Binary Telepathy

(this post is by and large a dupe of the excellent post written by Adam Parrish, who I collaborated with)

For our final 5-in-5 project, Adam and I collaborated on an experiment concerning ESP. Inspired by Ganzfeld experiments and this recent interview with Matmos, we designed an experiment to answer the following questions: Can binary data be transmitted telepathically? If so, how accurately can it be transmitted? At what speed?

Here’s how the experiment works. The researcher (Adam) attempts to telepathically transmit eight bits of binary data (one byte) to the experiment subject. To help control for bias, the bits to be transmitted are generated at random at the beginning of each experiment, and the researcher and the subject are located in different rooms while the experiment takes place. The bits are communicated sequentially; a series of timed tones, under the control of the researcher, regulates data transmission (letting the subject know when to move on to the next byte).

Our experiment today incorporated eight subjects, each of which attempted to receive eight bits of information. The total amount of attempted information transmission was eight bytes.

Here I am, trying to visualize and communicate zeroes and ones

Our colleague Vikram tries his hardest to read my mind.

Check after the jump for the results. Also make sure to check out 5-in-5 Guest Star Andrew Schneider’s first-person documentation of being an experimental subject.

Results

The above graph shows our results. Out of 64 bits, 36 (or 56%) were transmitted accurately. One subject (5-in-5er Kristin O’Friel) managed to accurately receive seven out of eight bits. The average experiment lasted about ninety seconds (from the beginning of the first bit to the end of the last), yielding a data transmission rate of 0.08 bits per second.

The following diagrams are a graphic representation of the data that was transmitted and received. Each row of squares in the diagram corresponds to one subject.

Image of the bits sent

Image of the bits as received by subjects

Image of correct bits (green = accurate transmission, red = inaccurate transmission)

Here’s the worksheet that we gave to our subjects to record their reception of the data. Use this worksheet at home to replicate our experiment.

Future Directions

While our experiment was neither rigorous nor precise, we are nonetheless encouraged by the relatively high accuracy (6% greater than chance) found in our results. We’re confident that the low speed of transmission—several million times slower than a typical WiFi connection—can be mitigated with training and disciplined practice. Eventually, the telepathic transmission of data could bring low-cost wireless network connections to many hard-to-reach places, while avoiding the controversial (empirically detectable) radiation associated with mobile phones and WiFi.

Adam concentrating on a bit

Add comment | August 1st, 2008

Robot Chef - Cooking Show

Today Vikram Tank and I worked together to produce a cooking show based on my Spring project, Robot Chef (http://www.robotchef.tv).

Link to video.

The recipe we followed is here, for anyone at home who wants to cook along with us:

Ingredients
0.5 Cup Cashews
1.875 Cups Water
1 pinch salt
1.625 Cups Sugar
3.875 Units Egg
2.75 Tablespoons butter
2.25 Cups Milk
0.625 Cups Onion

Directions
1. flatten the egg
2. cutt the butter
3. divide the water
4. sift the flour
5. add the butter to the water
6. blend the milk with the egg
7. pour the egg into the milk
8. heat in a pan on the stove on low

2 comments | August 1st, 2008

Subwoofer Tactics

Adam Parrish and I designed and built a game in which players use a subwoofer and 3 tones to manipulate pieces on a game board.

555 Prototyping:

We played around a lot with materials, and sounds, and we came to the conclusion that 3 tones vibrated masonite at a ferocity we found interesting.
40hz, 80hz and 120hz. So we had to build out 3 circuits.

The big metal guy is a TIP120 Transistor to control this power supply, which then feeds into the subwoofer.

The board game (with acrylic laser cut pieces):

The switches each control one tone. Each player has control over a 40hz tone, an 80hz tone, and a 120hz.

The rules are as follows:

Subwoofer Tactics
A Very Loud Game for 2 Players
by C. Anderson Miller and Adam Parrish

GAME PIECES
(1) Subwoofer Tactics game board.  Any reasonably large piece of wood (plastic? metal?) will do.  We used a 20″x20″x1/4″ masonite board.

