The piece is an exploration in nostalgia and childhood. I wanted to bring back feelings and emotions that perhaps all viewers had experienced at some point in their lives. This commonality could create a powerful shared experience in the present.
This was my first experience working on a large scale with electronics hardware but for construction and 3D printing, I leaned on my industrial design experience.
In the concept's first iteration, there would be a field of balloons that would glow when touched. When prototyping this, I rigged a helium balloon containing a motion sensor and LED to an Arduino. The prototype was successful in triggering the LED when touched, however, the amount of wires going into the balloon allowed too much helium to escape. I decided to rethink the piece so that it wouldn't require wiring into the balloon.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/d6083663-02dd-492f-9709-c74568b200b9/IMG_0813.mp4
Programming motors and microcontrollers
Different spool shapes were prototyped to get proper fitting on the stepper motors while reducing material usage.
