The day before class
during week 2 the group met up to put the finishing touches on the design
proposal and submit it.
For the week 2
class, Jessica brought part of her Elegoo kit to class. She had pre-assembled a
circuit to help work on the programming concepts that will be required for this
project. The circuit consists of eight LEDs in a row, each connected in series with
a 220-ohm resistor and plugged into eight separate digital ports on the
Arduino. Each LED is also connected to ground. It also includes a joystick
module, which is plugged into ground and three ports on the Arduino: one analog
port for the x direction, one for y direction, and one digital port for the
center button. It also includes a stand-alone button plugged into ground and
one digital port. Figure 1 below shows a model made on the program Fritzing of
the required connections. Figure 2 is an actual image of the circuit.
Figure 1.
A model of a circuit to test preliminary programming concepts.
Figure 2.
An image of the circuit modeled in Figure 1.
When given power,
this circuit is programmed to turn on a certain LED based on the movement of
the joystick. Figure 2 shows the right-most LED being selected. By default, the
left-most (red) LED turns on, leaving the rest off. If the joystick is moved right,
it will turn off the currently lit LED and light up the one to the right. It
also performs the same functionality to the left. The stand-alone button resets
it, returning to the default set up of the left LED lit. This functionality
will aid in programming the horizontal aspect of the final project.
During class the
group also worked on a different program for the same set-up. The second
program uses the button on the LED. When the button is pressed, the first LED
will blink on, then the second, all the way down the line to the bottom,
leaving the eighth LED lit. After the first iteration of trailing lights, it
would look like figure 2. When pressed again, it will follow the same pattern
and keep the second-to-last LED lit. This works all the way up to pressing the
button an eighth time, turning on the first LED (at which point every LED is
lit). The button on the side resets the LEDs, turning them all off. This
functionality will be similar to the vertical aspect of the final project.
Also during class,
the group's proposal was approved and given suggestions.
After week 2 class,
the RGB LED matrix and driver shield was purchased from Amazon for $19.99. With Amazon Prime two-day shipping, the group expects to be able to work with the part for the week 3 class.
