configuration and programming the boards.

The image below shows how I cut the head to save the front-view of the face, with the best possible access to the interior of the head.

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But before digging in the technical details of how I assembled the head, let me spend some word on how I decided to dress 7 of 9. As the original body characteristics, I searched for some stylish dressing accordingly with the age of the mannequin; I have found a vintage dressing store offering an incredible choice of any kind of clothes original from the period so I opted for something themed with the colors and style of the Art-a-Tronic exhibition that in my opinion gives the right emphasis to the character. As shown in the image below – the first dressing test as I was back from the shop – both clothes and shoes are original from the end of 1960 and the first years of the '70s.

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Fitting the Brain in Place

The Raspberry PI 3B+, the "brain" of 7 of 9, should be installed inside of the head near to the left eye where the implant hosts the PI Camera. Finding a solution to assemble the interior of the head in a so reduced space I experienced how incredible engineering designs should be the implants of the Borg technology!

The connectors on the Raspberry Pl are distributed along three sides, respectively:

 

  • USB Ports to the front shorter side
  • Power connector to the left side
  • PiFace Digital 2 relay connectors to the back side

 

Designing the Rail Support

As the Raspberry PI can reach a reasonable temperature (average 40C when working), I considered avoiding to fit the board glued or wired somewhere to the internal sides of the face.

The best solution I found is to keep the Raspberry hanging in the center of the head.

For this task, I have designed and 3D printed a support to screw the Pl on two rails centered to the head internal space. Thank this solution it was sufficient using only two couple of Allen screws to keep the rail in the mid of the head meanwhile the PI has a good air circulation without the need of a fan.

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Above: the Fusion360 rendering of the support rail to keep the Raspberry PI in the center of the head.

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Above and below; The 3D printed rail support with the Raspberry PI screwed on it. The form factor of the support makes possible to position the PI at the best height and is easy to move it for maintenance and update, plugging the connectors, etc.

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Assembling the Brain

The images below show the sequence of positioning of the Raspberry PI fixed to the support, inside the brain.

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What is the White Band Glued to the Neck?

To see is more in detail, take a look at the images below:

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It is the cut part of the head support. I have drafted the profile of the cut part; then, from the draft, I have extruded it 3 mm thick and 3D printed. Using 20% only of fill percentage the 3 cm height band is almost flexible to perfectly adapt to the internal profile of the neck where it has been hot-glued. To make it easily removable I have hot-glued only in three points the removed part of the head and - at least this is the plan - the top side will be kept firmly with an original headband.

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The New Eye Implant

As discussed in Episode 6 with the original implant is not definitely viable, so I reduced the design by 75% and removed the NeoPixel ring leaving only the PI camera.

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As you can see in the two above images, in my opinion, the effect is definitely better with good proportions and letting the camera circuit exposed contribute to accentuate the android effect.

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  • I agree with DAB, I think the eye now looks great, with the right proportions. It is a pity that the Neopixels do not fit as that would have given it that extra dimension.

     

    The mannequin looks very good now that it is dressed and re-assembled. I am looking forward to seeing the final working version. It cannot be long now.

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to dubbie

    Hi Dubbie, I will answer bot you and  

     

    The idea of the NeoPixel ring was not so bad but I have definitely abandoned it mostly depending on the impossibility to use it with the Arduino. Another solution exists controlled by the Raspberry PI directly but I deserve it just for the last possible update to the work. A 3.5 mm LED set controlled by the Raspberry PI PiFaces Digital digital output pins directly. The few tests I have done on the bench shown me that for the character and the effect the only really nice light was creating an impacting "Borg" effect was Blue or Red. But the rings will be controlled in this case by a single pin and a shift register. Not a real ring - I remain of the idea that seeing the camera circuit in the eye is really impacting and realistic - but a series of circular LEDs beside the implant itself.

     

    Sound good in your opinions?

     

    Enrico

Comment
  • in reply to dubbie

    Hi Dubbie, I will answer bot you and  

     

    The idea of the NeoPixel ring was not so bad but I have definitely abandoned it mostly depending on the impossibility to use it with the Arduino. Another solution exists controlled by the Raspberry PI directly but I deserve it just for the last possible update to the work. A 3.5 mm LED set controlled by the Raspberry PI PiFaces Digital digital output pins directly. The few tests I have done on the bench shown me that for the character and the effect the only really nice light was creating an impacting "Borg" effect was Blue or Red. But the rings will be controlled in this case by a single pin and a shift register. Not a real ring - I remain of the idea that seeing the camera circuit in the eye is really impacting and realistic - but a series of circular LEDs beside the implant itself.

     

    Sound good in your opinions?

     

    Enrico

Children
  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Enrico,

     

    I agree that not all LED colours make the same impact. Blue is particularly good for impact. I read a little about this in the past and it was proposed this was something to do with the fact that bright blue was not a colour that appeared very often in nature so our brains take more notice of it. It is true that we do not have many naturally bright blue flowers (although in recent years there are more) but most of these are alpine types from higher ground levels where there is more ultraviolet. Red has become associated with power and danger so again we have learned to take more notice of it. Other colours are just there and do not create the same awareness in our brains.

     

    Dubbie