Jacob Rivkin: Compass for mountains and water

Title:

Compass for mountains and water

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Medium:

Red oak, GPS, Stepper Motors, wires, microcontroller, Magnetometer, batteries, suitcase (Harriet Horowitz & Richard Rivkin)

Artist Statement:

Compass for mountains and water is a working compass housed within a suitcase that points to the closest inland body of water and closest mountain. It uses GPS, two stepper motors, a digital compass, and a microcontroller to direct two laser-etched pointers. A list of coordinates of the bodies of water and mountains are hardcoded into the microcontroller. The GPS cross-references your current location with the stored ones and turns each motor to point in the appropriate direction
of the closest mountain and body of water.