We live in a strange time indeed. People who once eschewed direct interactions with fellow humans now crave it, but to limited avail. Almost every cashier at the few stores deigned essential enough to maintain operations are sealed away behind plastic shields, with the implication that the less time one spends lingering, the better. It’s enough to turn an introvert into an extrovert, at least until the barriers are gone.
We get the idea that the need to reach out and touch someone is behind [Niklas Roy]’s “Please Leave a Message”, an interactive art installation he set up in the front window of his Berlin shop. Conveniently located on a downtown street, his shop is perfectly positioned to attract foot traffic, and his display is designed to catch the eye and perhaps crack a smile. The device consists of a large wooden easel holding the guts from an old X-Y pen plotter, an Arduino and an ESP-8266, and a couple of drivers for the plotter’s steppers. Passers-by are encouraged to scan a QR code that accesses a web page served up by the ESP-8266, where they can type in a brief message. The plotter dutifully spells it out on a scroll of paper for all to see, using a very nice font that [Niklas] designed to be both readable and easily plotted. The video below shows it in action with real people; it seems to be a crowd-pleaser.
[Niklas] has been incredibly prolific, and we’ve covered many of his interactive art installations. Just search for his name and you’ll find everything from a pressure-washer dancing waters display to a plus-sized pinball machine.
I wish I lived in an area where something like this would be appreciated for what it is and not filled with political (or worse) statements.
Very cool way to attract visitors to your shop.
I wonder if it can handle ASCII art?
Just what I was thinking, but it does say a “brief” message, so I guess it would be small art, but if you know the character limit you could make an ASCII picture at home and upload the text file to the plotter I suppose.
At least someone tried: http://niklasroy.com/pleaseleaveamessage/images/plottrascii.jpg
However, the font is not strictly monospaced and it doesn’t include all ASCII characters. So it ‘s a challenge :)
You didn’t answer the Title question!
According to Betteridge’s Law, the answer is no.
:)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
“Almost every cashier at the few stores deigned essential enough to maintain operations are sealed away behind plastic shields, with the implication that the less time one spends lingering, the better.”
Gas station in the bad part of town. Please ignore the auto-turrets.
AUTO turrets? I thought it was about job creation while school was out for the schoolbus tail-gunners.
yeah just make people more addicted to screen
Betcha basically nobody got the reference (and thanks it’s now my earworm). Also, having been an introvert all my life… nope, still not feeling any inclination to seek company; this would actually be perfect if only the circumstances weren’t what they are..
Well I can help you with that earworm, and replace it with the country version! :-D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOfx1ZqRhxo