(2) A subwoofer.  The subwoofer should be loosely coupled to the board in some way, ideally with the rim of the cone in position to make physical contact with the board.  We used a 5.2-inch 30 watt subwoofer from Electronics Goldmine:

https://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G16401

(3) Three oscillators, connected to the subwoofer by means of two sets of three switches (so both players can control the oscillators in turn).  The oscillators are  tuned to different frequencies, each of which (ideally) causes the board to vibrate in a distinct way.  We used three 555 timers at 40Hz, 80Hz, and 120Hz.

(4) A massive power supply for the subwoofer.  Get it as loud as possible.

(5) Twenty game pieces, ten for each player.

RULES

The object of Subwoofer Tactics is to knock all of your opponent’s pieces off of the game board.

Setup: Before the match begins, players may place their pieces anywhere on the board, except for the area directly over the subwoofer.

Gameplay: Each player takes turns operating the oscillators for up to five seconds.  Any number of oscillators may be turned on or off during the turn, but all oscillators must be inactive at the end of five seconds.

Self-destruct conditions: If any part of the board comes loose and falls off of the board during a player’s turn, that player takes an extra turn.  If the board becomes completely inoperable during a player’s turn, that player automatically loses the match.

Add comment | July 31st, 2008

Newtonian Light

I wanted to see what photographed bouncy balls would look like if they were made of light.

So, I had to make my own.

Step 1: make a mold of a ball shape. I chose racquet balls.
This was the mold container:

These are the balls: (with little legs to support them, so they don’t touch the bottom of the container:

Balls in mold:

The first half of the molding process: (they look like a fruit I don’t want to eat)

The Second half: (it looks like they are snorkeling! )

Then the mold dried.
I broke the mold casing:

And here was the result:

Step 2: the light
I made super bright LED throwies that I would embed in the silicone balls.
For those unfamiliar with a throwie, it’s just an LED taped to a battery.

Then I put them in the mold, with convenient wires to keep them in the center of the balls:

Step 3: making the balls

I poured the silicone into the mold, and waited several hours:

Then the silicone got stretchy:

And I popped them out, and they were light balls!
(photo credit: Ameya Mhatre)

Step 4:
Photos!

Finally Foosball, with Rob Moon!

2 comments | July 30th, 2008

The Anderson - A Unit of Currency

I’ve been growing very concerned about the dollar becoming devalued as of late.  Therefore, I feel I can put some good old American Ingenuity towards the task of making us a new standard - one based in Gold (at least theoretically) like our last great currency!

Here’s my intial design:


I felt that it should say a few things quickly.  First, at the moment, I believe I’m more trustworthy than the government - hence “In Anderson We Trust”.  You’ve got to trust me to spend my currency.  On the back, is my promise.  “I won’t print more just to cover debt”. That’s how you get into trouble.  My currency will have a hard backing.

First - the process:

I printed my design onto magazines (printed in reverse) so that I could heat transfer them to the brass coins I had selected.

Then I scoured my coins:

Then I affixed the cut out of my design to the coin:

And then the heat press for 90 seconds!:

Uh oh!:
The coins weren’t flat, so they looked like this on transfer:

So I used two pieces of wood and a vise to flatten them!

Then they got re-heat transferred:

Then it’s on to their bath:

I’m going to leave this as a sidenote - because I picked up copper sulfate in a 7.5% concentration and not the 100% concentration I needed - so the heat transfer was really the last step. Ideally, the brass would’ve etched in that solution, but it didn’t because the concentration was too low. The gigantic motor was to trick the solution and the brass into thinking that it was doing something electrical, so that electrons would move through my cash.

The finished product!

So finally what have we got?

Cash!

But how much is it worth?

Well, it took me approximately 10 hours to make it, so 1 Anderson = 5 hours of my time.

If I value my prototyping skills at $20 per hour (I’m not that great at prototyping, but it’s a specialized skill), then they are worth $200 together, and there are only two. So they are worth $100 each. This does not consider materials, as once a process has been established, they are effectively $0.49 per coin to produce.

So what’s that in gold?

Well, as of this writing, the price of gold is $930.10 per ounce. This means that an Anderson is currently worth 0.10751 ounces of gold.

Let’s see how it holds up against the dollar!

-Anderson Miller

Add comment | July 28th, 2008