04/04/22 In Class Demonstration

For today’s lab session, we each gave a presentation in which we shared the current progress of our designs and some of the trials and tribulations we have encountered.

It is always reassuring to hear of the work of others and know that you’re not alone in your endeavors and that everyone struggles with something.

Jade’s presentation on her piano design was really insightful as to the playability and functionality of her device. Tolu’s project was very inspirational as he had taken the time to fully understand his code which is something I am personally struggling with. Emily’s project was interesting as she has taken her design from the previous year and decided to improve on her previous work with the power of self reflection which will surely render her work much better, due to the lessons learned from last year.

Questions and feedback are crucial when designing a project like this as things you might overlook can be pointed out to you by others, giving you the chance to reconcile before you have to submit them.

4th April – Presentations

Lecture

In the lecture today we discussed ways in which you can document the process if our projects so that we know the aspects of development that have occurred throughout our projects. We discussed there categories:

  • Visual (videos, pictures and diagrams)
  • Written (Blog posts, publications and lab notes)
  • Code repo (GitHub blog posts)
  • Quantitative and qualitative data (Excel spreadsheets)

Lab

Today we all completed a 10 minute presentation of how far we have come with our projects so far and explained any aspects that we still needed to complete. We all then graded each other on four different aspects of our presentations which included:

  • Clarity
  • Complexity
  • Aesthetics
  • functionality

Those of us that have managed to get sound to work with our projects have shown how they can be used. Below I have included the slides for my presentation so that you can see the progress that I have made with my Arduino project. In the presentation slides there is also a video of my project so far and the issues that I have been faced with.

Although I am having an issue with the fact that the code is struggling to work with my project, after meeting with my peers today I see where the issue is and how I can change my code so that it works successfully.

It is also interesting to see how far we have all come with our projects individually as we have all been given the same brief but chosen to approach it differently.

Presentation-for-ArduinoDownload

4th April – Lab – In class Demo

In the lab each of us presented our ideas and designs so far showing the development of our models. We used presentation for better visual demonstration making sure to score each other on the complexity, functionality, aesthetics and clarity of presentation. This allowed us to get feedback and comments positive and negative to help us further develop our designs.

The feedback I got was really helpful in letting me know exactly the areas that I need to attend to for my project. I have made notes on this and can now move forward positively after positive constructive feedback.

13. Presentations

In this week’s session we are doing our presentations about our project.

Here is my presentation

https://www.canva.com/design/DAE86Losci0/ARRsRAyv1akgWU9OWyLNmQ/view?utm_content=DAE86Losci0&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

I thought that today’s lab was successful as we were able to show that we knew what we want to do for our projects and be able to explain them to others.

I think it was helpful to get any feedback/questions to think about, while we can still change our code/circuits and interfaces/case.

Now it’s just being able to build the final version of our projects.

28/03/22 Lab & Seminar Blog Post

During this mornings session, we watched and gave feedback on a great presentation by Dr. Rebecca Stewart, based around electronic music interfaces, primarily using unconventional materials like fabrics or textiles. It was very helpful to see and witness how one can experiment with somewhat traditionally sourced materials.

This is a screenshot of one of the projects featured within the presentation, by Afroditi Psarra

In the lab session, we revised last weeks topics and began working towards our final projects independently. I personally tried to resolve some software issues I am having with MAX/MSP but they are persisting which is causing me great frustration. I am at this stage considering switching to Pure-Data instead, before I am too far into this project and I cannot change program as I have committed too much time into one software.

21st March Lab – Tolu

Seminar: In the seminar I did my presentation of potential ideas and inspirations that I have had for my project. This was a good way of presenting my project and also getting feedback from my peers as to ways I could improve my ideas, things I can add, and how to go about documenting my work.

