Final result:

When people touches the terrarium, the Leds start to blink mimicking living creatures breathing; a blue leaf slowly appears in the sand.

My target audiences are people who would like to appreciate unnoticeable beauty. I invite my audiences to observe all the common electronic components closely and enjoy the authentic and magical feeling of technology.

In this final version, I used Attiny instead of Arduino to save space. I also used a lot of colorful wires to create a messy, organic feeling.

To give a better control over the batteries, I used a battery holder of the coin battery and a detachable wire for the 9V battery.

For further iterations, I would like to explore the possibility of a  larger scale and adding projection to it as Sheena form Parsons Paris suggested. I made another project called Grow that explores the connection between physical and digital world that related to Sheena’s comment. In this iteration I only used physical components because comparing to virtual images, people consider the physical components less authentic.

After fill in the sand, I found the touch sensing became less sensitive as before. I believe the resistance of the sand affected the sensing. But I already soldered the Attiny in the circuit so I can’t change the code to sense higher input.

Here is the Instructable post.

Electronic Terrarium Prototype

I’m creating an interactive electronic terrarium. Normally, people put plants or plastic plants in terrariums to create a small concentrated nature environment.  I think the interesting point of a terrarium is the glass vase isolates the ordinary objects from the real world and frames the objects for people to take a close look. My idea is to include electronic components into a terrarium for people to appreciate the aesthetic aspects of technology. Also, I also want to express technology is alive in another way.

I’ve been working on creating a base of color changing sand. Everything worked outside the terrarium. But the terrarium I got is too small — the Arduino and the battery already took most of the space. I’m going to get a bigger one this week.

Process:

1. Dye the sand

I mixed red thermochromic dye with blue paint to create this purple sand that turns blue when heated.

2. Sew the Flexinol into a pattern

I chose a simple shape of leaf for a clear result. Also, the leaf brings a sense of nature into the project.

3. Capacity sensing terrarium

I soldered several 1M ohm resistors together for capacity sensing. People looking close to the terrarium triggers the effects. I chose peek into the terrarium as the interaction is because it’s a natural respond most people will have without any instructions.

Electronic terrarium

For my final project, I want to create an interactive terrarium sculpture.

Instead of living plants, the terrarium will be filled with electronic components (such as Arduino,resistors,LEDs,wires and motors) combined with fabric, paper and some organic materials.

Different components will have different behaviors when human come close and touch them. Some will become active some will hide away. It will simulates living creatures reacting to human presence.

Draft terrarium :

Precedents & Inspiration:

Ephemerā & Curiosity Cloud By Mischer’Traxler

Glass Domes By Helen Musselwhite

Plant-in City By Huy Bui, Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena and Jon Schramm

Interactive Terrariums By Stefano Citi & Simone Simonelli