Making Toys

Updates from February, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Yury Gitman 3:05 pm on February 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  :::prototype 1::: 

  The idea for the first prototype was to create a grid made out of 9 red LEDs and 3 white ones. The cycle of time would be of 30 seconds. Each white LED would lit up every 10 sec and the red ones would count up from 1-9 every time. The code it is not working the way I envisioned yet . This is the first iteration of the first prototype. The grid of LED's is mounted on hard velum paper and placed inside a box also made of velum. The velum provides for a nice diffuse light from the LEDs.

  
  

  ::Front view of box with LEDs inside on a grid::

  
  

  
  

  ::Back view of the grid::

  
  

  

  
  

  I utilized clay to keep the LEDs in place. I will use hot glue once I figure out what is the best arrangement for the LEDs
  

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  Yury Gitman 1:38 pm on February 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Prototype I – Time :: Kirsten Halterman 

  In exploring the passage of time, I created a pyramid using different colored LEDs. The pyramid grows from bottom to top with first the orange LEDs, then the green LEDs, and finally, the blue LEDs. Initially, I placed the blue LEDs on the bottom followed by the orange and then red LEDs. After testing, however, I discovered that the brightest LEDs were the blue ones. So, for a more dramatic effect, I placed them on the top. After reaching the top of the pyramid, the blue LEDs blink three times before decending down the pyramid.

  The top most point of the pyramid is connected to the “1” hole on the Arduino – this keeps it lit at all times.

  Because my experience with code is somewhat limited, I "faked" the speed of the lights to visually make it seem like the rows were blinking together. For example, the two orange LEDs at the bottom of the pyramid are blinking one after another but the speed at which they are blinking make them appear as if it were the same time.

  My sketch:

  
  

  Working Photo:

  
  

  Photo of Board, Arduino & Photo of Project in Enclosure:

  
  

  Code

  Three weeks ago, I'd never heard of an arduino or breadboard – much less played around with them. This first project gave me some initial exposure and I enjoyed playing around with the code, breadboard, and arduino. My project is incredibly simple but I’m excited about learning more!

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• 

  Yury Gitman 11:52 am on February 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Time – The dying arrow 

  

  The dying arrow is a project made of red and orange LEDs, that are all HIGH , and then turn one to one LOW. Such as a neon symbol not functioning well in bars, the "dying arrow" shows the passage of time where life goes off.

  
  

     
  

  I really enjoyed the rough aspect of my prototype, where you can see the wire, as well as the reflection of the red LEDs on the shiny black paper.

  I want my piece to preserve a rough aspect as a mechanism of the old times, and I will put mirrors around it to enhance its life and death.

  I had a hard time trying several possibilities in my code. It is not finished yet, and need to work on it a lot more! But it shows all the LEDs on HIGH with two of them blinking.

  I didn't use arrays because I couldn't get it working as I wanted.

  /* Myriam Aboukhater – code for the "Dying Arrow"

  13 LEDs are on HIGH at first, then they blink and pass on LOW one at a time

  */

  int Pin1 = 1;

  int Pin2 = 2;

  int Pin3 = 3;

  int Pin4 = 4;

  int Pin5 = 5;

  int Pin6 = 6;

  int Pin7 = 7;

  int Pin8 = 8;

  int Pin9 = 9;

  int Pin10 = 10;

  int Pin11 = 11;

  int Pin12 = 12;

  int Pin13 = 13;

  int value = HIGH;                // previous value of the LED

  long previousMillis = 0;        // will store last time LED was updated

  long interval = 1000;           // interval at which to blink (milliseconds)

  void setup()

  {

    pinMode (Pin1, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin2, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin3, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin4, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin5, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin6, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin7, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin8, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin9, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin10, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin11, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin12, OUTPUT);

    pinMode (Pin13, OUTPUT);  

  }

  void loop()

  {

    digitalWrite (Pin1, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin2, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin3, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin4, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin5, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin6, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin7, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin8, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin9, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin10, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin11, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin12, HIGH);

    digitalWrite (Pin13, HIGH);

    // if (millis() – previousMillis > interval) {

      //previousMillis = millis();   // remember the last time we blinked the LED

    

      if (value == HIGH) {

       digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW);   // sets the LED on

        delay(70);                  // waits for a second

        digitalWrite(Pin3, HIGH);    // sets the LED off

        delay(70);                  // waits for a second

        

        digitalWrite(Pin7, LOW);   // sets the LED on

        delay(10);                  // waits for a second

        digitalWrite(Pin7, HIGH);    // sets the LED off

        delay(10);                  

      }    

       

    }

      }

   

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• 

  Yury Gitman 9:07 am on February 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Passage of Time / Ira Goldberg 

  My passage of time is a sheep counting night lamp. The idea is to visualize the sheep counting action and use the lights as another way to fall asleep. I used colored and white paper in which I made holes in different patterns. 

   

  

   
  http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3157124&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
  Sheep Counting from Ira Goldberg on Vimeo.

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  Yury Gitman 5:21 am on February 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Time Piece from [far & old] East 

  

  

    Okay so originally I did a time piece using LEDs in hour glass formation shown above….but then I got kinda bored with the thing. 

  —

    I remembered  when I took a trip to Vietnam many summers ago I heard someone chiming a symbol and stroking a drum in the middle of the night!….I found out that the sound was the village time keeper anouncing the time in Chinese zodiac notation. So hear is my ode to mr. one-man-band, batteries included, chime man time keeper guy.

  This rough is prototype v1.5.  The next version will have all 12 animals & represent the passing of one full day - ancient analog – digital mash up style. 

  

  dragon cometh [1976, 1988 by the by]

  

  "there…Grrrrreat…."

  

  "silly wabbit PIC-Chips are for are for kids" (jp i like pic chips too)

   

  party like an animal!

   

  Cheers!

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  Linhda Le is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    Linhda Le 3:00 am on February 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    That’s kind of cool!!

• 

  Yury Gitman 2:22 am on February 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Time based Arduino/LEDs 

  Second prototype of the Arduino LED time piece. This time is much
  higher fidelity. I got some nice clear round enclosures from the
  container store, and customized them to created a really nice feeling
  container for the project. I used a dremel tool to create openings for
  power and USB, and sanded the lid down to create a nice diffusing
  effect. Inside the enclosure, I have an array of 12 LEDs in a circular
  pattern, grounded in series and connected to power pins on the Arduino
  individually. They are connected using wire-wrapping and hot glue. I am diffusing them further through two more layers of plastic and some paper, however the effect is minimal at best. I think I need a taller container or need to work with more LEDs (possibly 2 per pin?) to create a more uniform circular shape like I want. You can see the various ways that
  I programmed it in the video (if there is no video i’m waiting on Vimeo to upload it and it’ll be up shortly…be patient please!)

  http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3156703&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
  Arduino LED Time Prototype 2 from Steve Varga on Vimeo.

  Here’s the code:

  Download Prototype2_00

  
   

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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