Circuit 1: Fade
Materials: 1 * Arduino Uno, 1 * USB A to B cable, 1 * breadboard, 1 * LED, 1 * 220 ohm resistor, wires
When we first built the circuit, we had the LED light connected to the power so when we uploaded the Arduino code for ‘fade’ it didn’t work. The LED light was constantly lit instead of fading. Then we unplugged the wire going from the LED to the voltage and it started to fade.
Circuit 2: toneMelody
Materials: 1 * Arduino Uno, 1 * Speaker/Buzzer, wires
This circuit was relatively easy to build since we only had to connect the speaker to the the Arduino. The melody played as intended when we ran the code.
Circuit 3: Speed Game
Materials: 1 * Arduino Uno, 1 * USB A to B cable, 1 * breadboard, 1 * buzzer, 2 * LEDs, 2 * 220 ohm resistors, 2 * 10K ohm resistors, 2 * pushbuttons, wires
Building this circuit was very confusing because of the amount of wires and connection the components had. It was definitely a more complex circuit than the ones from previous exercises. The way the resistor and switch connected with the voltage and ground was especially confusing when we were looking at the schematic. The first time we uploaded the Arduino code, the buttons wouldn’t work because we didn’t connect the switches to the power.
Schematic:
Circuit 4: Four-Player Speed Game
For this circuit, we teamed up with another group. In the Arduino code, we added player3 and player4 and added two more conditions to make four total for it to work with four buttons.
Questions:
- Reflect how you use technology in your daily life and on the circuits you just built. Use the text Physical Computing and your own observations to define interaction.
Usually when speaking of technology, I think of smartphones and computers. However, after reading Physical Computing, it has me thinking that things such as vending machines and elevators are also considered as technology. I think interaction with technology can been seen in two ways, one with just the technology itself and the other, interacting with another person through technology. The circuits we built today, especially the speed game, was interactive both with the technology through the process of building it and with another person by playing the game.
- If you have 100,000 LEDs of any brightness and color at your disposal, what would you make and where would you put it?
If I had 1000,000 LEDs of any brightness and color I would put them all on the ceiling in my room. I would use black and white LEDs and then adjust the brightness of some and then arrange it in a way that looks like stars in the night sky.