Editing TechnicolorDreamcoat

= Technicolor Dreamcoat =

==Change Log==
[[User:Cmaier|Cmaier]] 09:56, 20 August 2009 (PDT)<br/>
added references [[User:Cmaier|Cmaier]] 10:37, 20 August 2009 (PDT)<br/>
added reference, minor formatting [[User:Cmaier|Cmaier]] 10:45, 20 August 2009 (PDT)<br/>
minor edits [[User:Cmaier|Cmaier]] 10:46, 20 August 2009 (PDT), [[User:Cmaier|Cmaier]] 11:14, 20 August 2009 (PDT), [[User:Cmaier|Cmaier]] 12:16, 20 August 2009 (PDT)

Just some thoughts I had, but now it needs to be '''''made''''' Prior Art '''''immediately''''' 
(If you talk with the [http://www.asterix.com/encyclopedia/characters/caius-fatuous.html ''lanista''] of the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_Maximus Circus Maximus] about a possible engagement, 
you need to be '''super''' careful that you, or your ideas, don't stay there inadvertently and get fed to the lions without you getting paid):


==Vision==
It would be '''''ultra'' cool''' to wear a [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2037&version=9 Technicolor Dreamcoat] costume at Burning Man studded with a network of blinkenlights, 
where the blinking color patterns of your costume would give information about your heartbeat, blood chemistry,  
[http://books.google.com/books?id=OPC7Qhm6Y6sC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=%22Was+ich+gesehn,+verrate+ich+nicht,+Ich+habe+zu+schweigen+versprochen,+Erlaubt+ist+mir+zu+sagen+kaum,+O+Gott!+was+ich+gerochen!%22&source=bl&ots=pjTl5X1ULR&sig=k8k6KFj6iptI5-PDTAhDPLnuk-A&hl=en&ei=8G6NSojnKIKwswPc15HnCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=%22Was%20ich%20gesehn%2C%20verrate%20ich%20nicht%2C%20Ich%20habe%20zu%20schweigen%20versprochen%2C%20Erlaubt%20ist%20mir%20zu%20sagen%20kaum%2C%20O%20Gott!%20was%20ich%20gerochen!%22&f=false and more ...]

On the Technicolor Dreamcoat, each blinkenlight is attached to its own microcontroller that, in turn, is also attached to an array of sensors (starting with an infrared LED and a sensor for heartbeat and pulse oximetry, but [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Miranda_Jones by no means ending there]), and with the microcontrollers communicating with each other (and maybe wirelessly with other costumes or a [http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/albums/Joe_s_Garage/01.html Central Scrutinizer]). A network of sensor studded processor nodes means that you have a lot of redundancy to separate the wheat (the signal[s] you're interested in) from the chaff (artefacts due to you moving around, external interference, or some wardrobe malfunction), and a lot of distributed processing power, so you don't really need quite as efficient algorithms as if you put all your processing power in one place - death of the big hunkin' DSP board by a thousand arduinos (yes, you'd have to come up with distributable algorithms, but I've heard rumors that all the web weenies who want to join the cloud computing bandwagon are already trying this, anyhow).

==First Steps==
For starters (since I neither have the time nor the $$$ to afford really cool sensors and write complex programs), it would be nice to just have the microcontroller (or maybe CPLD or some such) nodes with the blinkenlights, talking to each other in such way that they play [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9xAKttWgP4 the Game of Life]... that would fit nicely into this year's Burning Man theme of "Evolution". In fact, I already bought two white jumpsuits, put some LEDs on order, and did some inquiries how to get stuff from DigiKey real fast. The missing bits are conductive thread or equivalent, and a way to build a lot of PCBs and program chips on them fast. 

Of course, for more than one reason, a patient gown would be more suitable for such a kind of ''Technicolor Dreamcoat - cum - biosensor array - cum - distributed processing - cum - wireless'' Burning Man costume: 
The patient gown leaves the butt exposed.

==In the wild==

http://tactileplasma.com/ is this without the sensors you want to have. It was definitely the most spectacular outfit at Burning Man last year. They are selling them from $2500-$5000. I'm pretty sure though not positive they are using controllers from http://www.coolneon.com/shop/. Good luck! --kfischer