Week 15

 Did not get done as much as I wanted this week. I got the perf board from the bulletin board. Unfortunately I have not had the energy to work on it but I will try to tomorrow. I have collected cardboard for the body and the yarn for the “fur”. I did a test for the wheels and I have determined to use cardboard for the wheels as well as it would be easier to tuft. On Tuesday we got the motor working and able to be controlled separately. I started implementing code for the ultrasonic sensor and the motor to work in tandem but I still beed to work on that as well. 

Thursday I got nothing done. 

I did take a look at diptrace on Wednesday and I kinda learned the rough idea of how to create a schematic in there. I more of got confused on how to find the elements I was looking for.

Week 14

 This week I got the ultrasonic senor working

    The sensor displays the distance fairly reliably

I could not however get the motor to be able to control both sides separately

    I could get them running on the same circuit

    Running them separately I attempted to get in class but to no avail 

    Unfortunately I got sick as well

    I will attempt to get it working on Monday in the FabLab if I feel better by then 

        I will try to create jumper cables into the staple like things to make sure the                           connections are being made properly and to double check my wiring 

Shell test

    The shell test was unfortunately the wrong size so I will not be able to use it for the shell

    The test will work for mounting the objects as the holes are the right size for the pins I will have to adjust where the holes are though to make the connections solid

        What I need to figure out for the shell now is the scale of the holes to "tuft" yarn                     through to create a fur for the creature to make it look natural 

        The eyes for the creature will be the ultrasonic sensor 

    The wheels I am trying to design in a way that I can also cover them in the fur

        The plan is to put holes on the rims of the wheels to also be able to tuft the yarn in as             well

Week 13

 Labs

     7

• Transistors switch currents rapidly since they do not have moving parts
• Mosfet detects the voltage at the gate pin instead of current and can be used as switches when triggered to HIGH 
• Mosfets are used for higher currents and voltages than transistors
• Benefits of a relay are that the circuits the relay is switching are completely disconnected from the relays coil
• Do not connect the grounds together because that will connect the circuits again

     Servo

• After soldering onto the barrel jack to bypass all of the circuitry setting up a servo motor to do basic movements is pretty easy
• It benefits in the ability to decide exactly how far the motor should turn and how fast
• It also is able to stack movements 
• The motor does only go 180 degrees
  
  
  
  

Project Updates

• Roach like being that will respond to human interaction
• If approach fast it will be scared and timid 
• If approach slowly it will be more trusting
• Will have a "house" that is a box that will try to get back in if scared but will fail
• Bought and picked up the double motor gearbox piece from Mark
• Researched different materials that could be used to look natural but synthetic
• Leading idea is 3d printed shell with brushed yarn tufted through to create a "fur" for the creature but still able to tell something is not right with it

Week 12

 I think I want to play with technology’s autonomy and what it can consent to and not. The idea I think I resonate the most with is the idea of having a big red button that says press but the bot tries getting you not to press it by pleading with you and physically swiping at you. I think the reason why I find this interesting is we use technology to do what ever we want it to do and the technology doesn’t have a choice but giving the bot a voice and possibly a “personality” gives it life. I think the result of pressing the button could be like a baby crying or a baby animal wailing. 

Motors are really interesting and the different mechanisms that are at play with them. 

Week 11

 I got the arduino communicating with Touchdesigner as a key pad. I used a library I found online. Numbers were displaying but not quite the numbers I had intended. After switching to the library from Adafruit that was built similarly I got similar results but it worked more consistently for the project. In Touchdesigner I connected it to work for a switch so I made all the animations and adjusted them for a switch TOP. 

    The animations I tried to make look like a color was washing over the audience. The circles I tried to tie into what part of the poem I was thinking about. At the beginning I was trying to keep them moving just horizontal and vertical and as it developed I was adding in the ones that moved in multiple ways. I connected the circles to edge TOPS and then to the LFO sine movement so that they move and rotate around. 

Feedback

    The original idea was to not use sound and the interest was that I made a musical instrument without sound but as the project developed the project transformed to he more reliant on the poem. With that sound could be utilized to make the poem fall more inline with the dreamscape feeling I was intending. I could also think about incorporating more projections and bridge the atmosphere of the surroundings into be incorporated into the art piece.   

Week 10

     Soooo I have ordered a part by Amazon and are going by Micro Center for the part. I ordered a keypad and downloaded a library to deal with the keypad. The calculator I have double checked my soldering and soldered and redone it to try to get it to work. Unfortunately I have nit been able to get it to work with the calculator as it is as the pathways are not connecting. My parents have been trying to help me and I tried using smaller gage wire for the prototype board. The keypad will be at my place by Monday and I am working on getting touchdesigner ready for the keypad.  

The keypad is a standard 4x4 keypad that will be more than enough buttons for what I need. And worst case scenario the keypad gets delayed I have a computer keyboard. It looks like the connections on the calculator were not being made.

     The calculator worked for one button for five minutes and then did not work again. After Micro Center I have a small keyboard that will work with Touch Designer in the form factor but it would not fit in the calculator size.

    Just now rereading the code and I do not think I set the pinMode so I will try that and update.

Week 9

    I finished soldering the calculator. I got all the wires to the pins. I have tinned all the wires for them to go into the perforated board. I am currently working on the housing for the arduino and coding for the key pad. I have been watching videos on how to code for the key pad and I think I got it but I will update that when I reach a problem.