The Warning Tree:

With the initial idea of the LED-lit tree, I decided to use a PIR sensor with it to give it an interactive element. I was thinking of making it have an environmental message where everything you do would affect the environment but I guess I should have used a combination of sensors alongside the PIR so that there would be different effects.  I did the technical aspect in three steps:

  1. test LED strips( making sure the “breathing” effect works)
  2. test PIR sensor( making sure my sensor was working properly cus it’s old)
  3. Put the two together to make variations

 

For the soldering:

For the aesthetics melted plastic bags together as Galina had taught me but this time using a flat iron rather than a clothing iron. However, how to wrap it was a problem as I cannot apply direct heat on the LEDs as the LEDs might melt too. in the end, I used a hot glue gun to melt everything together .

 

During the presentation, it was weird because the wires were connected properly but the tree didn’t light up but when I got home and tested it again, I realized it was a problem with the USB cable I was using. It was fine when I used the power source on the Arduino itself.

Final product:

 

link to PIR sensor concept:

https://learn.adafruit.com/pir-passive-infrared-proximity-motion-sensor/how-pirs-work