For this recitation, we were making circuits again. We were going over previously viewed ones, but also making a new one: an interactive game. My partner (whom I unfortunately cannot recall her name, or find her on WeChat…) went through the first circuits very easily and quickly, without encountering any issues (the Fade circuit with an LED, and a toneMelody circuit with a buzzer). Once we hit the third circuit, we had to slow down a little bit: this was the interactive game. However, it still proved easier than expected and we were able to make the fourth circuit (the four player game) between the two of us, which involved a tremendous amount of wires: it looked like a spaghetti circuit!
The first circuit, the Fade circuit, was extremely easy since the code was provided through Arduino, and we both recalled how to make it just from looking at the Recitation schematics.
For the second circuit, again we were able to make it simply, it was to connect a buzzer to a new kind of tone code, one with a melody (although still a pretty annoying and repetitive sound).
For the third one, however, even though we encountered no problems (other than figuring out which resistors were needed for the circuit), we still had to stop and think which wire went where. But again, the code was provided and we figured it out easily enough, it was a big mess of wires though! We successfully played the game, and it registered both buttons. It was just a matter of making sure everything connect to the correct ground and input lines we made.
The last circuit was by far the hardest. We had no trouble with the wiring, and were able to connect it together using two breadboards (and we realized we only needed one buzzer), but it turned into a big mess and we were afraid that it would not work (but it did!). The code was by far the hardest part, but it turned out to simply need a copy paste of the other player codes, adding the number of LEDs, switches, and players into the game (I don’t know if I would have figured this part out so easily if I hadn’t had the partner I had). But we were successful and made a four player button game!
We were able to make every circuit easily enough, and steadily enough; however, for the last two we did have to stop and think for a minute before proceeding to connect everything: but we did it without any mistakes.
Question 1: I think interaction requires: input, computing, but not necessarily an output (for example, music listeners do not have an output every single time they interact with the input of sound, however they most definitely internally compute said input). However, in these cases there was clearly an output from the circuits and code (light, sound, or game results). I feel like the fade technology is used very frequently: for example, in a light dimmer.
Question 2: We used a 10k resistor with the push button because of the necessary change in voltage input into the switch (otherwise I believe it would short circuit or fry, although I am not 100% sure).
Question 3: I don’t know what I would do with that many lights, a festival seems like the clear option, however, in an every day situation I believe we can easily refer to billboards as a use for that many lights!