Tag: Infrared Sensor

Project update (Week 12)

Final dress

Final dress
Final dress

Adding boning to the sleeves to create wavy appearance

2
Front view of sleeves
Back view of sleeves
Back view of sleeves

 

Continuation on dress making

Sewing three horizontal strips on the under layer of the dress as ‘pockets’ for the RGB LED strips

3 horizontal strips to function as pockets for the RGB LED strips
3 horizontal strips to function as pockets for the RGB LED strips

Under layer of dress with lights on

5
Red (255, 0, 0), Blue (0, 0, 255), Orange (255, 77, 0), Purple (153, 0, 255), Yellow (255, 255, 0)

My choice of 5 different lights, namely: Red, Blue, Orange, Purple and Yellow was inspired from the colours of a jellyfish.

Image of jellyfishes
Colourful jellyfishes
6
White (255, 255, 255)
White illuminating jellyfish
White illuminating jellyfish

My choice of white colour comes from its representation of peace, innocence and tranquility. The representations supports my idea of a calm, sane and quiet state of mind.

Infrared sensor and Lilypad main circuit board with power bank to operate the light strip

Infrared sensor and Lilypad main circuit board
Infrared sensor and Lilypad main circuit board
Sewing with conductive thread to connect the Lilypad with the wires
Sewing with conductive thread to connect the Lilypad with the wires
Sewing on a piece of cloth to make a pouch and a button to secure the Lilypad and power bank in the pocket.
Sewing on a piece of cloth to make a pouch and a button to secure the Lilypad and power bank in the pocket.

I couldn’t have managed a dress without constant encouragement and guidance from my professor, Galina. She taught me the technique of two layered dress (she always surprises me) and she pushes me to think “avant-garde”. This is the first dress I made for myself! Whether my dress looks like a white Christmas tree, colourful white Christmas tree, or a wedding dress, I feel satisfied with my first attempt and feel that the countless nights I spent making it paid off.

Music and Performance

I chose to incorporate opera music piece to my performance because I like the idea of dramatic voice that wobbles like a jellyfish (rather, the smooth and sonorous vibrations inherent in a natural voice). Randall has suggested Chinese opera music in specific which feels closer to my race (as a Chinese) and the addition of distortions in the sound whenever my crazy jellyfish persona surfaces. (In short, I really like Randall’s suggestions and I am awed at his wonderful expertise on managing sound systems.)

In addition to the music, I have consulted my professor, Naga, for guidance to make the lights blink at 1 second intervals and the colourful lights to increase in blinking rate (speed) every 5 seconds from a starting blinking rate of 1.5 seconds to 10 milliseconds (which is 1500 to 10). (In short, Naga is an intelligent and awesome man.)

Programming

Arduino

This post is a reflection on what I have learnt in programming during the lesson on week 4.

Programming can be summarised into three terms:

Input –> Controller –> Output

Using Arduino, a software development kit (SDK), we can programme electronic components such as the LilyPad in three steps:

Programme –> Compile –> Upload

To start off, we download the software here and install it for use.

Once the software installation is complete, we can open by double-clicking the icon and we should get what is shown in Fig. 1.1.

Fig. 1.1 Arduino is a software development kit (SDK) which can be used to programme Uno, Mega and Lilypad
Fig. 1.1
Arduino is a software development kit (SDK) which can be used to programme Uno, Mega and LilyPad

 

LED Light and Infrared Sensor

To begin, we connect the LilyPad in place using a USB adapter to our computers/ laptops.

Lilypad with USB adapter
Lilypad with USB adapter

Next we proceed to a number of steps to test for the LED light:

  1. “Tools” –> “Board…” –> “LilyPad Arduino”
  2. “Tools –> “Port”
  3. “File” –> “Examples” –> “01. Basics” –> “Blink” (Fig. 1.2)
Fig. 1.2
Fig. 1.2

We attach an LED light to the LilyPad using wire cables, where the positive terminal (Anode) of the LED is the longer end as compared to the negative terminal (Cathode).

LED
Blue LED
Hunter-Decoder-Cable
Wire cable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To verify for errors during programming, we can click on the tick button (Fig. 1.3) and refer to a black bar below (Fig. 1.4).

 

 

Programming 1.3
Fig. 1.3 Verify errors and upload

 

Fig. 1.4 Black bar and red highlights for errors
Fig. 1.4
Black bar and red highlights for errors

Refer to Fig. 1.5 for more.

Programming 1.5
Fig. 1.5

To conclude, the lesson on programming was something new to me. I learnt the physical appearances and to differentiate between components such as the old LilyPad versions from the new ones (New version has an additional SD card holder unlike the old version that only has a charging port). I believe that there is still a long way before we can materialise our learnings through hands-on practice. I hope that my post would be beneficial in guiding me and my peers to do well in programming.