DMA Day 1
Date: 12.8.13
Time: 12:00
Location: Hammarskjold House, Stanford University
This morning began my first day at the Digital Media Academy at Stanford University. During this week-long program I will be studying how to build and program robots using the Arduino programming language. We will have the opportunity to create pieces and attachments for our bots using a 3D printer, then create original code for the pieces we have created! It is a great combination of learning existing standard programming language as well as having the opportunity to attempt original code.
This morning began with some basic work, familiarizing ourselves with the Arduino. We started by attempting to spell our names using Morse code and a LED. We then added another LED and distributed the code across the two lights. The first light would display the dots and the second would show dashes. They would alternate according to the words they were told to show.
Next we created "if-then" statements to light the LEDs separately. We programmed the lights to blink independently, giving them the ability to blink at different rates. This is important for being able to control motors, especially when making turns.
We then stripped wires to connect different circuits on our breadboard. It was a struggle.
Once the wires were added we configured the LEDs to light up when a switch was turned on, and go dark when the switch was turned off. We did this by modifying a demo code instead of creating our own program from scratch, since much of the code is the same throughout different functions. This was then complicated by making one light blink constantly while another was controlled by the switch. This was more complicated than just having the light blink because these commands need not contain a delay command. The delay command stops the complete processor from working, meaning everything stops as opposed to allowing multiple functions to run at the same time.
Our final piece of programming involved playing tones with a speaker. We were able to convert notes to tones by programming them into a numerical value. These values are played in succession to make a song.
At the end of the week, after building and programming our robots, we will complete a challenge. The challenge is to knock plastic cups over or collect ping-pong balls for points. The winner would have the most points.
Time: 12:00
Location: Hammarskjold House, Stanford University
This morning began with some basic work, familiarizing ourselves with the Arduino. We started by attempting to spell our names using Morse code and a LED. We then added another LED and distributed the code across the two lights. The first light would display the dots and the second would show dashes. They would alternate according to the words they were told to show.
Next we created "if-then" statements to light the LEDs separately. We programmed the lights to blink independently, giving them the ability to blink at different rates. This is important for being able to control motors, especially when making turns.
We then stripped wires to connect different circuits on our breadboard. It was a struggle.Once the wires were added we configured the LEDs to light up when a switch was turned on, and go dark when the switch was turned off. We did this by modifying a demo code instead of creating our own program from scratch, since much of the code is the same throughout different functions. This was then complicated by making one light blink constantly while another was controlled by the switch. This was more complicated than just having the light blink because these commands need not contain a delay command. The delay command stops the complete processor from working, meaning everything stops as opposed to allowing multiple functions to run at the same time.
Our final piece of programming involved playing tones with a speaker. We were able to convert notes to tones by programming them into a numerical value. These values are played in succession to make a song.
At the end of the week, after building and programming our robots, we will complete a challenge. The challenge is to knock plastic cups over or collect ping-pong balls for points. The winner would have the most points.
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