AcevedoPcompBlog™Information Index


PHYSICAL
COMPUTING
BLOG



                                   Switch AssignmentLight up the Heart09–17–2023

                                     For my switch assignment, I wanted to accomplish something simple yet I also wanted to incorporate a unique theme to my assignment, perhaps as a point of reference for future projects. First, before sketching my idea for a workable switch, I wanted to practice creating circuits that just light up an LED without anything extra yet. In the past, I think most of my issues when handling the arduino were from a lack of care for building the circuit. For example, I would have all my code done and uploaded, and my wires would be correctly placed, but my LED anode would be placed slightly away from its correct spot, losing me time in troubleshooting. Thus, the first thing I did was make sure I could build a workable switch by simply putting the wires together.

 After that,  I sketched my idea/concept for a switch. I spent some time considering what objects I could use that were already in my room and decided to use the beanie baby. My first thought was that I could connect one of the wires to the toy’s embroidered heart and connect the other wire to either the toy’s paw or to my own hand.  I decided to make the connection between the toy’s heart and paw. 
       
        
                                             As I started constructing my circuit, I wondered if conductive fabric might be a better material to use for this kind of switch. However, I opted to use the copper tape for the sake of convenience. At first, just slapping on the tape with the wires attached to the toy resulted in a poor connection between the two wires. To fix the problem I added an extra layer of copper tape to the toy before adding more copper tape with the wires attached, solving the issue of the connection being too weak.  My inspiration for the switch overall would be those toys that light up or sing, etc if you  press onto its paw or if you press its chest. Of course as of now, I feel I do not have the capacity to create a toy bear that lights up when the user presses its heart. So for this assignment, the LED works as lamp more than anything else, connected to the bear’s interaction with its own heart. 




        
                                                                                                   
©MMXXILorem ipsum dolor sit ametConsectetur 02026