Recitation 2

We built three circuits in total. The first two is much easier than the third one. We didn’t encounter any problems until we tried to do the four-player game after finishing the three circuits. Combing the two circuits with another group, the code was much complicated. But we found patterns in the code: if there are number 1 and 2, copy and paste the code and revise 1 and 2 with 3 and 4, as they work in a similar way. In addition, we plug both the cables in to the GNDs on Arduino. We need to be extra careful when comes to a complicated circuit.

 

Circuit 1

Circuit 2

Circuit 3

 

Question 1

Instead of only letting the LED light up after one player hit ten times the button, we can connect the button to the program that create visuals on our laptop. Tom Igoe and Dan O’Sullivan mentioned in their book: “Connecting back to multimedia computers is one of the things that separates this book from books about robotics. Robotics books tend to insist on having the microcontroller stand alone. We’re
not so swift to dismiss the multimedia computer’s output capabilities when it’s useful for communicating with people or between people.” With visuals and sounds, we can make this game even more like a video game. We can create characters, set up a scenario, and design what pushing the button means in this game, for example, one brick is moved when the button is hit once; and after whoever move ten bricks first is the winner. This way, players not only face a Arduino board with a bunch of cables, but is able to actually enjoy a game with imagination of communicating with the characters.

Question 2

We use a pull-down resistor to avoid short circuits. And the recommend value of the resistors by the official Arduino doc is 10k.