Weekly Updates

Getting Started: Lab 1

Mihnea, Stephen, and Alfredo came together with the purpose of developing and implementing an innovative and amusing spin on the common ball-juggling activity. Why juggling? The team had two major reasons for choosing this particular topic:

1. The team believed the concept of juggling balls to be quite interesting and far more fascinating than the other possible choices.
2. None of the members in the team know how to juggle and at the same time they all wish to learn how to do so.
3. Due to the simple design of the juggling ball, it is easier to make modifications

During the first official meeting, the main task accomplished was brainstorming ideas regarding the completion of the LED juggling balls. The team also performed some quick, online scavenging for potentially necessary parts for the balls. Components such as LED lights and accelerometers were found for relatively cheap prices on Amazon.

Analogously to the brainstorming, the team came up with several goals that they wish to achieve with this project:

1. Give the juggling balls an ability to respond in different manners to different situations
2. Provide the balls the capability to change colors 
3. Measure the maximum height the balls traveled
4. Calculate the number of times the balls are thrown 
5. Compute the average speed of the balls 

On a final note, the team was able to divide the responsibilities among its members in the following way:

• Alfredo will take on the team leader role and maintain the blog updated
• Mihnea will be responsible for typing and working on the project proposal
• Stephen will do the writing for the weekly, physical lab journal

Needless to say, every member of the team will be working and aiding in every aspect of the project.

The team concluded their first meeting by interchanging contact information and by figuring out a time that would work best for all of them to meet.


Continuing to Brainstorm: Lab 2

The team continued to discuss possible ways to carry out the project and successfully made the LED juggling balls. The team was able to come up with a simple, first-draft design for the ball and how the Arduino and LED lights will be in-bedded in the ball. The team also researched how other people have made LED balls. Youtube videos in which people do step-by-step explanations of how to make LED balls.

The necessary components were narrowed down into the following list

• Arduino Lilypad board
• LED lights
• Battery
• Juggling ball
• Accelerometer

The team also evaluated another possibility for the project. Rather than doing LED juggling balls, the team considered doing LED juggling clubs. Why clubs? The team was brainstorming and considering more options and the idea of clubs came up. Due to their elongated design, it would be easier to place all the components inside of a club as compared to putting them in a ball. 

Here are quick sketches for both the ball and the club design:

In the end, the team decided to work with the idea of a ball. However, depending on how the project progresses, the team will once again evaluate and make a final decision on which item to use. 

The team has already ordered some of the components through Amazon and is expecting to receive them during the next two weeks. As for now, each team member is working on research, the blog and the project proposal.


Messing around with the Arduino: Lab 3

The team made significant progress during this week. Several tasks were accomplished regardless of lacking the components for the arduino. Lab instructors provided arduinos, wires, LED lights, accelerometers, and resistors in order for the team to try them out.

The team set up the arduino with a LED light in the following way:

There was no battery in the team set up because the arduido board was directly plugged into the computer via USB cable.

With this set up, the team was able to test he basic functions an arduino by having a LED light light up. The team also utilized the arduino program Arduino Software in order to explore a little more. The team programmed the arduino to have the LED light blink every half a second. Furthermore, the team installed a second LED light and had the lights blink alternatively. Due to this small exploration with the arduino, the team now feels more comfortable with the way the arduino works and more confident that they can program it the proper way.

Another feat the team was able to accomplish was to finish ordering the necessary components. By the end of this lab, the team has successfully ordered the following components:

Casing that will act as the juggling ball

Arduino Lilypad Board

LED lights

Polymer Lithium Ion Battery

Axial Gyroscope Accelerometer

The team is expecting these components to arrive between weeks 3 and 4. That being set, the team will begin to design the LED juggling ball with their own materials no later than week 4.

Putting components together: Lab 4

Most of the components arrived last week. In light of this, the team was able to start working with their own materials. After unboxing everything, the Lilypad arduino and the accelerometer where the two components the team familiarized with first. Due to a lack of knowledge, the team had to first research how to assemble the accelerometer and lilypad system. 

An image was found online that depicts how to set up the accelerometer to the arduino:

With this, the team was able to make the proper connections between the arduino and the accelerometer. It was determined that alligator wires would work best with the lilypad arduino. Due to the structure of the lilypad, clamping a wire on the ports would be more efficient than soldering wires onto it. However, due to the size of the alligator wires being to big, the team concluded that it would be best to just soldier the wires. 

In regards to the remaining components (battery and LED lights), they are expected to arrive within the following two weeks. Once those components arrive, the team will be able to work without the need of the components provided by the lab instructors. 

Finally, the team began to work on the figures for design proposal assignment. Since there are three figures than need to be made, the work was split evenly among the three team members. 

Soldering Pieces: Lab 5

As the title points out, this lab was mainly focused on soldering. Wires we soldered on the accelerometer with the purpose of making things easier to handle. By having the wires soldered on, rather than just attached, the accelerometer can be handle easier since the cables won't constantly fall off. A set of prongs was attached to the accelerometer and then the wires were attached to this set of prongs. This made soldering significantly simpler. 

Analogous to the soldering, work was also done on the actual code that will run the program. The programmer attempted to get data from the Arduino and have it print on the computer. Sadly, this task was not accomplished due to a lack of proper set up. The accelerometer had not be entirely soldered and thus, it was difficult to set up the arduino-accelerometer system. However, once the accelerometer was thoroughly soldered and attached to the Arduino, the accelerometer printed date on the computer. At this point in time, it is not 100% clear what the data that is being print means but it is possible to notice a change on the data if the accelerometer is moved up and down. Another thing that was accomplished was getting the sum of the squares of the acceleration in all directions. While the data is a little confusing, it is still possible to interpret the data to some degree.

