This week’s assignment required us to design a straightforward circuit switch without the use of our hands. When thinking about how to remove the hands from creating a switch I thought of the area further up the arm which was the bicep and forearm. The switch turns on by flexing my bicep muscle and completing the circuit.
I began by building a basic circuit that would turn on the LED whenever the circuit was closed. Then I unplugged the ground from the main + and – bus on the breadboard and removed the power to the LED row. I decided to use aluminum foil, which functions as an electrical conductor, to complete the circuit and turn on the switch. The connection was then redirected onto a piece of aluminum foil using wires and a jumper to attach. I was able to close the circuit by securing the piece of aluminum foil to the top of my bicep and bottom of my forearm. This allowed me to complete the circuit by flexing my bicep which brought the 2 pieces of aluminum together and completed the circuit and turn on the LED.