The Ambiomat is a one switch digital toy. It was designed for Barrie Ellis of OneSwitch.org.uk.

What is the Ambiomat?

The Ambiomat is an ambient art package designed for use with a single switch. It is an 11×8 canvas designed to produce abstract block artwork that can look decent regardless of your ability to interact.

Using the Ambiomat

On the title screen, press the switch (assigned to the space bar) to enter the palette selection screen. The Ambiomat will automatically scan through each palette. Press the switch to select the palette.

Once a palette has been selected, The Ambiomat moves to the 11×8 grid. You are then able to place down one colour at a time upon the grid by pressing the switch down on the grid block you wish to paint upon. Once a complete lap of the grid has been completed, The Ambiomat moves on to the next colour in the palette. Once all the colours have been cycled through, you are then given an “empty” block with which to delete blocks from the grid.

After the delete block has been used across the entire grid, The Ambiomat automatically saves a .png file of the results in the folder you store The Ambiomat in.

Pressing the switch once more will return you to the title screen.

The Ambiomat also has a few keyboard controls that you can use to shape it to your ability. Numbers 0-9 on the keyboard (note: not the number pad) will adjust the speed of the cursor as it cycles through the grid.

The plus and minus keys on the number pad enable you to switch effects on and off. To use The Ambiomat as an art package, it is recommended the effects remain off. To get the full experience of The Ambiomat, we naturally recommend the effects are switched on.

By default, The Ambiomat is set to both the slowest cycle speed and effects off. Once you have settled on an appropriate speed and choice of effects, The Ambiomat will remember these settings next time you load. You only need to adjust either once. There are audio cues to indicate that an adjustment has been made.

Ambiopics

If you have any requests or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at touchme@bagfullofwrong.co.uk or catch me on Twitter.