- Due Feb 1 at the start of class
- Meet IRL next week!
- Create a project using at least two LEDs
- No additional components yet, see what you can do with just LEDs!
- Turn in a photo of your project and a short description of what it does on Canvas
- Bring next week:
- All the supplies you ordered
- A USB cable that fits your board/computer
- Your laptop/charger
- Sketchbook or notebook
"Calculation and reasoning, like weaving and ploughing, are work, not for human souls, but for clever combinations of iron and wood" — Mary Everest Boole
This week, we'll limit oursleves to just your microcontrollers and a handful of LEDs. No fancy sensors, motors, etc yet; instead, the goal is to get comfortable with programming, uploading code to your board, and thinking creatively!
A few "rules" for this project:
- Use at least two LEDs
- Either on/off or pulse-width modulation (PWM)
- No other inputs/outputs other than LEDs!
- But any other materials you want to incorporate are great (found objects, sculptural, drawing/painting, etc)
🙋♀️ Creative rule-breaking is encouraged in this class! Embrace the limitations and think about what novel, interesting, fun, meaningful, and/or surprising things you can make with such simple means.
Getting stuck is a normal part of these kinds of projects. We're covering a ton of new material across a range of fields. Learning where and how to get help when you're stuck is an important skill.
If you find yourself stuck, I would suggest:
- Take a break! Go get lunch or take a walk – you'd be amazed how helpful giving your brain a break can be
- Explain the problem to a friend, either IRL or in an email (you don't even have to send it!)
If that doesn't work, you can try:
- Email me!
- Circuit Python overview
- Post to the Adafruit forum
- Way more detail on Circuit Python (probably most helpful if you've done some Python before)
- Tatsuo Miyajima's piece C.T.C.S. Flower Dance, which embeds LEDs in the surface of six mirrors, and work from their show at Lisson Gallery
- Jim Campbell's super-low-res videos made using custom LED panels
- A student project that displays morse code images in the sky... from a satellite!
- Find something cool that relates to our project? Please share it!