Nature Orb

Inspiration: This past summer a cardinal nested in the tree outside my living room window. As we waited anxiously for her eggs to hatch, we refrained from sticking our heads too close to the window so as to not disturb our avian visitor. We finally figured out her eggs had hatched one early morning when we woke up to tiny chirps.

When designing the nature orb, I wanted to create something that could provide a nature lover such as myself with a noninvasive way to interact with the environment. I ended up with a hanging orb attached to a controlling base that can clip onto a tree branch. When it's clipped next to a bird's nest or area of common bird activity, the microphone will pick up the bird chirping and light up the orb. Imagine attaching it to a tree in your back yard and observing its light up over your morning coffee as the birds wake up. Or, envision multiple orbs attached to different trees in a nature sanctuary, alerting visitors to the rich wildlife in the area.

The majority of this project was new to me. It was my first time working with an Arduino, microphone sensors, and LEDs. I do, however, have experience in creating public art installations using basic arts and crafts materials, so I combined that knowledge with the small amount of tech know-how that I learned within the first few weeks at CMU.

The ornamental aspect of my project, the orb, was made with a simple styrofoam ball covered in attractive translucent paper and layered with modge podge.

Then it was time for the hard part, the actual circuit. I built the controller by wiring together an Arduino, small bread board, microphone sensor for the input, and the LED bulb for the output. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to extend the orb from the base clip holding the controlling elements. I eventually soldered the LED bulb to an extended length of wire, then connected that wire to firmer wires that plugged into the bread board.

Additional problems included making sure my clip was strong enough to hold the base onto a

And finally, the code and finished product.

const int numReadings = 10;

int readings[numReadings];      // the readings from the analog input
int index = 0;                  // the index of the current reading
int total = 0;                  // the running total
int average = 0;
int micPin = A0;
int ledPin = 6;

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:
   // initialize serial communication with computer:
  pinMode(micPin, INPUT);
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  Serial.begin(9600);                   
  // initialize all the readings to 0: 
  for (int thisReading = 0; thisReading < numReadings; thisReading++)
    readings[thisReading] = 0;   

}

void loop() {
  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
 // subtract the last reading:
  total= total - readings[index];         
  // read from the sensor:  
  readings[index] = analogRead(micPin); 
  // add the reading to the total:
  total= total + readings[index];       
  // advance to the next position in the array:  
  index = index + 1;                    

  // if we're at the end of the array...
  if (index >= numReadings)              
    // ...wrap around to the beginning: 
    index = 0;                           

  // calculate the average:
  average = total / numReadings;         
  // send it to the computer as ASCII digits
  
  Serial.println(average);   
  delay(1);        // delay in between reads for stability  

  int newAvg = map(average, 0, 1023, 0, 255);
  analogWrite(ledPin, newAvg); 
}

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Nature Orb from Paige Pritchard on Vimeo.

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Making Things Interactive (MTI) is a studio course based on physical prototyping and computing. You will develop novel sensing, interaction and display techniques through projects and short assignm...more

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The Nature Orb is an reactive nature ornamentation. It's clip-on base is easily attachable to tree branches, where its microphone sensor picks up the sounds of avian wildlife, alerting the decorative orb to glow in unison with the birds.