As I am working with both hardware and software, both backend and front end development of this device I will need to know how to make, create and perform this device. As I am relatively new to this form of Human-Computer-Interaction using sensors input, I will be documenting my learning through the use of online forums and online communities as an approach to remote learning. User testing will involve my housemates who I will refer to as Mr. Pink, Mr. Brown, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Orange and Mr. White, when doing the user testing of prototypes
Below I will be documenting my learning through the use of Arduino Sensors and Processing environment. In the first part i cover the necessary sensors, later I will have video prototypes of using such sensors with user feedback. Finally, I will be implementing the feedback with respect to the results from user testing.
Sensors
1. Potentiometer
A potentiometer is a three wired resistive device. It is a variable resistor that can be adjusted by altering the voltage by using a range of different forms such as; sliders, single turn pots and rotary pots.
3. Flex Sensors
A flex sensor is a restive sensor use to calculate the angle of a bend, commonly used in the field of DataGloves. Bend sensors offer data values that record the flex of the sensor strip.
2. Accelerometer
An accelerometer is used to record data acceleration from a fixed location, some accelerometers are used in readings in the x, y and z axis. In my example I am using a GY-521 Accelerometer, Gyro and Tempreture sensor.
Potentiometer
In order to use the potentiometer I had to connect it to the circuit board via the Arduino. For this I used; a rotator potentiometer, 3 jumper cables and my Arduino Uno. Demonstrated ion the figure below
I have been using a potentiometer to alter the size and direction of an ellipse shape. The video below is a demonstration of the code. I will be running user testing on the code by kindly asking my housemates to participate. Ideally I would have done this using a mixture of artists such as performers or musicians and the rest being users who would commonly be unfamiliar with generating music or artwork to achieve more reliable results from the user testing
The video on the left (Figure 1.1) is a demonstration of a ball moving along the horizon line which is controlled by a rotary potentiometer. The circle moves along the x-axis, as the voltage on the potentiometer ranges from 0 to 255, 0 being on the left side and 255 being on the right side of the screen. The video on the right (Figure 1.2) depicts an ellipse that can expand or retract from the center. As the user moves the potentiometer the ellipse grows larger as the data received reaches up to 255 and smaller the closer as the data received falls towards 0.
Flex Sensor.
Flex sensors are common in the field of VR and machinery to determine the angle of something. It has ben widely used in data gloves and measurement of biological motion. Flex sensors could be used as a switch or controller of some visual animation swell as tits sue in changes in pitch in Digital instruments intended for creating music.
I connected 2 jumper cables to the circuit board with a 10k Ohm resistor connected to ground. The circuit diagram is demonstrated in the digram below. I then soldered the Flex Sensor to jumper wire so they could be more usable able as a wearable.
Accelerometer
The sensors that I have been using is the GY-521/MPU-6050 that uses a 3-axis accelerometer, 3 axis gyroscope, a temperature sensor and a digital motion processor (DMP). The accelerometer is used to measure the acceleration in a single direction and the gyroscope measures the angular acceleration on a single axis. Allowing the accurate measurements of both independently on the same axis.
Using the Arduino built in Library (wire) to establish a connection using Jeff Rowberg’s 12C device library, using the digital motion processor, to allow for communication between Arduino and the GY-521 Sensor. The example code I will be using is the MPU6050_DMP6 in the serial monitor.
