Actuator Experimentation

This week we started experimenting with actuators that we think might be helpful for our final project (a sound-sensitive lamp).

LED lights

We started to experiment with LED lights and getting a specific color LED light to turn on depending on the position of the potentiometer. We had a set of 3 LEDs (red, yellow and green) to experiment with. When the potentiometer points to the left, the green light turns on (up to a voltage reading of 341), as you move the potentiometer clockwise, the yellow light turns on (between 342-681 voltage reading) about half way and as you reach the right side, the red light turns on (above the voltage reading of 681).

Piezo

We also made use of a piezo speaker that turned on when it motion was sensed with the ultra-sonic sensor. Using the code that we found, we explored different melodies and ended up using twinkle twinkle little star. We experimented with adjusting the distance needed to set off the sound. The main purpose of the experiment was to figure out how to manipulate the code to play a specific tune.