Week 6 - Untoolkit: Electronic Inputs
Untoolkit: Electronic Inputs
This week we are making sensors and I'm an team with Anoush the next couple of weeks because of the corona virus. We have to write 150 words about digital or analog. Next to that you have to make an original image that fits your text. This week the editors for the zine are Andrei and Laura.
Zine Design
Hoi, de zine van week 6 is nog niet af en nog niet iedereen heeft het ingeleverd. Omdat we niet kunnen printen maken we daar een website van. De deadline is zondag om 18.00, dan hebben Laura en ik nog tot maandag middag om de website af te maken. Ipv alles zwart wit in een package in te leveren mag het nu een PNG zijn in de kleuren die we aangegeven hebben. De PNG kan nu wel vierkant zijn ipv de A5 formaat met de witruimte om te snijden. Lever het zowel bij mij als bij Laura in.
My text
Analog and Digital
This week we talked about analog and digital and the difference between them. The main difference between analog and digital lies in the way the signal is processed. Like for example, an analog sound is fluent and is always divisible and not indicated by numbers. A digital sound is angular, and you can’t measure it as fully as analog. For this week we are making an analog sensor and a digital switch. We read about buttons and we discussed why it’s important to read about. Because you then know how people think about it and you also learn about visual affordance. It’s important to read about it, but also important to write about it and make sure the information is available for everybody, like open source. Nowadays there is a lot of ‘black boxing’ going around. This means that people are ‘not allowed’ to know how something works. I think that that is a bad thing. I think it’s important to let people have knowledge of what they buy, and they can fix it if they break it. After all, they bought it. In my opinion you deserve to know what you've bought.
Desiree van Dam
My visuals
My files
The end product
https://andreimotian.com/quarantzine/
Assignment (in pairs):
make one antiprimadonna on/off switch (archive-worthy!)
make one antiprimadonna analog sensor (archive-worthy!)
build the basic tools (a few paperclip connectors, a LED/resistor pad, a voltage divider)
learn how to connect it to a microcontroller, program it, and get readings from your sensor in the serial monitor and plotter of the Arduino IDE (video!)
make a video of the working circuits, and the values coming in, the LED changing brightness (video!)
document step-by-step how you made everything and how you made it work (incl debugging)
show at least 3 annotated iterations of each sensor
What did we do in class?
We were testing how it works to work with arduino. We learned about the microcontroller and how to schematic show your inputs and outputs. We also learned about the basics of code. I already understood most of it because I worked with it before. During class we worked on attaching an led, restistance, potentiometer. By the end it all worked. Below I put pictures, video's and code from this.
Building Tools
During class friday we made some paperclip connectors, a LED/resistor pad and a voltage divider. I think the paperclip connectors were the only ones that worked. In class we made the basics of de LED pad but never installed the LED. And we made and voltage divider but during testing we found out that they dont work, so we just put the resistor in the microcontroller. Later we fixed it with copper tape.
Digital
For the digital assignment we wanted to make an switch. We saw an example from Loes with an toggle and we thought that was really cool and wanted to make something of our own. Below you can read what we did with for the iterations and the end result.
Iterations/ Prototypes
Original Switch
For the original switch we covered the bottom corners with copper tape and at the top in the middle. Make sure it goes on on the back. Than make an hole in the middle under the copper tape and put an copper steel through it. Attach the copper steel at the back with the copper tape. Put an bol at the bottom of the copper steel in the middle of the two bottom corners. Attach the ground to the top, the 3v3 to the orange led and restistor to the left bol and attacht the other 3v3 to the blue led and restistor to the right bol.
Globules Switch
For the second iteration we made two walls and the ball could switch between them. It's the same principle as the one above, exept the two bottom corners are not covered in copper tape but there is an bol in it's place with a piece of copper tape at the front. Around the bol is a copper wire that is attached to a piece of copper tape at the side of the piece of paper. Attach the ground to the top, the 3v3 to the orange led and restistor to the left bol and attacht the other 3v3 to the blue led and restistor to the right bol.
