Flowery Photo Booth
Complete installation in the museum
The interactive installation Flowery Photo Booth is a multimedia photo area where visitors can learn the basic rules of flower arrangement in landscape design in a playful and engaging way. Visitors choose a flower from those planted in Moscow flowerbeds, make a small flowery composition to be shown in the background, shoot a video inside the photo booth and receive it by email.
Concept visualizations
The photo area is a truncated prism with mirrors as its faces, LED floor and another LED screen as a background. Such a configuration creates a kaleidoscopic effect and surrounds visitors with a colourful dynamic background. A multi-layered video clip made up of user-selected patterns is played on the LED screens.
3D CAD model
User interaction occurs through a touch screen interface located at the front of the installation. The interface allows a visitor to compose a unique composition for the background, to enter the user's height to adjust the shooting mode and to provide an email address to receive the video. The GUI application is developed on Unity and is run on the Zotac embedded computer.
Fragments of project documentation
The image output to the LED screens is provided by a separate MS2 media server working with LED screen controllers (Novastar MCTRL 4K for the background screen and CreateLED for the floor one). The central media server of the installation MS1 manages the logical states of the installation, image processing and camera operation modes, output of the additional information on the sub-monitor, as well as file management of video clips and sending them via e-mail. The software for the MS1 and MS2 servers is developed in the TouchDesigner environment. Data exchange and interaction between the servers is conducted over the network. The architecture of the hardware and software installation has been designed by Pitch specialists.
Visitor touch screens and the robot with the camera
Video is captured with a SONY SRG-XB25 broadcast camera, which is mounted on a Universal Robots UR-5 industrial collaborative robot. The robot moves the camera according to the set shooting parameters (height of a visitor) and the selected flower composition (panning mode, zooming and general dynamics of the shot). Frontal illumination of visitors during shooting is performed by means of 10 Art-Net controlled Astera Led Titan Tube photo lights located behind the casing in the front part of the photo area. The sound path of the installation includes Genelec 4030C active acoustic systems and a Tascam audio interface. The audio system plays audio messages and background music during video recording.
Media rack
The installation control system is based on a Siemens Simatic S7-1214C which ensures smooth start-up and power monitoring of LED screens, control of manipulator operation modes and network interaction with the installation's MS1 media server. Real-time data exchange between the PLC and the media server is performed via the PUP9000 (Pitch Universal Protocol) developed by engineering department. Data exchange with the robot is conducted via Profinet. The installation is controlled via buttons on the control cabinet panel. No direct interaction with the robot's teach pendant interface is required. That eliminates the need for personnel training and simplifies the use of the installation.
Control cabinet
The PLC program of this and other installations is based on the state machine model. A base set of states has been developed suitable for any project installation. Program state is synchronized and transferred to recipients in state byte via PUP9000, as well as the higher level monitoring and control system (SUMO) as a string (JSON). Thus, the operating mode of the installation is always known to all elements of the museum's multimedia exhibition hardware and software system. Standardization and formalization of the PLC software made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of writing code due to its reuse, as well as reduce the time for debugging and commissioning.
Pitch Universal Protocol and State Machine realisation
The working area of the robot is bordered by a glass enclosure, except for the window in the front, through which the images are taken. The safety laser scanner eliminates the possibility of hazardous collision or touching a moving robot by a visitor, even if he or she jumps over the safety fence. Triggering of the scanner results in an instant and safe stop of the robot. The safety system also includes two mushroom head push buttons and a SICK safety relay with an OSSD interface.
Safety laser scanner position
The operation of the installation is fully automated due to integration with the museum's system of control and monitoring (SUMO). The installation works in fully automatic mode, switching on and off according to a schedule. MQTT with a Siemens PLC based client implementation is used as a universal transport protocol for data exchange between the installation and the central control system.
Assembly and commissioning moments
PITCH Engineering Department has carried out the complete cycle of the installation elaboration, including selection of components, constructive and engineering solutions, detailed project documentation development, manufacturing control, assembling, commissioning and programming.
Credits
Made in PITCH
Client: Sila Sveta
Head of development: Vladimir Makhnov
Multimedia and electrical engineer: Pavel Bezrodniy
Mechanical engineer: Vladimir Ilushkin
Technical management: Danil Gerasimenko
TouchDesigner programming: LYM
* Special thanks go to Alyona Kharitonova who was in charge of the content and visitor experience and helped to describe the ideas behind our technical solutions.
