Final Project Research

Light Kinetics is a project that portrays an everyday phenomenon in a very novel way. To be specific, this project eschews the traditional idea that light is a massless entity, unaffected by gravity, save for in the case of black holes. Using a complex array of lightbulbs, sensors, and microcontrollers, Light Kinetics gives the viewer the impression that light, like any everyday object, is subject to the forces of gravity, the laws of Newtonian motion, as well as friction and elasticity. While the project seems to treat light as if it were a rubber ball, in reality, light can act as either a particle or a wave, and rather than being affected by gravity or friction, is instead affected by refraction and absorption. I think that the concept of portraying light using physics unbefitting reality is a very interesting one. However, I feel that the interactivity was very one dimensional. If I were to make a similar project, I'd make something akin to a light "pinball machine", where the ball, flippers, and obstacles were all represented by LEDs. This 

.fluid, like Light Kinetics, uses the properties of physical phenomena to create compelling interactive displays. However, .fluid rather than using a well known medium like light and giving it novel properties, instead uses the amusing properties of a rather unknown material. Specifically, ,fluid uses the properties of non-Newtonian fluid as the centerpiece of the display. This particular fluid is a shear-thickening fluid, meaning as more force is applied, the more viscous the fluid becomes, thus creating the various shapes. I very much liked this project, and my only complaint is with the presentation somewhat applying that the fluid reacts to music, though it does not, and only reacts to haptic input.