11/30: [work session & prototyping]

Project 2 : Workday!

Today is dedicated to getting things moving. Let's get your ideas take shape.
Here is today's plan:

• Craft -- Organizing towards Finished project
• Prototype Review
• Work!

Reminder for the schedule

• 12/14 presentation
• 12/19 Documentation due

Prototype

You are going to group up with your neighbor and take a look at your working prototype for your project. As you take a look at your peer's project, consider the following.

• How your peer is interacitng with your work
• Construction and materials
• Give feedback on how you felt about the project
• Point out some opportunities for the direction of the project to be pushed

Craft -- Organizing towards Finished project

Software

1. How to merge or combine code
   • Copy one sketch to another sketch or create new sketch
   • Resolve any duplicating functions or global variables
     • (Functions: void loop(), void setup()
     • Variables: int, float)
   • Resolve any duplicating pin use
   • Delete any duplicate part that is doing the same thing
2. Comment your code!
3. Write out what you want your code to do
4. State Change Detection
5. SwitchCase
6. Random_behavior

Hardware

1. Wiring: Use connectors, terminals, headers to make your project easily assemble, disassemble or repair
   • Connectors
   • Another kind of connector
   • Screw Terminals
   • Terminal Block
   
   
2. Enclose or not!: Make or get enclusure if you need them to securely cover electronics. Consider visual language in your project. Body of electronics has an aesthetic and it contributes to experience of your work
   Adachi Tomomi
   Peter Blasser
   Benjamin Gaulon
   useless machines
   
   • Vacuform: You can make forms with plastic sheets you can get at the MICA store
     (talk to Tim Devoe at the Fabrication Shop)
   • Various shape and size of enclosures


3. Get extra parts: You never know when your project breaks! Always have back up parts


4. Circuit boards: Replace your breadboard circuit with more substantial perforated boards or PCB boards
   • Carving PCB:
   • Manhattan style: popular style in ham radio context
   • Freeform free style
   • perforated board: Common electronic prototyping method. We have a bunch of them for the class
   • PCB milling: proceed to next section for detail


5. Powering Arduino --- extensive article here
   • Power Adapter: you can use cellphone chargers or computer chargers between 9V and 12V DC and rated for more than 250mA (2.1mm plug, center pin positive)
   • Battery: battery pack with 2.1mm plug can be found in the MICA store. You can use 9V battery to power arduino with 2.1mm plug or Vin pin
   • Rechargeable Batteries: here or here

Arduino Review

Remember these?

• Basic Component
• Digital Input and Output
• variables
• if else --video
• Analog Input, Serial Print, Threshold --video
• Analog output and tone()
• Conditioning
• For loop video
• using millis instead of delay (multitasking) Adafruit tutorial

PCB milling

We can make our own circuit board and not have to carve it ourselves!
In the IA department, we have this Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine

Using Fritzing

Example fritzing file for making Arduino Shield

When you are making file, consider:

1. engraving is going to be top or bottom of the board
2. size of parts and properties
3. Make sure all traces are not touching or overlapping
4. All traces must be on the same side of the board

If you are ready to export Gerber file, let me know and we can take a look at it before we mill the board.

3D printing and modeling

3D printers

We have three 3D printers in house! Let me know if you have a file you want to print during the class. I can print them and go over how to use the printers.

3D modeling software

• OpenSCAD: Free code based Parametric 3D modeling software. Great if you are good at coding
  Basic Tutorials
• BlocksCAD: Free block based parametric 3D modeling
• Rhinoceros 3D: Popular paid 3D modeling software that cost ~$200 for students. Installed on computers on the 4th floor computer LAB.
  Tutorials at Lynda.com through your MICA portal
• TINKERCAD :Free basic online 3D modeling software



• Netfabb: Free software for cleaning your 3D models
  Tutorial on how to fix and repair 3D models using Netfabb or Meshlab
• Afinia H800 walkthrough

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Documentary link

Fred Turner on Cyberculture and The Democratic Surround

What Machines Can't Do

So..what's wrong with this?

Any child can say, “I’m a dog” and pretend to be a dog. Computers struggle to come up with the essence of “I” and the essence of “dog,” and they really struggle with coming up with what parts of “I-ness” and “dog-ness” should be usefully blended if you want to pretend to be a dog.
This is an important skill because creativity can be described as the ability to grasp the essence of one thing, and then the essence of some very different thing, and smash them together to create some entirely new thing.
Exerpt from an article What Machines Can't do by David Brooks

WEAPONS OF LOVE by Hazuki Katagai

[The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.

Ada Lovelace

Self Aware robot by Hod Lipson