During the last year we have been involved in the process of conceptualizing, constructing, programming, and debugging an installation for a Danish group composed by Anna Vallgarda and Henrik Menne, commissioned by the IT University, Denmark.

They are a series of 9 planks controlled by Arduino Diecimila boards with SmaplerV2 as interface to microphones, servo motors, and some sensors. Each one of the planks will behave independently and react to sound. They will flex to the sound to a point you never imagined you’d see wood flexing.

We learned a lot about how to design interactive furniture, it is not just about making reactive pieces of ambient devices. There are a lot of practical issues when it comes to the configuration of them, the difference in the way wood will beahave in each plank, the place where they will be shown … these planks even got a password to connect to them and modify their behaviors!

After two hardware iterations, 14 software revisions and two different construction try-outs (one in 100% wood, one with metallic mechanics but wooden surface) it is time to announce the birth of a new interactive installation. If you are in Copenhagen this Thursday, come to the opening, I will be there.

It is also time for the credits, besides Anna and Henrik -who came with the idea and the funding-, Marcus Eriksson, James Haliburton, Tony Olsson, Donghoo Kim, David Sjunnesson, Fernando Barrajon, Andreas Goransson, Mattias Nordberg, Keongook Seok, and the one writing (D. Cuartielles) have been involved in making this piece as it is. All of you guys deserve credit, thanks for the good work.

Here the official flyer for the show. I will post a video once I have been to the opening.

(c) 2009 picture courtesy of Anna Vallgarda, ITU Copenhagen