HW 5: Creative Switch using a trash bin

Inspiration

Making a creative hands-free switch that could turn on a light inside a trash can served as the motivation for this project. The intention was to design a switch that could be activated with the foot or another body part, eliminating the need to touch the trash can with your hands. This could be useful in situations where your hands are dirty or full, and you want to avoid the spread of germs or in the case where the room is dark.

Concept

The concept for the switch was to use two pieces of aluminum foil attached to any two surfaces of the trash bin that come in contact as soon as the pedal of the trash bin is pressed. When the bin is opened, the foils come into contact, completing the circuit and allowing current to flow through an LED. The switch is powered by an Arduino board, and the LED provides visual feedback to let the user know when the switch has been activated.

Implementation

To implement the switch, I first attached two conductive aluminum foils to the lining of the trash bin, making sure they were securely attached and wouldn’t come loose over time. I then connected one wire to the positive terminal of the LED and the other wire to the positive terminal of the Arduino board (3.3V). I connected the negative terminal of the LED to the ground terminal of the board, completing the circuit.

When the trash bin is opened, the two wires come into contact, allowing current to flow through the LED and light it up. The LED provides visual feedback to the user, letting them know that the switch has been activated.

Pictures

Circuit Image

Aluminum foil plates

Challenges

One of the main challenges I faced was making sure that the conductive wires were securely attached to the lining of the trash bin. I experimented with a few different adhesives before finding one that worked well. I also tried out by putting the foil in different parts of the trash can before finally finding a place that remained completely hidden to the user and would definitely come in contact every time the bin was opened. Another challenge was making sure that the wires were positioned in such a way that they wouldn’t come into contact accidentally and complete the circuit when the switch wasn’t being used.

Reflections

I am pleased with how the switch turned out. It is simple yet effective, and it meets the goal of creating a hands-free switch for a trash bin light. I learned a lot about working with conductive materials and designing circuits, and I feel that this project could be a useful starting point for other similar projects in the future.

Week 8- Unusual Switch

IDEA DEVELOPMENT

To answer the prompt of this assignment, my goal was to create a simple circuit with an usual switch which would open or close the circuit while being creative with my idea. I spent sometime thinking of what i could possibly do that’d be unusual. I was finally able to come up with an idea- to use equipment readily available to me( a cup and teaspoon )

VIDEO

Concept

The circuit is just a basic one made up of wires, a resistor, power source( arduino. board ), an LED, a bread board and a switch. The switch is the only unusual thing about the circuit. Since a switch is anything capable of opening or closing the circuit, i decided to go with a teaspoon and a cup of water. This was to make use of the fact that metals and water are good conductors of electricity. I had the wires ( one connecting to the anode metal strip of the LED and the other connected to the cathode strip ) connected to the spoon and one in the cup containing the water. When the spoon is placed in the cup containing the water, the circuit becomes a closed conducting path which allows the flow of charges to the LED and then it turns on.

Assignment 5: Unusual Switch

Concept

As part of the 5th Assignment of Intro to IM, being tasked with using creativity to build a switch, I tried to think of a practical use case of such a switch. In the process of brainstorming, while I was having water in a mug, I tried to sip but realized the mug was empty. This triggered an idea for me to design a mug, which essentially indicates the level of water that remains within it.

Implementation

With limitations of equipment available, I had to make do with the things I had around me and within the Kit provided.Hence, I decided to use three lights, which could intuitively indicate the level of water in the mug – Red (Low), Yellow (Medium), and Green (High). As for the mug, to demonstrate the idea, I decided to use a transparent container (which I got with my Iftar Meal from D2), and connected the + (Power/Positive) of the three LED Bulbs at different levels, and connected Ground at the lowest level. Hence, when there was water in the Container, the LED Bulbs would light up according to the level of water that was left in the container.

Pictures of Circuit

With this, I produced the following circuit:

Demo Video

A demo video, in detail, can be seen here:

Improvements

While the existing version of the tool does not use any code, the utilization of the Arduino Coding Environment could make it more advanced, such that allowing us to only have the ‘highest level’ of LED switched on. In our case, when the water level is the highest, all three LEDs stay switched on, and with code we could reduce that to the light only on that level being switched on.

