I recently roamed the East Village looking for as many various sensors as I could find as part of a Physical Computing assignment. I broke my findings into three categories:
- simple sensors that performs a function (i.e. a doorbell or lock)
- sensor providing an aid in communication (i.e. a speaker or camera)
- reversed sensors, or objects that turn humans into sensors (i.e. cross-walk signs)
I’m sure I may be semantically wrong about this and there could be even more categories of divisions so for the purpose of this exercise I chose to focus only on the first kind of sensors. Very early on in my exploration I was amazged at how many of the sensors were for security purposes, either locking doors or aiding in communication between the locked doors. Although I did find some photo-sensor or IR motion controlled lights to aid in conservation of electricity, I was hoping to find much more in NYC. I have included a gallery of my findings here:
[nggallery id=1]








