Prototype 2

Electric Feel

Our relationships with machines and computers can be interrogated through the interfaces we use to interact with them.

Not many interfaces are able to detect us, ‘identify’ us, or differentiate between us as individuals. What if electronic machines could sense their surroundings and embody themselves in space?

Most electrical machines cause disturbances in their electromagnetic spectrum around them. Even living organisms such as ourselves cause minor disturbances in this field. Disturbances in this field can be detected with the help of an antenna, or any other loose wire.

I built a small device which would do just that. The first iteration of the device used an antenna which would detect the presence of another object or being, and activate when it detected someone, or something.

Although it worked as intended, and it even worked with plants, I wanted to improve upon it. I created another prototype, which was entirely wireless and this time used 3 antennas to spatially locate the being it detects.

The copper antennas would detect disturbances which would be sent wireless over Wifi to a computer to visualise the data and show the disturbances.

It also detected the presence of AC current flowing through electric sockets, which was a heavy source of disturbance.