Migraine Mirror
Migraine Mirror is a physical computing art piece intended to convey the effects of migraines that I occasionally experience. I created it in Colleen Ludwig's Physical Computing class. It is crafted out of electronics components and repurposed objects and originally showed at the Fall 2010 Arts+Tech Night at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
Migraine Mirror at Arts+Tech Night, Fall 2010
The largest physical component of the piece is a plastic bathroom mirror with a concave magnifying surface and lighting panels. I removed all of the original hardware for the lighting system and made holes in several places to make channels for the new wiring.
Behind the face of the mirror, I mounted an Arduino board. The LEDs are soldered to stiff copper telephone wire, which runs directly to the pins of the Arduino. The LEDs are wired up as six pairs that are roughly opposite to each other in a crooked ring.
Through the holes in the back of the mirror and down the armature are the power supply for the Arduino as well as a pair of wires for the sensor. A swath of cotton hides the cut edges of the hole in the frame and is also intended to create a background of visual texture when viewing the mirror and lights directly as intended.
Through the holes in the back of the mirror and down the armature are the power supply for the Arduino as well as a pair of wires for the sensor. A swath of cotton hides the cut edges of the hole in the frame and is also intended to create a background of visual texture when viewing the mirror and lights directly as intended.
The sensor is a simple photosensitive resistor mounted in a ping pong ball. It is intended to evoke the image of an eyeball. Unfortunately, the "eyeball" suffered some heat damage over the course of the showing, due to the intensity of the light that I used on it, but it still works. (Specifically, the glue that holds the sensor in place started to liquefy, and the sensor shifted so that the edges of the hole in the ping pong ball are partly visible.)
Here is how the piece works: The white LEDs are on pulse width modulation and cycle slowly dim to bright to dim again. The pairs are organized and timed so that the pulses of light seem to travel clockwise around the ring.
How quickly the pulse migrates across LEDs is influenced by how much light is striking the photosensitive "eyeball." More light means subsequent pairs of LEDs fire sooner, and make the pulse travel faster around the ring.
Because the individual LEDs cycle in brightness on a fixed interval, at maximum pulse speed the LED doesn't get the chance to cycle down to off before being told to cycle back up to bright again.
The effect is thus: When there is minimal light hitting the sensor, the pulse rotates slowly and throws off less overall light. This ramps up toward maximum as more light strikes the sensor, where the pulse rotates around the ring frantically and none of the LEDs turn completely off and thus throw a lot more light, overall.
The viewer is intended to view the mirror straight on, so that the LEDs are out of focus in their field of vision, creating a flickering patch of light. The overall visual is intended to simulate the auras -- visual distortions brought about by my migraines. And brighter light makes the simulated migraine worse.
After Arts+Tech Night I donated this piece to my good friend, Nick Seidler, who I've known for over a decade and who has been very supportive of me, especially in returning to college for a degree I truly wanted to take.
How quickly the pulse migrates across LEDs is influenced by how much light is striking the photosensitive "eyeball." More light means subsequent pairs of LEDs fire sooner, and make the pulse travel faster around the ring.
Because the individual LEDs cycle in brightness on a fixed interval, at maximum pulse speed the LED doesn't get the chance to cycle down to off before being told to cycle back up to bright again.
The effect is thus: When there is minimal light hitting the sensor, the pulse rotates slowly and throws off less overall light. This ramps up toward maximum as more light strikes the sensor, where the pulse rotates around the ring frantically and none of the LEDs turn completely off and thus throw a lot more light, overall.
The viewer is intended to view the mirror straight on, so that the LEDs are out of focus in their field of vision, creating a flickering patch of light. The overall visual is intended to simulate the auras -- visual distortions brought about by my migraines. And brighter light makes the simulated migraine worse.
After Arts+Tech Night I donated this piece to my good friend, Nick Seidler, who I've known for over a decade and who has been very supportive of me, especially in returning to college for a degree I truly wanted to take.
