Circuit Explorations

• info : research in progress
• date : 2009
• ware : electronics, arduino, processing, OpenFrameworks
• link : Circuit Explorations flickr set

Circuit Explorations addresses the questions if any system has the potential to show emergent behavior as long as it follows the guidelines for emergence we learned from studying examples of nature and if the emergence of complex behavior can be made to appear by carefully tuning a systems parameter and setup.

Small electronic circuits made from analog components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, inductors, diodes) serve as building blocks for a larger network of interconnected units. The circuit schematics for the individual units are kept simple in their number of components and are deliberately not designed to forcefully recreate behaviors already found in nature (circuits mimicking neuron behavior). The network consists of many units with similar simple circuit designs that produce predictable behavior in form of oscillation, delay functions or signal inversion. Each unit has input and output connections linked to one or more other units in the network. By linking these simple circuits up into a large network, all the electronic circuits are interconnected, influence each other and cause an overall more complex behavior. The conception of the hardware part of the research in form of a modular kit allows for a more free and exploratory plug-and-play research.

Sensors readings from the circuit are used for a screen-based visualization that reveals linear, random or complex behavior in form of different visual patterns.