Groove Switch
For another iteration Anoush made two other prototypes. One was a groove with at both sides an ball. The ball moves when you tilt it and will hit the other side of the groove. To make this you first make an groove in the middle of the paper. Than put copper tape on both sides of the groove. Line the entire ball with copper tape. Attach the two balls between the groove with an wire. Because Anoush doesn't have an microboard she can't test it, but will do that the next time we'll see eachother. Attach the ground to the wire of the balls, the 3v3 to the orange led and restistor to the left side and attacht the other 3v3 to the blue led and restistor to the right side.
Rope Switch
For the other one she covered the ball with copper tape and attached a rope to it. Than she attached the rope to the back and put on both sides of the paper some copper tape. You can than tilt the board to move the ball from one side to the other. Attach the ground to the top, the 3v3 to the orange led and restistor to the left bol and attacht the other 3v3 to the blue led and restistor to the right bol.
End result
The first one looks and works great but looks to much like the original.
The second one looks and works great but the pink will stand out.
The third one looks clean and is original.
The fourth one is original but looks a bit messy.
Analog
For the analog sensor I wanted to do something with stretch material. I saw the example from Loes and thought it would be really nice to try something like that out. Below you can read what we did with for the itterations and the end result.
Iterations/ Prototypes
Knitting
I wanted to try spool knitting but I didn't have the right material at home. For the spool you'll need to put pins at the top but because I don't have those I tried pegs. This did not work. So I tried making knots and another kind of knitting, but this did with the LED not work. The next day I tried to make the spool with skewers. Loes her example was with four knots so I tried with six. But when I started it didn't really work again so I quit. I went looking into velostat. This was fun to experiment with and we came up with some interesting designs. These designs I like better.
Accordion Sensor
For the experiment with velostat we came up with something that you can fold like an accordion. We made three vertical folings in the paper and attached copper tape from the side to the middle but not let the two endings touch. Then we put velostat on one side. As you close the sides the velostat will give resistance which will make the light less bright and the harder you push, the brighter it gets. Attach the vin to one side and let the current go to the resistor. From the resistor you can attach it to the ground and A0.
Happer Sensor
For the second iteration Anoush came up with the idea to make an "happer". We folded an happer and put copper tape on four planes that would touch eachother. Then we put velostat on one of the planes, so that one light would have resistance and the other one doesn't. This looked really cool. Attach the vin to one side and let the current go to the resistor. From the resistor you can attach it to the ground and A0.
Debuggen
To get readings from this I had some troubles. I had an 3 hour conversation with Loes about how to debugg it. First I attached the LED and the LDR to make sure that everything works. By the LED everything was fine. I ran the Blink file and the LED started to blink.
By the LDR I put some wires in the wrong place. I send picutres of my microboard to Loes and she told me to adjust some wires and to get another resistor. I was using 220 but I needed to use 10K. When I put everything in the right place and ran the code, everything worked fine.
I wanted to map what I was reading and adjusted the code. By doing this the serialreader didn't read anything anymore. You can fix this by closing Arduino completely and restart it. Then it works fine.
Stairs
For the last one Anoush came up with stairs. I folded the paper in little squares, than I attached copper tape to every spike and put on one side some velostat. Now as you close it, the velostat will give resistance which will make the light less bright and the harder you push, the brighter it gets. Attach the vin to one side and let the current go to the resistor. From the resistor you can attach it to the ground and A0.
End result
The first one looks and works great and is flat.
The second one looks and works great but the shape wil stand out.
The third one looks and works great but the shape wil stand out.
Proces
Show and tell
Reflection
I worked with adruino before so I knew some basics. But last time I got an 5,6 so that's not fantastic. I still find it hard to figure out where I had to put all the wires when you only have an schematic diagram. Luckily I had Loes on whatsapp who was willing to help me figure it all out and explain it to me. Of course it was a bit weird and hard because of the corona virus but we made it work. I also had a problem with knitting that could be solved earlier at school but now I learned more about velostat, making an circuit and reading the values. I understand it better now and it was fun to make the sensors. I think the stairs work best because they have the most velostat so the values change the most when you use it.
For the next time it seems more convenient if I immediately make my own schematic representation of my Arduino and wires so that I can understand it better myself. I now mainly have many photos. Other than that I don't know what I would do differently. It was all hard to figure out but I think I did the best I could. I liked making the sensors and I think debugging with Loes was my best option. Most of the time I don't understand the internet about this stuff.
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