christophercraig-blog

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Physical Computing - Final Product 2/2

Components used - Ultrasonic Sensor, 3 LED’s, Arduino Leonardo, Buzzer, Servomotor, Small portable battery (Link -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017285HB4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Code: 

#include <Servo.h>

const int pingPin = 9; //Ultrasonic sensor pin const int buzzer = 6; // Buzzer Pin Servo myservo; // Servo Motor variable for pin int pos = 0; // interger variable for servo persision

void setup(){  pinMode(13, OUTPUT); // Green LED  pinMode(12, OUTPUT); // Orange LED  pinMode(11, OUTPUT); // Red LED

 Serial.begin(9600);

 pinMode(buzzer, OUTPUT);

 myservo.attach(3); }

void loop(){  //LED  //digitalWrite(13, HIGH);  //digitalWrite(13, LOW);  //digitalWrite(12,HIGH);  //digitalWrite(12,LOW);  //digitalWrite(11,HIGH);  //digitalWrite(11,LOW);

 //USS  long duration, inches, cm;  pinMode(pingPin, OUTPUT);  digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);  delayMicroseconds(2);  digitalWrite(pingPin, HIGH);  delayMicroseconds(5);  digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);

 pinMode(pingPin, INPUT);  duration = pulseIn(pingPin, HIGH);

 // convert the time into a distance  cm = microsecondsToCentimeters(duration);

 Serial.print(cm);  Serial.print("cm");  Serial.println();

 delay(10);  if (cm < 35){ //RED    digitalWrite(13, LOW);    digitalWrite(12, LOW);    digitalWrite(11, HIGH);    tone(buzzer, 1000);

   for (pos = 0; pos <= 180; pos += 1) { // goes from 0 degrees to 180 degrees    // in steps of 1 degree    myservo.write(pos);              // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'    delay(1);                       // waits 15ms for the servo to reach the position    }    for (pos = 180; pos >= 0; pos -= 1) { // goes from 180 degrees to 0 degrees    myservo.write(pos);              // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'    delay(1);    }

 } else if (cm > 75){ //GREEN    digitalWrite(13, HIGH);    digitalWrite(12, LOW);    digitalWrite(11, LOW);    noTone(buzzer);  } else { // YELLOW    digitalWrite(13, LOW);    digitalWrite(12, HIGH);    digitalWrite(11, LOW);    tone(buzzer, 500);  } }

long microsecondsToCentimeters(long microseconds) {  return microseconds / 29 / 2; }

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Physical Computing - Final Product 1/2

This my final product is a sort of proximity detection device that you wear on your head, it has an ultrasonic sensor on the front to detect walls and such. There are 3 LED’s on the top front of the hat, one green, one orange and one red. These LED’s will light up depending on the proximity of an object to the front of the hat, if the way is clear then the green LED will light, if the sensor gets within 75 centimetres of an object then the green LED will switch off and the orange LED will light up this will also be followed with a buzzing tone from a buzzer inside the hat as a sort of indication of the user getting close to something. Should the sensor detect an object that is 35 centimetres then the orange LED will turn off and the red LED will light up, followed by the buzzer sounding to a higher pitch and a servo motor will start spinning back and forth on top of the hat, this movement adding an extra alert to the user that they are too close to something. I mean for this product to be used by visually impaired people who need assistance travelling.

Were I to make this again then I would definitely add an on and off switch, one of the most annoying parts of this hat is having to unplug the battery after use and it would make it so much easier to manage if there was a simple on off switch to control this. Through this course I have learnt how to use and wire up components like ultrasonic sensors and servo motors. It has also bettered my understanding of voltages and resistors, for example Ohms law where V (Voltage) = I (Current) * R (Resistance).

This post includes some of the stages of assembly and final product

In my other post to accompany this one is a video of the hat working and the code used.

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Physical Computing Week 10 - 2/2

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Physical Computing Week 10 - 1/2

These images show the final diagram and working model of my project before adding the pieces to my hat. I have used male to female wire on the LED’s and Ultrasonic Sensor to reduce the amount of wires needed as well as using some colour coded wires and electrical tape to hold it all in place. This will also lead for easier reconstruction when needed. A video accompanying this post will show a video of the working model

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Week 8

This week I worked in using a servo motor to my design, it works by only spinning when the ultrasonic sensor detects an object that is within the red LED’s limit

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Week 7 - 5

These images are just to show how the set up is connected together and where everything is meant to be. 

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Week 7 - 4 

Here I have added a Buzzer to introduce the element of sound to the device. The buzzer will only go off when something is within the range picked up for the yellow LED to light up. When an object gets close enough for the red LED to light up the buzzers pitch changes to be higher.

