March'n onwards...

Hey all,

I am back with some more news and updates on our class project. This past week, Professor Turkel provided us with a couple of great electronic devices! Both sensors, one magnetic and one capacitive, will be placed on our scale model.

capacitive sensor

Working with our magnetic sensor - in the absence of our President, a clear tube, sponge, and magnet will do!

Finally got it to work - but the magnetic attraction is very weak. We will have to look into this more to see whether it is possible to strengthen the charge between the action figure and senor.

Initially, we were going to use only one sensor. However, since we decided to develop an interface, the user will place an object on the scale model. The sensor enables the computer to communicate a message (either a presidential speech or historical information, etc.). Since we have two different types of sensors we can utilize each in a distinct way. First, as previously planned, we will have the user place the president action figure (a magnet will be attached to the bottom) on to the magnetic sensor. Second, we can use a model car to set off the capacitive sensor. Linking the hardware (capacitive and magnetic sensors) to the software (Arduino and Processing) is not as difficult as using the software to convey our historical message. We plan to focus on how to utilize the software tools in our upcoming class.

As promised, this week we purchased the foam core, moss, felt, and wooden doweling! Catherine will post pictures and provide more information on the scale model later today!