As time progresses, the Arduino's and the accelerometer's information will be understood and correctly interpreted. For now, everything seems to work properly and accordingly.

Resistance is not futile: Lab 6

Analogous to the title, this lab dealt a lot with resistance. The lab involved resistance in terms of the resistors in the circuit, resistance in terms of the Arduino not cooperating, and resistance in terms of wires not wanting to solder onto the LED lights.

The final components arrived during the later part of last week and were present for this lab. The lithium-ion battery and the pack of fifty LED lights were used during this lab.

Once again, a significant amount of this lab was spent working on the code for the Arduino. The latest progress with the code is the following:

1. The temperature around the accelerometer can be calculated 
2. The gravity around the accelerometer can be calculated
3. The three-dimensional movement of the accelerometer can be calculated
4. The LED lights are able to blink and change colors 

In order to properly set up the LED lights so that they would work in the circuit, the following diagram was followed:

During this lab, several of the LED lights were prepared for their future use when setting up the final circuit. Resistors were soldered to the LEDs probes according to the diagram above. One of these LED-resistor systems was tested with the UNO Arduino. The LED lights up efficiently and changes color.

Also, with the help of the instructors, several concerns were clarified such as how to set up the circuit so that all the LEDs work. The instructors also mentioned that the maximum output current should be determined in order to know how many LEDs can be powered and suggest that it be figured out how much power is need to power an LED in order to determine how much current must be supplied to power everything.

In the end, the circuit works with the UNO Arduino. The plan for next lab is to completely transition into the Lilypad Arduino.


Chaos, chaos everywhere: Lab 7

As implied with the title, this lab involved a significant amount of chaos and inconveniences. The problems were the following:

• The Lilypad Arduino's power plug broke off
• The wires soldered on the accelerometer were to stiff and short
• Lack of materials, due to damaging of current materials

Due to this issues, several actions were taken in order to achieve a solution to each one of new problems.

• It was decided to scrap the Lilypad Arduino and instead use a UNO arduino. This last minute change will alter some things with the project but overall it might be more beneficial than the Lilypad. A simple example of this is the integration of the LED lights. With the Lilypad, attaching LED lights would have been complicated due to only having one ground port. However, the UNO arduino has two ground ports, making the attachment simpler. Alongside the arduino, a shield for the UNO arduino was obtained. This device will make possible the wireless transfer of data to a computer.
• The wires connected to the accelerometer were removed by undoing the soldering. They were replaced with even better wires that are longer and more flexible. These wires will prove to be more efficient. 
• Since the Lilypad was swapped out for the UNO and the UNO is significantly bigger than the Lilypad, the current plastic casing is too small to encase the UNO. Therefore, more plastic balls were ordered, ones with a diameter of 100 mm.

Aside from just chaos, this lab also served as a time to make improvements on the equipment that is being worked with. The Arduino and the accelerometer are now connected via durable, flexible and long wires, making testing much more comfortable.

The slight modifications did limit progress and efficiency for this lab but it is very probable that things will be back on track by next lab.


Almost there: Lab 8

This lab was very productive one, unlike the previous one. Several issue were resolved. Analogous to that, a battery for the UNO arduino was ordered.

The UNO arduino and the accelerometer work well together. The possibility of receiving the accelerometer's data through a wireless receiver and print the it on the computer is still being worked towards. The current code allows for the LED light to change when the whole system is thrown.

This lab was more focused on the electric circuit that will be running the LED juggling ball. Up to this point, a very primitive prototype was used in order to demonstrate the progress thus far. It was primitive due to the fact that it only used one LED light. During this lab, this primitive prototype was upgraded to a less primitive one. The one LED light was removed and replaced with a set of five LED lights set in parallel, similar to the following diagram.

The difference between the electric circuit in this diagram and the electric circuit in the juggling ball prototype is the fact that in the prototype, the LED lights being used have four pins (red, green, blue and ground). Due to the four pins, the electric circuit has four parallel wires rather than just two. Each LED has three 1 k-ohm resistor at the three color pins.

Having this done is a great relief to the project. Now that the electric circuit and the code are completed, the next step will be to put everything together. Next lab will be spent in securing the accelerometer and the electric circuit onto the Arduino and then placing the entire system inside the plastic casing. Once this is achieved, the prototype will be ready for full, legitimate testing.


It all comes down to this: Lab 9

This lab was spent, for the most part, finalizing the juggling ball prototype.

Up to this point, the electric circuit has been completed and is working successfully. Between last lab and this lab, the electric circuit was completely redone. The electric circuit that was assembled by the end of lab 8 was composed of four wires that had the resistors and the LED attached to it. However, a better idea was reached. Rather than doing the circuit just on wires, it was decided to make the circuit using a prototype breadboard. The electric circuit works the same way as the wires. The end product of the electric circuit looks like this:

The new casing, a bigger diameter clear-plastic ball, arrived over the weekend. Now that the casing arrived, all the components were placed inside. Everything fits nicely. Thus, the actual juggling ball has been assembled.

Also, some wires were altered in order to improve efficiency. The wires that are attached to the accelerometer were shortened in order to make assembly much simpler.

The final steps include placing a sponge inside the casing in order to protect the components when the ball is tossed, seal the casing, and polish the code.