Week 8 – Creative Switch

Concept

I was thinking about how I could create an unusual and creative switch and also make it fun to use. The one thing that came to mind was the game “Just Dance” in which the user has to step on the correct tile that they see on the screen to simulate dance moves and make the in-game character dance. Due to the time constraint I wasn’t able to create a fully working game, but this is a good start with the hardware part of it mostly done.

How it works and demo

Instead of using the classic button switch, I connected jumper cables to aluminum foils and put sponges between the foils so when they are pressed or in this case stepped on they will detect a signal and light the LEDs.

Here is a short demo of the project:

Video Player

As for the code, it wasn’t too hard to work on. I found the Serial.println very useful in debugging and testing in general. The hardest part for this project was making all the connections with the wires as the breadboard is small and the cables kept getting into the way of one another so I think I will need to work on my cable management more in the future.

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// read the input pin:
int buttonState1 = digitalRead(pushButton1);
int buttonState2 = digitalRead(pushButton2);
int buttonState3 = digitalRead(pushButton3);
int buttonState4 = digitalRead(pushButton4);
// print out the state of the connection:
Serial.println(buttonState1);
Serial.println(buttonState2);
Serial.println(buttonState3);
Serial.println(buttonState4);
// read the input pin: int buttonState1 = digitalRead(pushButton1); int buttonState2 = digitalRead(pushButton2); int buttonState3 = digitalRead(pushButton3); int buttonState4 = digitalRead(pushButton4); // print out the state of the connection: Serial.println(buttonState1); Serial.println(buttonState2); Serial.println(buttonState3); Serial.println(buttonState4);
// read the input pin:
int buttonState1 = digitalRead(pushButton1);
int buttonState2 = digitalRead(pushButton2);
int buttonState3 = digitalRead(pushButton3);
int buttonState4 = digitalRead(pushButton4);

// print out the state of the connection:
Serial.println(buttonState1);
Serial.println(buttonState2);
Serial.println(buttonState3);
Serial.println(buttonState4);

I am particularly proud of how the code was clean and well readable in the end even with so many different pins and commands.

Future improvements

In the future I plan to make a full game out of this project and to make a homemade “Just Dance” video game. I also hope to work on cable management a bit more so the board looks a bit more presentable and maybe also switch the sponges for some other material as they haven’t proven to be the most reliable. Overall this was an amazing learning opportunity as well as a very fun project to work on!

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