this week's assignment involves electronics prototyping, which I've been looking forward to since, more or less, the beginning of time, so I wanted to attempt a few different projects. I really wanna get my hands dirty and experiment with everything!
one of the projects I'm working on is a drawBot, which first involves 3d printing the necessary parts to build the bot; I was able to print the pieces at the design lab at school in just under three hours.
now that I have the plastic parts needed, along with scissors, a mini screwdriver, a zip tie and a rubber band, I'm just waiting on the micro servo motors to arrive so I can construct the bot and move on to the programming!
while waiting on the micro servers, as well as the RGB LEDs required for a different project I intend to complete, I decided to experiment with the lilypad arduino, learning how to sew it to fabric with conductive thread. luckily, after an hour or so of reading, learning, messing up and trying again, I was able to get the lilypad and battery pack correctly sewn to a tote I had lying around, + to + and - to -, without any overlap, so that it could be powered and working without any computer connections.
the next step would be adding red LEDs to the heart and programming them to light up in some sort of compelling pattern or design. this specific project does not interest me much, it is merely a first attempt at experimenting with the lilypad arduino, an opportunity to learn and practice so I can create awesome wearable and textile electronic projects in the future.
final project page can be seen /here/