Concept
For my final project, I made an interactive mood lamp with five push-buttons corresponding to five moods: Day, Calm, Study, Energetic, and Night. Each mood lights up with a matching color on the arduino and p5, as well as background music from p5.
Implementation
I used a total of 5 push-buttons (3 from the Arduino kit and 2 I had at home), each for one of the moods. I also used a potentiometer to control the light brightness, an RGB LED for the light itself, and some 220ohm resistors I had at home (because I lost the ones from the kit), as well as the breadboard and jumper wires.
Each button is connected to one of the arduino’s digital ports; I used the internal pullup resistors for them to reduce the amount of components needed and to make the circuit simpler. The RGB LED is connected through resistors to PWM ports to have control over the brightness. The potentiometer is connected to an analog input.
When the arduino starts, the light is set to orange as a starting color, with a matching screen on p5 prompting the user to select a mood. Whenever any of the five buttons are pressed, the light switches to that mood’s color, as well as the p5 screen, and matching music is played. Light brightness can be controlled continuously through the potentiometer.
User Testing
I gave each of my sisters my project to try.
My first sister managed to figure it out without any instructions from me, surprisingly even knew which COM port to select. She did not figure out that brightness can be controlled by the potentiometer though.
My other (younger) sister managed the same, but did not know which what to do when the COM port prompt came up. She also did not realize that brightness can be controlled.
Areas for Improvement
I should add instructions for the brightness within the program, so that people are aware it can be adjusted.
I also have yet to make a casing for my project, which I hope to finish soon.