In the third lab, we had access to different types of sensors, which we used to better understand different possibilities of things to make with the arduinos, as well as how different types of sensors could function and be implemented in our daily lives.
The first sensor we worked with was a vibration sensor and without any additions, which did not work very well. The circuit and code were fairly simple. But when we ran the code and started moving and tapping the sensor, there was no response from either the arduino LED or the computer monitor. We asked Eric to help us, and he told us to grab a different sensor. We used the second sensor with more success, but the readings it gave us were extremely variable. Eric then changed the ordering of the wires and resistor on our breadboard, which fixed the problem for the most part.
Attempt 1:
Final circuit:
The second sensor we used was a joystick, which used a lot of cables. We were able to figure out where the 9 cables connecting to the joystick were supposed to go on the breadboard and arduino, but the process was long.
Question 1:
In theory, a vibration sensor could be used to detect earthquake intensity, and maybe even predict future earthquakes by slight disturbances in the ground.
Question 2:
Like a recipe from a cookbook, code uses its own language and format to convey to the reader (in the case of code, the computer) exactly what it needs to do to achieve the intended result.
Question 3:
Computers and interactivity impact daily life in many ways. For instance, when typing chinese characters on a computer, the computer reads the input as pinyin and has an algorithm where it predicts the intended sentence or phrase and converts it to characters.