Lock and Key – Unusual Switch

Concept

I recently decided to embark on a fun and useful project – creating a switch that would only complete the circuit when the key is inserted into the lock of my drawer. Not only does this switch serve a practical purpose by indicating when the key is in the lock, but it’s also a fun addition to my space that sparks conversation and adds a touch of personality.

Method

To create my unique switch, I utilized a simple but effective technique – taping one end of the wire to the lock and the other end to the key. By doing so, when the key is inserted into the lock, the circuit is completed, and the LED bulb lights up.

The use of tape not only makes this project accessible and easy to create, but it also provides a certain level of flexibility. By adjusting the position of the tape and wire, I was able to ensure that the circuit would only be completed when the key is fully inserted into the lock.

Reflection

Overall, I’m really proud of my Arduino-powered switch. It’s a unique and creative way to add some personality to my space while also serving a useful function. And because it’s powered by an Arduino, I can always modify it or integrate it with other devices in the future. I’m excited to see what other projects I can come up with using this Arduino.

Week 8 – Unusual Switch

Concept and Method

For this project, I wanted to make a fun switch, like the mustache one. So, I made two stick/wire figures that held aluminum foil in their hands and when they high five/fist bump, the bulb lights up. The figures are attached to my shoes so I move them using my feet. While this is not a practical switch, I really enjoyed being creative with it!

Future Improvements

Another thing that can be tried later is that instead of making their hands meet, I can attach the wires directly to my shoes so whenever the shoes touch, the bulb will light up.

Unusual Switch | Mouth Stick

Inspiration

In my favorite movie “The Intouchables”[1+1, alternatively], the main character Philippe is a disabled person, and he is paralyzed below his neck. There was a moment in the film when it was shown how he uses the mouth stick, instead of hands, to turn pages of the physical book. Mouth stick is a useful tool for those who do not have hand functionality and need assistance with writing, typing, pointing, or turning a page of a book as in the movie.

For this homework assignment, I tried to replicate the idea in a quite abstract way of using mouth to touch a panel and let LED light signal that the touch occurred. It may be useful on an idea basis as the signal to turn the page using digital devices with touch sensors now.

Implementation

Implementation is very similar to the circuit we built in class using LED light. The difference lied in adding two more wires that were also covered in aluminum foil as the conductive material. One of the wires was connected to a cardboard panel covered by foil, while the other one was connected to a plastic straw that I used to replicate mouth stick. The foils/wires had to touch with each other to make circuit complete and let LED turn on. When there was no contact, LED light was off. Thus, touching panel with mouth stick was signaled by turning on LED light.

Demo

Unusual Switch

Concept

I tend to misplace and forget to carry with me 3 things a lot: my AirPods case, my wallet, and my keys. So for this assignment, I decided to create a tool that would incentivize me to put those things together in one spot and never misplace them again.

Process

I wanted to create a board that would make the LED light up when I had all 3 of my belongings on top of it. I started off by first building the circuit we built in class without the switch and creating an opening where I could add the switches. I used pieces of an aluminum container as my conductor to both lengthen jumper wires and act as a switch. simple LED circuit Step 1

Then I built the bottom part of the board: a piece of paper with a line of aluminum but with 3 openings that act as my switches in series – when there are conductors that connects all four pieces of aluminum the switches are all “on” and so is the light. At this step, I also lengthened my “wire” by using a double jumper wire.

Step 2

From here I built the top part which consisted of another piece of paper with small pieces of aluminum that would connect to the pieces on the bottom when there is pressure applied to them and disconnect when there was no pressure. This step surprisingly took the longest because my first prototype (pictured in the top right corner below) did not turn out as I intended it. Step 3

I ended up putting 2 smaller and one bigger piece of aluminum after some experimentation and seeing what worked and did not work. Here I faced the challenge of making the paper “bounce back”, disconnecting the wires when I removed the objects, and thus turning off the LED light. My solution to this problem was to fix the top part slightly concaved down so that the default state of my board would be “disconnected”.

