Finger Control Ball Control
The interest in this project is to explore new forms of real-time controller for live performances, in combination with observation of motion capture, wearable device and form of playing. Two prototypes have been developed.
produced by: Adam He
Finger Control
The Finger Control prototype concerns the interest of micro-gesture. A sensor with gyroscope and accelerometer is attached on to the finger, precisely captures the movement of it, then converts the data into controlling signal that is continuously being sent to the live performing equipments like computer or synthesiser. Using this wearable device, one could sensitively control the performance in highly expressive ways (think of sign language). The prototype at this stage has just one unit working with one finger, in the future prospect, more units could be added together supporting more sophisticated hand gestures for controlling. Moreover, since fingertips are also ideal for sensing tactile feedback in real-time interaction, so for further development, I would like to look at the possibility of integrating haptic module into it.
Ball Control
The Ball Control prototype was inspired by sphere being the core functioning shape that widely dominates most sports games. A ball is inherently playful because it supports omni-directional movement, meaning it can be manipulated with super flexibility. In this prototype, the gyroscopic and accelerative device is put into a ball approximating to a football in size, suggesting the performer to spin, throw or kick it in all sorts of creatively playful way, meanwhile sending over the sensor data wirelessly to control the performance. Unlike the Finger Control, this one seeks to build the linkage between live performances and ball games through their similarities in terms of improvisation, immediate strategy and physical skill spectacle. After all, athletes and performers can all be called players.
References
Sensor MPU-6050 library for Arduino was developed by Tockn. https://github.com/tockn/MPU6050_tockn
OSC library for Processing was developed by Andreas Schlegel. https://github.com/sojamo/oscp5