Posts under ‘Physical Computing’

Lab 5 : Serial Out using an Arduino

Goal : Send data from a single sensor to a program on a personal computer.
Serial monitor results using Serial.write() in Arduino :

ASCII representation of the byte using CoolTerm :

Hexadecimal representation using CoolTerm :

Graph of sensor values in processing :

Lab 4 : Servo Motor Control with an Arduino

GOAL : control a servomotor’s position using the value returned from an analog sensor.

Stupid Pet Trick : Make It Rain Machine

What I ended up doing for my Stupid Pet Trick was completely different from my initial idea.
From the 2 ideas that I had I started on the camera idea and actually got it up and running. How it worked ; a motion sensor triggered a camera to take a photo. I was pretty happy that [...]

Stupid-Pet-Trick Sketch

I have 2 ideas for my stupid pet trick.
1. CAMERA TRIGGERED BY SENSOR IN HAT
I would like to create a device that takes a photograph using a digital camera after a physical interaction triggers it. I would like the camera to be triggers once someone puts on a specific hat, with a sensor in [...]

Lab 3 : Electronics

Goal : Practicing basic electronic principles by trying them in action. Measuring  voltage, amperage, and resistance using a multimeter.

STEP 6 : Building a basic LED circuit using an external power source and a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator converted the 12V input from the power source to 5V transmitted to the circuit.
VOLTAGE CALCULATION USING METER :
Power [...]

Fantasy Device : iFindRemote

My fantasy device would solve the problem of lost remotes. A transmitter (infrared possibly) would be placed on the back of each remote and that would be detected using a cellphone camera and mobile app.

Sensor Walk

Below are all of the sensors I encountered during the walk from my apartment to ITP. I never realized that even before I left my apartment building I had interacted/encountered at least 4 sensors: elevator call button, elevator door sensor, floor call button, emergency light/exit sign.

Lab 2 : Analog In with an Arduino

Goal : to connect a variable resistor to a microcontroller and read it as an analog input.
SETUP

Potentiometer in action :

Here is a similar setup with a photocell.

LAB 1 : Digital Input and Output with an Arduino

For our first Physical Computing Assignment we had to program 2 LED lights using the Arduino micro controller and software. The goal is to have a red LED on when the micro controller is connected to a power supply and have it turn off if the switch is pressed, simultaneously turning another green LED on.
It took a [...]