KinEmartists

Artistic Intent

It is possible to walk through an entire day without seeing anything. For example, we cannot see many of the waves around us, including heat, sound, and light waves. Our projects lets people visualize those waves moving through the air and reminds them of all the things that are invisibly happening around them.

Mechanical Elements

“Show me a Sine” is made up of three subsystems: the wave matrix, the mover, and the camshaft and motor assembly. The wave matrix is the part of the kinetic art that simulates the wave motion. The matrix is comprised of 144 wooden dowels, each 5 ½ inches in length. The ends dowels are connected to each other such that they make up small squares. When combined together, these small squares make on large square with 81 connection points. A string suspends each connection point independently to one another. When any string is moved upwards, it displaces the particular connection point vertically. The mover is the part of the kinetic art that is used to suspend and move the wave matrix. It consists of three layers: a stationary top layer that suspends the matrix, and the middle and bottom layers that displace the strings. Since the wave matrix has 81 connection points, the moving layers (middle and bottom layers) have nine evenly spaced crossbeams with nine evenly spaced holes in each. Each of the 81 suspension strings pass through its respective hole in the bottom and middle layers and are tied to the top layer. As each crossbeam is moved, it displaces the suspension spring, causing the respective connection point to move upwards. Each crossbeam is independent to the others, allowing any configuration to be made in the wave matrix. The middle layer has crossbeams running parallel to the x-axis (left-right direction when viewed from the top of the kinetic art project), while the bottom layer has crossbeams running parallel to the y-axis (up-down direction when viewed from the top of the kinetic art project). The camshaft and motor assembly is the part of the kinetic art project that is responsible for the motion of the system. There are two camshafts, one that runs along the x-axis and one that runs along the y-axis. Each camshaft has nine cams, each of which are offset 45 degrees from the cam before it. Each of the nine cams has a mechanical arm that lays tangent to the curve of the cam. These mechanical arms are hinged at their base and are connected to its corresponding crossbeam on the mover. As the camshaft rotates, the cam causes movement of the mechanical arm, which causes movement of the crossbeams.

Electrical Elements

The two camshafts are turned by DC gear motors that rotate the shafts at roughly 12 rpm. The control box uses 3 buttons that are coordinated with an Arduino microcontroller. One button actives only the x-axis motor, one button activates only the y-axis motor, and the third button actives the motors on both axes.

Project Videos