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Week 7 - 3  In this video I show that I have been able to program the LED to change based on how close an object is to the Ultrasonic sensor. If you watch the LED’s on the right, when you are close, the red light shows, moving back changes it to yellow and when you are far enough away it is green.

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Week 7 - 2 In this video i have connected up a Ultrasonic sensor, it currently dosent effect anything but as seen on the left where my monitor is, my computer is receiving the data

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WEEK 7 - 1

For this week I started building something that would detect objects getting closer to it and then signal this by changing lights, making different sounds and some sort of movement like a motor spinning or something similar.  In this video I’ve started by connecting 3 different colour LED’s to my aduino just to get them set up and working.

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Week 3 - Physical Computing Third week of physical computing. We started by discussing the infographic, I had a couple of ideas one of which was to make on based on the different sensors that can be used for robots or small devices as I believe there is a broad range of types for me to display. 

The main part of our lecture was to work with servos and ultrasonic sensors, servos are devices that can rotate 180 degrees and ultrasonic sensors have the capability to detect ranges. In the lecture I built a little machine that would detect the closest object within 180 degrees of rotation. As shown in the video, it will rotate the whole 180 degrees scanning for the closest object, then will face the closest object in that scan.

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Week 2 - Having the Light Dependent Resistor send information to my computer to show its resisting at different lights

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Week 2 - Physical Computing

In the second week's lecture we started by being introduced to micro controllers. Micro-controllers are simply small processors that use RAM and has Input/Output functions. These are very useful for robots, home appliances and mobile devices.  

We also learnt about the electrical charge being changed into logic, for example 5 volts going down a wire will be a 1 in binary whereas 0 volts will be 0 in binary. Furthermore we learn about Ohm's law as we were working with resistance (R). Voltage (E) / Current (I) = Resistance (R).

In this lecture we got to experiment with Light Dependent Resistors (LDR). These are resistors that change their amount of resistance based on the amount of light it's shining on it.

In the examples from week two, there is a video where we use a multi-meter to show the resistor working at different resistances based on the amount of light being shone on it.

Another example shows the LDR sending information back to my computer to future how it detecting resistance.

The final video shows that I was able to program the Arduino to light up the LED when the resistor has no light hitting it. To show a real world application like if this was used for a outside night light, the program would tell the light to only illuminate at night time.

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Week 2 - Showing the Light Dependant Resistor lighting up an LED when covered

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Week 2 Using a Multi-meter to test a Light Dependant Resistor 

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Description My infographic shows the many types of sensors that people can use to make robots or other mad and wacky devices. I wanted to show a broad range of different types such as some sensors to detect distances from the machine to something like a wall, some of them detect sound and others to detect temperature or physical movement. With most of the examples I show, I tried to find an image of the sensor and digitally draw the symbol for it in a circuit to show to the reader also. I pair these images with a package of information about the sensor and its positives and negatives of the sensor.

References Photoresistor: Resistor Guide, Available at: http://www.resistorguide.com/photoresistor/ (Accessed: 07/03/2019) RF Wireless World, Available at: http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Terminology/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Light-Sensor.html (Accessed: 07/03/2019) Codebender_cc (no date), Indestructables, Available at: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-use-a-photoresistor-or-photocell-Arduino-Tu/ (Accessed: 07/03/2019) Learning about electronics, Available at: http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/How-to-build-a-simple-photoresistor-circuit (Accessed: 07/03/2019)

Photovoltaic Cell: Nasa Science, Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/solarcells (Accessed: 07/03/2019) Renewable Energy World, Available at: https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/ugc/articles/2012/12/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-solar-photovoltaic--quick-pros-and-cons-of-solar-pv.html (Accessed: 07/03/2019) Sunlink PV, Available at: http://www.sunlinkpv.com/products/monocell.html (Accessed: 07/03/2019) Electrical Engineering Tutorials, Available at: http://electricalengineeringtutorials.com/solar-cell-or-photovoltaic-cells-operation-and-efficiency/ (Accessed: 07/03/2019)

Microphone: Media College, Available at: https://www.mediacollege.com/audio/microphones/how-microphones-work.html (Accessed: 07/03/2019) Scimatics, Available at: https://www.schematics.com/search/?tag=microphone (Accessed: 07/03/2019) Mouser Electronics, Available at: https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/SparkFun/BOB-12758?qs=wwacUt%252BV97sZK02dHczaGA==&vip=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAn4PkBRCDARIsAGHmH3e_2uyTmajqnP-bJyrz0FJsk8JuYgDrpujcHu6csRfUNTbfpDg5bFYaAt1bEALw_wcB (Accessed: 07/03/2019)

