Hinemosu 30 Ostensorium Computatorium

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Hinemosu 30 is a computer display that shows the time and date by twisting five white elastic bands. The five thick lines are controlled by thirty actuators and display a dizzying kinetic typography and motion graphics. The moving image generated by the computer software connected to the device evoke textile patterns, ocean waves, mountain storms, and falling snow. The mechanical sounds produced by the actuators are reminiscent of the sounds of water and wind in nature.

Dimensions & Packaging

280mm (W) x 120mm (D) x 300mm (H), 5kg.

Tags

Kinetic Typography, Motion Graphics, Visualization, Physicalization, Elastic Band, Rubber, Clock

Production Technology

Components: Elastic Bands, Servo Motors, Micro Controllers, Aluminum Flame, Acrylic Board, MacBook Air.

Design Challenge

The creativity and novelty of this device lies in the fact that it displays computer-generated information using line-like and particularly strip-like objects rather than dot-like or brick-like objects. In comparison to discrete objects, the control of linear objects is more difficult to express delicately because of mutual interference in mechanics. These limitations were overcome in terms of hardware and software in this project through circular prototyping.

In this work, five white elastic bands are arranged horizontally in a black picture frame. Each band is 250 mm long, 40 mm wide, and 1 mm thick. Six white plastic guides are attached to the band horizontally at 42 mm intervals. These guides are used to tilt the band and are linked to servo motors mounted on the back of the picture frame. The servo motor can twist the band in a range of approximately -60 to 90 degrees, although there are slight individual differences. When the servo motor is at 0 degrees, the apparent width of the elastic band is thickest, and at 90 degrees, it is thinnest.

This work uses thirty servo motors, all of which are controlled by a software running on Mac. This software was developed using Cycling '74 Max and generates motion graphics and kinetic typography, calculates the numerical values to control the thirty actuators individually. And it sends the data to the micro controller in Hinemosu 30 via USB Cable.

Research

This project had been explored kinetic typography by manipulating slender objects such as springs and strings with robot arms. Beyond such practices, the current focus is on flat liner object such as strips, ribbons, and tape with two sides of widely varying widths. Those lines change in apparent thickness depending on the viewpoint. For example, if the ribbon is tilted 90 degrees, the line will appear or disappear. If it is twisted from both ends, the line weight changes continuously like a sine wave. Lines drawn by humans with a brush or calligraphy pen also have continuous changes in line weight. Inspired by this similarity, Hinemosu 30 was designed.

Inspiration

The human life is often likened to a line. The line is never straight. It bends, twists, thickens, and thins. The lines are similar to lines drawn by humans for writing. Modern computers output data using points (pixels). Conversely, this designer believes that lines are the source of our life and creativity and wants to let the computer control linear objects. The fruition of this intention, Hinemosu 30 displays letters and patterns by twisting five white elastic bands with thirty actuators to represent the passage of time.

Project Duration

This project started in the fall of 2022 and partially finished in the summer of 2023.

Operation Flow

Automatic operation by software.

Patents

Copyrights belong to Yuichiro Katsumoto, 2023.

Image Credits

Yuichiro Katsumoto