Week 2: Breadboards and Ideas



This week I got a refresher on some basic circuit board and electricity information. It was reminding me a lot of my robotic and circuit classes from the 8th and 9th grades. I also further refined my ideas for the first project. 

Lab:

Ac- Comes from the wall 

DC- battery, can be adapted via a "wall wart"

Important formulas: 

voltage (v)/ current (I) x Resistance (r)  (cover the element that you wish to know and proceed accordingly)


Power Triangle- Watts (P)/ Current(I) x Volts (E) 




Amps is the amount getting through, resistance is the "clinched hose" space and volt is the power pushing the amps through. 

I learned how to use the breadboard and completed the flashlight lab. At first my battery wasn't good so it wasn't turning on. When I switched to a different battery it worked. I appreciate the ease of using a breadboard for figuring things out and making circuits quickly without soldering. 

Circuit for Lab:

Resistor: changes how much voltage (power is let through)
LED: polarized light 
Battery: DC power source 


In class on Thursday we looked at using multimeter to detect voltage and using resistors. The difference between the values of the resisters is what impacts the voltage. I tried my kit for the first time and learned what some of the components are.  


Ideas:

This week I also worked on refining my ideas for the midterm project. I want to make a baby bassinet in the shape of a crane that responds to weight being placed in it. I think it would be interesting for a baby weight to trigger a sound recording of my heartbeat and breathing. I am still working out how to make this as interactive and interesting as possible. 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I always forget to do these: Fabrication is Completed

Image
     This week I completed the base fabrication of my project. I have all the electronic parts and will work on assembling them next week. I emailed these images but will also include them here: I've added a semi-quilted piece to cover the laundry basket turned cradle. I added a mobile and a faux baby. The baby should weigh just a little over 4 pounds. I hope that knowing this will be helpful to me in the next steps. I will bring the electronic pieces on Tuesday to begin coordinating that part of the project.  I am a little concerned about how to keep the load cell level. There is a solid base to the cradle, but the whole piece rocks. Setting the baby in doesn't make it rock, but it makes me wonder if the load cell placement will need to be very specific in order to read properly. 
Read more

locking in with the electronics

Image
  March 4 2025  As I suspected, I attempted to work connecting the board myself only to become immediately stumped. I tried to find the right board to select and connect to, but I couldn't find the exact model and wasn't sure what to sub it with. I tried an Adafruit with the same letters/numbers after it. Come to think of it, maybe I'll just try it with the arduino uno as the input?  I also need to ask you about installing the extra "developer tools". You had told me to put it off for as long as I could, but it has started to show "lack of developer tools" as an issue when I go to proof the code.  The good news is, the boards light turns on and it is certainly connecting. I just need to find the right way to connect the appropriate tools. This is difficult.  I tried to connect it as an arduino uno just in case it would talk to the computer like that, but it's not able to send the code, so my guess is that that's an issue. It is finally clearing m...
Read more

A Week Without Rob: Fabricating Work and Getting Supplies

Image
This week I got all of my supplies ordered and started work on fabricating the shell of the project. The amazon arduino that can play sound arrived and I am still waiting for the load cell and load cell amplifier.  I looked at the videos, but I haven't been putting in the time to learn every part of touch designer. I am not going to use it and I don't want to spend the many hours it would take to learn it if it won't serve my practice. I think it's helpful to get a general idea for how it works, but I'm not going to gain any sort of proficiency. My interest in electronic components remains with the basics of audio playing. I am not interested in distorting my audio or anything like that.   I spent time in the studio working on fabricating the physical core of my artwork. Instead of buying a bassenett and spending more money, I'm making my own out of a pillow and a laundry basket. In the final rendering it will be covered so that it isn't obviously a laundry ...
Read more