DM-UY 1143 IDEATION AND PROTOTYPING FALL 2020
PROCESS BLOG
Create + Document
1. Skateboard Brake: I have been attempting to solve the speed problem of a skateboard on an inclined plane. That problem being: going downhill on wheels is scary with no brakes.
- One key element I need in order to make a braking system is a speedometer. Luckily, I have made speedometers in the past through a spring engineering program at Cooper Union where my team and I made a speed limit sensor that would let drivers know when they have gotten over the speed limit in their area (fig.1). The biggest hurtle to get over when starting to make a speedometer is how to measure and calculate the speed. At first, my team and I (during the spring program) wanted to use GPS to track the speed (as we were planning on implementing this prototype in cars). After many failed attempts, we found the GPS we were trying to program wasn't accurate at all. Especially due to the fact that we were testing it in such a small environment (not to mention the amount of coding a GPS takes), so we had to scrap that idea. With about 2 weeks left to work on our prototype, we settled for Arduino's Ultrasonic sensor so we could at least get a proof of concept. This worked for our project; as you can see in the video, I made the program turn on a green light under a certain speed, a yellow light 5 units above that speed (I assumed some people like to go over the speed limit by about that much), and a red flashing + beeping light anything above that speed. We also used an LCD screen to display your speed and the speed limit. The project was a great start, but the Ultrasonic sensor wont work for real life applications.
Fig. 1
- So this past summer I was watching some informational engineering videos about motors (because I think I wanted to make one, but that's a different project) and I came across a very interesting relationship between a motor and it's battery. So everyone knows a motor spins when connected to a voltage, consequently, if a motor is spun manually it also creates a voltage (fig.2 / 3:45-4:06). I remember seeing this same concept in those electric bikes that turn on a lightbulb the faster you pedal.
- Thinking about the bike-light bulb, I had my own light bulb moment: if I can measure the voltage coming out of a motor, all I need to do is attach the spinning part of the motor to the wheel of the skateboard and once the voltage gets to a certain number, I can make an Arduino engage a brake system. This is something I've never seen anyone do with a speedometer yet and I am curious to see how it fairs in the real world.
- My first task is to measure the voltage coming out of a small DC motor while I am skateboarding. Then I will skate down a hill and see how fast I can go before it gets out of control - that voltage will be my "speed limit".
2. Graphic design in coding:
- Recently, I have been struggling in my Creative Coding class. While in class I do ok copying the code but when it comes time for me to create my own code, I have been lacking the inspiration and ideas to come up with anything interesting. A few days ago, I was thinking about what I am doing in this I + P class and how I used my skills with tools to actually be able to draw (which I've barely ever done before), and I thought, why don't I just apply this same concept of mixing my talents to my coding?
- Instead of having an open ended code that I don't know where I want to end up, I focused on designing something I like to design: posters + graphic designs. My first idea is to just code an animated clock to practice and maybe after that I will code a Watchmen poster that has some sort of animation to it (I thought I could do a drop of blood running down a smiley face pin (if you don't know Watchmen, you should look it up; the movie is awful but the comic is really good).
Fig. 2