Saguaro: The Cactus Radio

The Saguaro Radio was developed from a studio project focused on interpreting the three key interactions of a radio: on/off, adjusting volume, and tuning to a channel. The concept followed a narrative of exploration and curiosity inspired by children's play.

This project served for me to explore an ordinary, almost invisible object, break it down to its essential functions, and rebuild it into my own exploration of paradigms of interaction is a radio.

In this capstone project, I very quickly narrowed onto a concept and developed it alongside the technical aspects of the radio. Every change in form and interaction affected what would be required of my electronics and programming, and vice versa. At the end of four weeks, I had designed and manufactured a working radio. It is turned on/off and tuned through a set of mix-and-match pieces that invites the users to play around and explore their local radio stations. Volume is adjusted through rotating the cap of speaker arm of the radio The Saguaro is a visual and experiential delight that invokes curiosity and joy.
Duration:
4 weeks

Skills:
Rapid Sketch Prototyping
Electronics
Arduino Programming
Solidworks Modeling
Keyshot Rendering
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Conceptualization of the radio's interactions and form. The initial forms were semi organic and inspired by flower buds, which later moved towards and ultimately landed on a cactus form for both the body and the modules. The physical interaction started with swizzle and twisting motions; then, inspired by puzzles and matching toys, took on a much more free form mix-and-match interaction afforded by the multiple branches on the radio.
Development of radio body: establishing modeling techniques; creating internal structures; finalized form.
Due the the tight timeline of this project, there was only one prototype print of the radio body before going straight to printing the final. Originally I had envisioned the body of the radio to be manufactured out of hammered or polished metal, but that was far too complex. The final body print took upwards of 35 hours, due to the height of the print. It could have been printed faster if the parts were oriented differently, however I wanted the artifacting of the PLA print to work with the form, rather than against it.
The modules to tune the radio were developed following geometric surface explorations stylizing the different forms that the saguaro flower and fruit takes. Cactus fruits and flowers display an amazing range of colors, and the saguaro cactus is no different: the blooms are typically a beautiful pale cream color which develops into a striking magenta fruit. Since the original conceptualization of the radio focused on metal as the primary material, I wanted to explore these vivid colors through developing patinas on the modules through experimenting with a variety of base metals and oxidization methods. In the end, the modules were 3d printed with bronze particle filament and given a simple salt and vinegar treatment.
The last physical element of the radio is the electronics. The schematic to the left was followed when soldering and assembling together the radios parts. The components included an Arduino UNO, Spark FM Radio, a potentiometer for volume adjustments, reed switches for inputs, and an amp, speaker, and antenna wire.
Soldered breadboard, ready to have the Arduino UNO connected through pins for easy assembly and disassembly.

From there, the code was finalized and transferred into the Arduino UNO; then the radio was fully assembled and presented.