18. Oktober 2012

Lingu was born from my infinite struggle with german, and re-inspired in a new japanese friend who’s learning german too. It all started when we were experimented with RFID tags and sounds, so an object-reader came into my mind. Then i started to try activating sound with various RFID tags and then finding interesting objects that could be useful or informative to know in different languages. Later i focused on the electronic circuit and on how could a user control it, and how could the user know that it is activated. So i started working with buttons and LEDs to indicate if it is on or if has changed language. Recording time!  i went with a few friends to record in 4 different languages: English/Spanish/Deutsch/Japanese. Just the name of the objects i had selected. Then edited the sounds. Back to coding, i made a library of my 5 RFID  tags and their respective sound, in processing. I had some struggle, but the basic function worked! I used  the minim processing library, but i would have liked to get to know more of its features. Case Making mode(prototyping), i immerse myself in “der werkstatt”, i lasered my case to fit the circuit buttons and LEDs. It  is a simple hollow box with a nice flat surface for the objects to be read. Finally i placed everything in its place and tried it out. Now the Lingu, tells the name of 6 objects in 4 languages.