Goals and Time Estimates:
- Modify Grasshopper script to create space for LED lights (~4 hours)
- Reach out to ITLL to make sure I will have access to their 3d printers (20 min)
- Sketch designs for internal LED fixture (~1 hour)
Progress and Actual Time:
- Modifying the Grasshopper script is taking longer than expected. I'm trying to make it so that it leaves an area open to fit the LED lights, but then once it is past that it will allow the structure to grow back over it so the light is diffused. The way I have my script set up now, I need to manually turn on and off constraints to the physics simulator. This is somewhat effective, but I'm looking into other methods that will allow me to shape the exact constraints more consistently. I spent about 4 hours on this, but more time is still required.
- I have reached out to the ITLL and am waiting on a response.
Feedback and Lessons Learned:
The feedback I received from my presentation at the end of last semester was that my concept is not as developed as it could be. The "why" behind it unclear, and the professors are unsure whether it should be interpreted as art, or design.
I'm focusing on thinking of ways to remedy this. I'm considering modifying my project to focus more on the form of the lamps. I could replace the LED arduino controlled lights with a simple lightbulb, and spend more time working on new forms to 3d print around them. This would allow me to explore more creative forms. Alternatively, I could find a way for pattern that the lights make to tie into some other generative phenomena, and relate it to the form of the lamp that way.
Overall, my biggest obstacle right now is managing my time between this project and my other senior design project for mechanical engineering. I'm very interested in both of them, but it is difficult to focus on both at once. In that other project, I am the project manager for a team working on building a robot to perform automated maintenance inside wind turbine nacelles. We're a bit behind schedule, so these last few days have required more work than usual. As the semester goes on, I will work on balancing my time better.
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