Callie’s Page


This is my blog from my first semester at ITP. I have since switched to a Notion blog which you can view here.


Fall 2024


Intro to Physical Comp:



Intro to Comp Media:



Hypercinema:






P001 → Week 1 - Switch



I decided to set up my breadboard using the Arduino and my computer for power and was able to get the LEDs to light up (both with a button and without): 



I noticed that two LEDs in series created a veeeery faint illumination, which makes sense based on the readings and lab writeup. 

I’m still not super confident in calculating the appropriate resistance / amount of voltage required for a circuit. I’d like to get better at anticipating the power supply needed based on the specs and layout of the components. 


I was also able to get the potentiometer working (ignore the messy wires and the button, which I forgot to remove from my board but was not wired up). 

At this point I was feeling much more confident understanding the flow of electricity and predicting whether the circuit would run or not.

The picture diagrams on the lab were incredibly helpful but I’m still finding the “real” electronics schematics difficult to interpret. It might be good to challenge myself to wire something using only a schematic in the future. 
Now I started thinking about my original switch idea. I was interested in experimenting with the copper foil/tape and getting a sense for how conductive those materials are. 

I found that it is quite sensitive, but does still require some pressure to get a consistent current. The tape was more reliable than the plain foil (video of me experimenting with the foil). 

There were some project ideas that seemed too difficult to execute (for now). My favorite idea that I nixed was trying to recreate a touch-sensitive plant switch, where a real plant would conduct the electrical trigger to an LED (inspired by this plant lamp, which I own). After some research it seemed like I would need to have some more Arduino knowledge, so maybe that’s a project for the future. 

I spent some time on the junk shelf and found some googly eyes 👀, which inspired my switch design: 



😎 
Sunglasses switch! (video credit Noah D’Orazio). The copper tape on either side is connected to wires, and the sunglasses complete the circuit. 


At first I was thinking it could be a smiley face switch, where adding each component of the face would cause the nose to light up (Mr. Potato Head style). Noah gave me the idea for the sunglasses, which I think is a much more delightful experience. 

I experimented with some different glasses styles, one made of a twisted wire that was stripped on both ‘arms.’ But the pure foil glasses worked much better, and also looked cooler 😎. 

It could be cool to incorportate sound or a motor into this design, and also to refine the aesthetics so that it looks less like a prototype.