During this studio we redesigned the breath sensing flower to make it smaller and more manageable to hold while in use. The first iteration of the this studio’s flower had small petals that did not poke people in the face while they have the flower close to their face. In order for the smaller flower to close we had to redesign the center pin that connects to the petal frames. We moved the attachment points for the petals frames out closer to the petals, but this version of the flower was still not able to close completely.

For the second iteration of the flower we modified the center pin to allow the flower to close, and we also added a locking mechanism to hold the flower open or closed. We moved the attachment points on the center pin down and in towards its center. This helped the flower to close but the petal frames hit each other, causing some of the petals to overlap. The locking mechanism that we added to the flower is very simple. The center pin had two small divots in it, and the flower base had a spring loaded ball in it. As the center pin is pushed up or down, the ball snaps into the divot. The center pin can then be pushed passed the ball easily.

The third iteration of the flower added fillets to the pieces, as well as a cone to direct breath towards the breath sensor. For this iteration, we refined the design of the flower by adding fillets to the base and center pin. These help make the pieces stronger so that they will not break as easily in the wind. The cone that we created snaps onto the top of the center pin, and has space for the breath sensor to sit at the bottom. It directs peoples’ breath down to the sensor, and it also reduces noise that would be picked up by the sensor otherwise.

The current flower now has lighting, a transparent cone, and tapered petal frames. We added lighting to the flower by placing an LED upside-down in the breath cone. In order for the light to diffuse evenly throughout the entire flower, we printed the breath cone out of transparent filament. This not only allows light to pass through, but it glows when the flower is open. To make the flower close completely, we made the tops of the petal frames thinner so that they would not hit each other and cause the petals to overlap.