Mark Wubben, Erik Borra, Eelco Wagenaar, Martijn Pannevis, Adriaan Wormgoor

vBird

vBird is a social bird which likes to fly, but cannot; it needs people to help it fly.

Enlarge

Vbird.jpg - vBird in Flight by Mark Wubben, Erik Borra, Eelco Wagenaar, Martijn Pannevis en Adriaan Wormgoor.

The vBird is a product of the RFID Hackerscamp 2008. It's a bird and likes to fly but it cannot on its own; Picnic attendees can help it on its way, and it will shout with glee when it gets to fly. Vbird also likes to meet new people so letting multiple people give him some flight-time adds to his joy. He likes to make friends with all the people he meets - using the IK-tag formally introduces you to him.

Enlarge

Vbird sketchy shape proposal -


The vBird has a psychic connection to the Picnic network. Through this connection, it shares everything it sees, and every move it feels. When you touch its heart with your RFID tag, it recognizes you, and shares with you what happened right after you touched it. It also shares with you its positive experiences, and lets you know who else shared in this experience. In the picnic network you can thus see it's flight path from person to person through some amazing shots.
Enlarge

the setup v3.png -

Enlarge

2884924657_9a9d5efb09.jpg - vBird Camera and Wireless Transmitter


The vBird project wished to build upon the successful www.jubilator.org by poly-xelor. The vBird's heart has two parts: a camera with a wireless transmitter and a bluetooth Arduino with a serial RFID reader, a Lilypad accelerometer, and some leds. The former streams the flight to the vBird's nest, the latter is used to identify the thrower and receiver of the vBird (by the RFID reader and the tags of the throwers). The accelerometer detects if the vBird is being thrown, flying, or being catched; an appropriate sound is then send out through the speakers in the nest ('nice to meet you', 'wheeeeee'). The leds are used as the eyes. At first, we wanted to also connect a little mp3 player to the Arduino but it quickly burnt down.
Enlarge

2884924571_f498ac2dab.jpg - vBird bluetooth Arduino with Accelerometer, leds, and RFID reader

Enlarge

2884927405_644f8a6926.jpg - vBird casing and fur under construction.


The vBird's heart was embedded in a casing of inflatable balls. It had a beautiful furry skin.
Enlarge

2884929597_c53c30f4b8.jpg - vBird's nest. The sides each had a tv as well.


The nest was a big tower consisting of three televisions. The top one displayed a live stream of the vBird's flights. The two screens at the side showed a beautiful interface with who connected to whom.

Unfortunately the vBird did not live very long as it had a weak heart. Everything broke and got resoldered until our wireless transmitter broke down. R.I.P. vBird. We hope to give you a wireless transmitter transplant soon.

Enlarge

_MG_7116.jpg - vBird in flight


Enlarge

bird.jpg -


The video documentation can be found here: with the interface we used, and just as a playlist.