After our third week at the FabLab, we were able to finally put all components of the project together. The very first week, my group learned how to use a soldering iron. The following week, we learned how to create a box, design in, and laser cut it. This week, my group learned how to program an Arduino. This entire process has definitely been beneficial to my group’s project idea. My group is already planning on using an Arduino for our working prototype.
I have actually used and Arduino before. However, I would just copy and paste the code and follow the diagram they provided for the LEDs and resistors. During this week’s session, I learned where and why you place LED’s/jumper cables/resistors in a breadboard. Here’s a picture of the circuit we created. This circuit is the same as the circuit we soldered during our first week.
We then learned how to program the LEDs to respond to the photo sensor. Each light would indicate how much light the photo sensor was getting. Here’s a GIF demonstrating how each LED changes due to the change in light.
I don’t know about the rest of the class but I personally believe the biggest challenge was putting it all together. The way I approached this problem was I began with glue four sides of the box together. Then, I glued the photo sensor in place followed by gluing the LEDs to the top part of the box. Before putting all the sides together, I connected all the cables to the Arduino. I kind of just jammed it in the box and hoped for the best. Luckily for me, none of my joints came undone nor did any cables touch each other. This wasn’t the case for some of my classmates. Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with the workshops the FabLab volunteers put together. Although we’re not experts in any of these areas, it gives us a good foundation for our project.
Hi Jorge,
It is so great that you can combine all your work together. I could place my wooden boards together into a box, but I can’t insert LED lights and photo sensor into the hole at the same time. You might not understand how this happen. If you want to know the details, feel free to check the blog I wrote. I think the experience and knowledge we learnt from these workshops is the most valuable gift we gained.
Ben
Hi Jorge,
I really enjoyed reading your post, and would have to agree on numerous points you made. For one, the assembly of the photo resistor in its entirety proved to be an extremely arduous process. While the assembly each week was hard enough, putting it all together required immense precision, delicacy, and uniformity throughout. Gluing the photo resistor and the LEDs into place seems like a smart plan. I did not approach it that way, and as a result my lights constantly bobbed in and out of the box.
Hey Jorge, glad to see that your light sensor came out well. I know I definitely struggled getting everything in place and it took me a while to do. I was the same in that I’ve used Arduinos but never really understood the code, and this helped tremendously. I really enjoyed my time at the Fablab and think that it will help a lot when we design our semester projects.