Learning Arduino

Before starting  a project of this scale I want to know what I'm doing before I do it.
I want to familiarize myself with the language and the development platform before I engage in any work for the final project.

I have found a valuable resource in the book Arduino Cookbook. I say valuable because the opening line of this book states that it is intended for use by everyone, because it does not assume the reader to have any experience with coding languages, let alone the one that this book is about. This is good for me because I consider myself a beginner, and an asset like this will help me quickly learn terminology and basic functions of using the Arduino, as well as teach me the language so that I can use it myself.
The way that code is written in this book is also tailored for beginners, by having each piece of code clearly defined and illustrated, to allow for a deeper understanding of the subject

I am currently reading through the Getting Started chapters which cover the installation of the software required, and explains each part of the board thoroughly.

Project Meeting 2

The aims of the second meeting was to see how much I had progressed with my research for the Major Project. We also discussed my Idea and how it could be more than it was at the last meeting.

Previously I wanted to create a touchless interface that would allow the user to control the actions on screen without touching or moving a mouse.

This was good, but not necessarily something worth the merit of the major project, and nothing that has not been seen before or done better elsewhere.

So the process of modifying and evolving the idea began.

Many ideas were spit-balled but one that suck with me was sound. What if the user made sound? Or rather, what if the users actions made sound.

What if when the user interacted with the piece, it made or recorded a sound file, that could then be collected or sent to other users. 

Other possibilities include creating the project as a kit. Why make something for the usecr, why mot make something, that they make themselves - this is also another possibility, like a digital musical mecano.

I like this Idea and will base the rest of my work and research on creating this, I will still further develop the idea and turn it into a viable project, but before I feel comfortable giving a final proposal for my idea I still want to do some more research.

Arduino

Since its going to be the backbone of my project, I thought I ought to talk a little about the Arduino and what it does.

"ARDUINO IS AN OPEN-SOURCE ELECTRONICS PROTOTYPING PLATFORM BASED ON FLEXIBLE, EASY-TO-USE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. IT'S INTENDED FOR ARTISTS, DESIGNERS, HOBBYISTS AND ANYONE INTERESTED IN CREATING INTERACTIVE OBJECTS OR ENVIRONMENTS."

 Arduino can be used to sense its environment through receiving input from a variety of input and affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors and other mechanisms (in my case it will be sensing where the user hand is).
The Arduino is programmed using its unique programming language which is based on wiring (an open source programming language which is based on elements of C and C++) and the Arduino Development Environment (based on the processing programming language).
Arduino can be used to create stand alone projects, or be used to communicate with software that is running on a computer like Flash, Processing and MaxMSP.
The software used for running Arduino is available for free from the Arduino website.
The Arduino is available under an open source license meaning that its freely adapted by its users.

Source http://arduino.cc/

Something Physical

Before returning to Uni for third year, I looked into what possibilities were available to me for the project.

I could have gone down the path of creating a web app, an interactive website, some kind of media artefact like an interactive video. But I don't want to make something like that. I want my project to be physical, I want the person using it to be able to hold it, see it in front of them and do something with it. Because of this my research has been mostly headed in one direction - Interactivity.

I have done research into interactivity in the past, spoken about how I believe that touch-screens are one of the least interactive pieces of tech out there. So I want to make something a little different, but I also want to make sure that I can do it, and that it can really be something.

Major Project

Project meeting 1

The objective of the first project meeting is to give the proposal for my idea, and discuss the issues that could come up, attempting to resolve them and put me on my way to starting my project.

Objective of meeting : Project proposal

During the meeting I discussed some Ideas that I have had for my major project.

Ideas I discussed were for a 3D touch-less interface that would control an interactive artefact, like those seen at museums or at conventions. The aim of the project was to use what I had learned from my research to create a touch-less interface that I would use to control the mouse, and thus control what the user can see on-screen.

I also discussed my second idea which was to create an image editing website, that offered more than what is currently out there, like allowing the user to modify the images to a greater extent than just changing colour levels and filters.

From this we further discussed the aims of my project and focused on my original idea, after I explained that the image editing website, was merely an idea that I thought worth mentioning.

Issues relating to the first Idea were :

• Hardware required for project
• Complexity of project
• End purpose for Idea
• Expand Idea and research.

Hardware - What do I need to make it?

One of the main things needed to create my touchless interface is an Arduino, which is a single-board microcontroller which is used for creating electronic projects and making them more manageable and accessible to the likes of artists and media developers.

The arduino required is the UNO, which can be used in various ways, one of which is detecting electronic signals, which I will use in my project, and go into further in another post.

The complexity of the project was also discussed. What am I going to make, and can it be better.

The idea of just using the piece of hardware was also discussed, what would the user be doing, what will it do?

The end purpose of the Idea. What will the user get out of using it? What will it finally do and does it serve a purpose?

All these things taken into consideration I will expand on my research and start looking for alternate ways in which my idea can expand.