Week three of working on the “Transition Clock” was fairly productive, but Kelsey and I still have a lot to do before our project will become a cohesive device.
Physical Structure
Using Solidworks, we were able to cut our “Transition Clock” out of cardboard in order to make a second prototype. We then added additional holes for the ends of the LED strips to go through as well as altering the hole for the servo in order to prepare to cut our clock out of wood.
Coding
Over the course of this week we were able to code a majority of what we will need for our project. Initially the changing of the lights with each button press was figured out. The next step was to add the time variability of the LEDs with the potentiometers. Then, the continuous rotation servo was added to the circuit and sketch. The specifics of having the servo turn 90° still need to be worked out, possibly by taking a different approach. We took advantage of functions in order to simplify our code. Because the motion of the arrow arm and blinking of the LEDs is repeated for each activity, the code is very repetitive.
In order to test the code, a “demo” code was created that used 3 LEDs on a breadboard and very short time periods for each change in activity. This “demo” code seems to work, so hopefully the full code will as well, but until we complete our circuit, we will not know for sure.
Second CSC Presentation
At the beginning of class on Friday, we showed Professor Gleason our original prototype as well as the demo code we had finished by that point, which did not include the servo. She seemed happy with the changes we had made based on the feedback she gave us last week and approved of the other changes we chose to make. We still need to confirm with her the range of times we should allow for the warning and transitioning as well as the get any pre-existing pictures the CSC may have.
Material Arrival
Also on Friday we received the adafruit button, potentiometer, and LED strip that we ordered. In class on Friday we were able attach the LED strip to our breadboard using a power transistor and have it work with our demo code. Because we are only attaching 9V to our arduino (6 AA batteries), the white and blue LEDs are too dim to be used, but the red and green LEDs work very well. We also tested the potentiometers and button and both worked successfully with our code.
Reflection and Next Steps
Throughout this week I realized how helpful online sources can be when figuring out how to connect new electronic parts to a circuit and code them to do what you want them to. It can be frustrating at points, but is very satisfying when it works out.
This week we need to solder our circuit together. This will be time consuming and potentially difficult to do with the LED strips. We also need to laser cut our clock out of wood. Hopefully when we do so, the holes will be where we need them to be and we will not need make alterations.
Very cool!!!! Nice continuous servo! I’ll have to talk to you guys to learn about specifics of how you programmed it. It would’ve been helpful in my project but I found a way around it.
Great job! Had had some trouble with millis when integrating it within my code, so it’s nice to see the ways in which you used it to make the servo move dependent on time.
The commenting in your code was very helpful for understanding what was going on! I also appreciated the plain backgrounds in your wiring images. Nice job!
The servo works so well! I might have to take a page out of your coding book – thanks for commenting so well!