Lab: In the lab we were looking at our individual projects. We were introduced to how we can access softwares that will help us to build the casing of our projects. In my case I know that in order for me to progress to the stage of case design etc I would need to make sure that my code works, my circuit is built and everything works accordingly so that I can accommodate this with my casing. I was able to grab inspirations from different Arduino keyboard projects and this helped me to understand the coding of tones and what numbers to type regarding the tone I desire. This has made my job easier for next lab as I can then come to the lab with the correctly selected codes.

21/03/22 Lab and Seminar Blog

In this morning’s session, Tolu gave a great presentation on some projects that inspire his project and gave a great insight into his thought process into how he decided his final project.

For the lab session, we began with a recap of last week which we then followed by an informative session around remote access of the DMU computers which in turn gives us access to software such as SolidWorks which is a material design/3d printing and construction software that will be crucial for us to

A Screenshot of a half sphere created within SolidWorks

The second phase of the lab was spent checking fitting within the enclosure and trying to work out creative ways in which I can get the most out of my circuit and make it a unique, interesting project.

21st March – working with SOLIDWORKS

Lecture

Today one Tolu presented his presentation about the ideas that he had for his project and spoke about how far he’d come with his project already. We also watched a short video about someone who had produced a similar project to our own final pieces. It was interesting to see someone else’s take on the project that we are facing.

Lab

In the lab we looked at the progress that each of us had made in regards to our projects and gained any materials that we needed. We were introduced to the software called SOLIDWORKS that can be used in order to create 2D and 3D designs for your work. Below is an image of me experimenting with this software but as we have a limited time slot for the lesson I decided to use Word to create a simple design.

This is a picture of me working with SOLIDWORKS in the class.

I think that using this piece of software when creating 3D models to print would be very useful as you ca see your piece in multiple dimensions however I think that I would have to practice with this software many times to truly understand how I can create my vision.

As you can see below, I have decided to make my model template using Word as I will be producing the case for my final piece myself by using plastic and tools.

This is the very simple model that I made during the lesson to visualize what I am trying to create for my final piece.

I found today useful as I gained knowledge of another piece of software that I can use for any designing that I wanted to do for my project. It was also interesting to use VM Horizon as this allows you to access the university computers from home which I hadn’t used before.

14Th March Lab – Tolu

Seminar – In the seminar, we had 2 presentations from colleagues of potential ideas that they have for their projects. We scored them according to their complexities, aesthetics and functionality out of 4. We also scored them on their presentation skills out of 4.

Lab – In the lab we recapped on the learning of the previous weeks and went down to the mechanical workshop to tour and understand what we can do. In the tour we were given the availabilities of materials, tools and different options we could take in making our cases. With the options I’ve been provided I was able to get many potential idea of how I would want my project to look like. With all these branches of ideas, I still need to make sure I plan accordingly to the electronic and audio parts of my project the proceed to design casings and structures.

I am planning on using the mechanical workshop to create my casing. My idea is to produce a miniature keyboard/piano running from C to C. when a button is pressed it will play a tone that aligns with the scales of a piano. Tones should be able to be played at any time when the circuit is working.

9. Guided Tour and Project Development

Today’s Lab was split out over the following tasks:

  1. Guided Tour of The Mechanical Workshop
  2. Project Development
  1. Guided Tour of the Mechanical Workshop

What is the mechanical Workshop?

The Mechanical Workshop is a workshop where we can build/create the physical components of our projects.

Who are the contact persons?

When can you go?

Monday and Friday are the best day. But Any Day within university open times.

Where is it located?

Towards the back of the Queens Building. If you were to come in via the back entrance of Queens and continue past the stairs and lift through that door. This will lead to a corridor where you go strait ahead into the main part of the Queens Building. The mechanical workshop is down the right side corridor.

Why you should go?

It is helpful for those who need tools to build their projects.

Also if you would want to cutout materials

How are you planning to use the mechanical workshop?

Links for project

Rotary Switch Potentiometer Hookup Guide – learn.sparkfun.com

Potentiometer: How it Works? – Codrey Electronics

Electronics Basics – How a Potentiometer Works | Random Nerd Tutorials