The installation was thought about according to the theme of the Cumulus conference - Water and sustainability. The core concept of the installation "Bloom" was to remove the hurdle within you, to take one step forward towards sustainability and protecting our nature. This was translated into an interactive installation by two steps- 1. When you walk beside the installation, the obstruction which hinders the flow of water towards the flower gets removed 2. As the obstruction is removed, the water directly falls over the closed flowers and makes them bloom into life. Likewise, a series of 3 flowers bloom as you walk besides the installation. The video below shows the working of the installation.
The installation involved the making of 1. Fold-able flowers, 2. Arduino (3 Arduino Uno with L293d motor drivers) controlled motors to bend the obstruction valve and also open the flower, 3. Transparent acrylic sheet casing fabrication with three chambers to enclose the flowers and rest of the space sealed for the cyclic water flow, 4. Ultra-sonic sensors to detect people passing by the flower, and 5. A plywood casing to hold all the above components. The initial proof of concept prototype was made as shown in the following video.
The following are few pictures of the work in progress, to build all the above mentioned components of this interactive installation.
Folding flower
Flower attached to arduino casing, with input from ultrasonic sensors
Transparent pipeline over acrylic casing for water flow
Chambers in acrylic casing to keep flowers dry
Arduino UNO with L293d, 12V DC motor drivers
Motors to bend the obstruction controlling water flow over flower
