Mega and Pearl’s Heartbeat Project
BOM:
This is our BOM. Most of the things we need can be found on the floor, in the IMA shop, or the IMA ER, which makes most items free. A lot of the fabrication items are being reused from past projects that used similar materials, like fabric and paint. The one things we need to buy is clay and the materials for testing the making of a stethoscope. We may choose to just play the sound a heartbeat instead of playing the partner’s real heartbeat sound, but the supplies have been ordered incase we have time try to make a device to actually hear the heartbeat and not just a recording of it.
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System Diagram:
This is our system diagram. After meeting with Yeseul we decided to only have one screen that both users are interacting with and viewing instead of two. Because we are incorporating two inputs into p5js it is easiest if they are both going to one sketch instead of trying to combine two different ones. We are using two breadboards with two separate heartbeat sensors to create different inputs that go into one sketch. We are hoping that at some point the generated graphics combine into one as the two users interact with the project.
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Current Project Progress
First, Mega and I tested the heartbeat sensor and made sure we knew how to connect it to the arduino and where all the wires worked. After some trial and error, we got the sensor to work. We also figured out that the sensor takes temperature, heartbeat and also average heartbeat.
We found that it is easiest if we just choose one of these elements to put into p5js, so we just chose heart-rate in BPM for now. We connected the arduino to p5js and made the range small enough to actually show change. In real time, a persons heartbeat is not constantly changing, but because the sensor is so sensitive, the number is constantly changing which in turn makes the p5 sketch constantly change. This turned out to not be an issue yet because it is more visually appealing to see the sketch constantly change.
*arduino code for sensor*
*video of heartbeat sensor working with p5js*
After figuring out the sensor we realized that we would need to connect to different breadboards to one arduino and two heartbeat sensors. There are two different users so they each need their own sensor and connection. We found that using one arduino makes it easier, so we experimented connecting the breadboards and seeing if they were connected using a LED light. *connected breadboards with LED light*
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Questions
- does having both people look at one screen add to the meaning of the project?
- how do we incorporate both breadboards in p5js?
- what would be the best sound to input into the headphones? should we try to make a listening device that actually plays the persons heartbeat or does it matter if it is just playing a pre-recorded sound?