Final Product

Circuit Diagram

Unusual Switch

Idea

For this assignment, I struggled to come up with a creative way of connecting a switch without the use of hands. So during one of my stress cleaning episodes in my room, when I tapped on my trash bin to throw something in, the light bulb went off in my mind. That’s why I created a switch that connects when the lid of the bin closes and the light turns on.

How it works

I used the following set up of the circuit. I connected two of the wires with tape because I needed more length for the wire attached to the lid of the bin. A coin is also taped at the end of this wire to increase the surface area of contact between this wire and the one attached to the rim of the bin.

Future improvement

For future implementations, I would somehow want the light to turn on when the lid is open instead and position the wires in a way that it does not disrupt the usage of the bin. Or maybe if a green light turns on if the bin is closed and red light turns on if bin is open.

Week 8 – Birthday Switch

Concept

For this week’s assignment we were to create an unusual switch. Since it was one of my suitemates birthday, I decided to create a switch using a birthday blower. The idea was that it would open and hit a grounding wire and connect it to another grounding wire which would close the circuit consisting of three diodes in parallel.

The Circuit

The circuit was pretty straightforward to implement. Having taken A2 Level Physics, I still remember most of the content from Electricity and Circuits. Since voltage divides over elements (Three 2.0-2.4V diodes) in series, the 5.0V supply was not enough to run the circuit in series. Hence, I decided to connect them in parallel and maintain the same voltage across the different components. Below is the circuit diagram.

In order to connect the two grounding wires, I used copper wire/tape. By attaching the two ends of the grounding wires to a piece of double-sided tape, and appending the copper wire to the end of the birthday blower, I was able to close the circuit. The challenging part was aiming the end of the device such as to close the circuit properly. It took a few tries in order to get a hand of it, but I was ultimately able to aim it correctly and light up the diodes.

Reflection

This was probably one of my favorite assignments in the class to date. It made me feel extremely happy when the diodes lit up, even though the circuit was bound to work. Unfortunately, one of the diodes was faulty and as I was setting everything up, I thought that the circuit was bad. After changing the diode, everything worked, but it was a good lesson on having patience (because I was honestly running out of it). It would have been more fun to mount the board and arduino on a wall so that I can stand properly while closing the circuit, but since everything worked out in the end, I was very pleased with this week’s assignment outcome.

Video

Assignment 5: Creative Switch of Buddhas

Inspiration

For this creative switch example, I was inspired by these small Buddha statues I bought long ago. I like that there is a specific way for these Buddhas to be lined up, in relation to the Japanese sanbiki no saru. So I have decided to make a creative switch that relates to this initial idea.

Concept

In order to be true to my inspiration, I decided that I wanted the LED to light up when the statues are lined up or at least in close contact with each other, depending on the understanding of the user. This would signify the saying or the concept itself. Therefore, in order to make this concept come true, I had to find an inductive material that I can attach to them, as the statues themselves are from ceramics.

Implementation

I decided to start by figuring out what kind of circuitry I had to build that would light up the LED when the statues are put together. I put tapes under the statues and then connected them to large coins. On the bottom of the coin, for I didn’t see and I don’t know statue, I connected positive and ground wires respectively, while the I didn’t hear statue was only taped above the coin and there was no wire passing true. When it comes to making the circuit work, which is powered by pin 13 of the Arduino automatically when plugged in without any code running, statues have to be put together so that their base coins touch each other, preferably in the proper line-up but would work in any circumstance. The concept of these statues is also a saying in my country which I enjoy using quite a lot. Hence, as a source of wisdom, I like seeing them together, especially in the context of Buddha, and I feel like it gives a similar commentary to enlightenment when they are lined up.

Challenge

It was quite hard to figure out the conductivity and make sure that wires were secured properly to the coins as well as the statues to the coins. Hence, I had to spend time playing around with the wires to make sure that switch would work at all times. It was also challenging to find inspiration as well, but I quite enjoyed settling on the philosophical enlightenment, Buddha, and 3 wise monkeys analogy.

Reflection

This project was quite fun to implement, and I really enjoyed bringing something from my daily life to the project. It was a great start for the future. I’m looking forward to the future motions of playing around with Arduino and projects.