Integrated Circuit Temperature Sensor: Omega, Available at: https://www.omega.co.uk/prodinfo/Integrated-Circuit-Sensors.html (Accessed: 08/03/2019) ElProCus, Available at: https://www.elprocus.com/temperature-sensors-types-working-operation/ (Accessed: 08/03/2019) All About Circuits, Available at: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-temperature-sensors-thermistors-thermocouples-thermometer-ic/ (Accessed: 08/03/2019)

Thermistor: Kitronik, Available at: https://www.kitronik.co.uk/blog/how-a-thermistor-works/ (Accessed: 08/03/2019) Variohm, Available at: https://www.variohm.com/pressrelease/detail.php?aid=276&did=The-Advantages-of-Thermistors (Accessed: 08/03/2019) Polytechnichub, Available at: https://www.polytechnichub.com/advantages-disadvantages-thermistor/ (Accessed: 08/03/2019) Circuits Today, Available at: http://www.circuitstoday.com/thermistors-working-types-applications (Accessed: 08/03/2019)

Limit Switch: Sivaranjith (October 2018), AutomationForum.in, Available at: https://automationforum.in/t/what-are-limit-switches-advantages-disadvantages/4904 (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Smithy, Available at: https://smithy.com/cnc-programmers-guide/chapter-7/page/8 (Accessed: 14/03/2019) Zen Toolworks, Available at: https://www.zencnc.com/product/limit-switch/ (Accessed: 14/03/2019)

Ultrasonic Sensor: Sensor Basics, Available at: https://www.keyence.co.uk/ss/products/sensor/sensorbasics/ultrasonic/info/ (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Kristin Gillespie (February 2018), MatBotix, Available at: https://www.maxbotix.com/articles/advantages-limitations-ultrasonic-sensors.htm/ (Accessed: 09/03/2019) TheTrinityCollege (July 2013), Trinity Blog, Available at: https://thetrinitycollege.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/obstacle-detection-robot-using-ultrasonic-sensors/ (Accessed: 14/03/2019) Maker Lab Electronics, Available at: https://www.makerlab-electronics.com/product/ultrasonic-sensor-hc-sr04/ (Accessed: 14/03/2019)

Infrared Distance Sensor: Roderick Burnett (November 2017), MaxBotix, Available at: https://www.maxbotix.com/articles/ultrasonic-or-infrared-sensors.htm (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Tech FAQ, Available at: http://www.tech-faq.com/infrared-sensors.html (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Solarbotics, Available at: https://solarbotics.com/product/35238/ (Accessed: 14/03/2019) ElProCus, Available at: https://www.elprocus.com/infrared-ir-sensor-circuit-and-working/ (Accessed: 14/03/2019)

Laser Range Sensor: Active Robots, Available at: https://www.active-robots.com/sensors/laser-range-finder.html (Accessed: 09/03/2019) SRP Control, Available at: https://www.srpcontrol.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-lasers-in-measuring-devices/ (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Active Robots, Available at: https://www.active-robots.com/sensors/laser-range-finder/sf11-c-laser-rangefinder-120m.html (Accessed: 14/03/2019)

Pressure Sensor: Avnet Abacus, Available at: https://www.avnet.com/wps/portal/abacus/solutions/technologies/sensors/pressure-sensors/ (Accessed: 09/03/2019) RS, Available at: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pressure-sensors/2288533/ (Accessed: 14/03/2019)

Tilt Sensors: RF Wireless World, Available at: http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Terminology/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Tilt-Switch-or-Tilt-Sensor.html (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Odd Wires, Available at: https://www.oddwires.com/tilt-ball-switch-sensor/ (Accessed: 14/03/2019) Dilip Raja (October 2015), Available at: https://circuitdigest.com/microcontroller-projects/anti-theft-alert-system-using-atmega8-and-tilt-sensor (Accessed: 14/03/2019)

Gyro Compass: Amit Sharma (no date), MarineGyaan, Available at: http://marinegyaan.com/what-is-gyro-compass/ (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Amit Sharma (no date), MarineGyaan, Available at: http://marinegyaan.com/what-are-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-gyro-compass/ (Accessed: 09/03/2019) Rhyodolabz, Available at: https://www.rhydolabz.com/components-sensor-ics-c-172_193/triple-axis-accelerometer-adxl335-p-1329.html (Accessed: 14/03/2019)

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Week 1 - Physical Computing

In out first week of Physical computing we were given Arduino Leonardos for us to experiment with. Firstly we plugged an LED into the Arduino directly to light it up with minimal code. In the second image you can see that we started to get a bread board involved. In later videos posted earlier on in this blog you can see videos of me lighting up more LED’s with a short timer, and then later on with a faster timer and lastly timing it with random numbers for random flashes of light.