The Project
For this project we worked in pairs with a computer to create a code that made a cool robot art show. My partner and I decided to code the theme song from our beloved TV show "Friends." Before we began working on our song, we had many packets full of tasks. We went from using circuit boards with a battery and some wires that lit up a lightbulb to a breadboard with resistors and potentiometers. From there, we started using breadboards and connecting them to an Arduino board which was connected to a computer. This computer had Arduino software downloaded onto it. Arduino was very helpful with this project because it told us how to set up the boards to do different things.
Our code
Circuit diagram
Circuit
An electrical circuit is a complete loop of conductive material from positive to negative sides of a power source.
Current
Current is the flow of electricity through a circuit.
Voltage
Voltage is the potential energy drop across a component of a circuit.
Resistance
Resistance is the measure of how many obstacles (for the current) are present or how much current is slowed.
Series
A series is one where the flow or route of electricity is in one path.
parallel
A parallel circuit is one where the flow or route of electricity has a connection and a branched path for each load; there is more current than a series circuit because there is more resistance.
breadboards
A breadboard is a board for making an experimental model of an electric circuit. This is the board we customized to play our song and hooked up to the computer.
coding
Coding is the process of assigning a code to something for the purposes of classification or identification. This is what we had to type in to get the notes, tempo, frequencies, and songlength to our song.
Reflection
This project was definitely the most challenging, but I learned a lot from it. I was able to work with a good friend, which always makes a school project go much more smoothly. One of the peaks of this project was our ability to adapt to change quickly when we faced problems. You had to pay attention to the slightest details or else none of it would work. One skill I gained was a new attention to detail, because that was necessary for all the little connectors and wires of the breadboard. I also learned how to code on the Arduino program. One thing I could still work on is my work ethic. I could work on this by not going off topic.