OBJECT Lab 2 - Gettin' Groovy

The purpose of Lab 2 was to create a cohesive piece that incorporated the Arduino, 2 LEDs, and an enclosure of some kind.

For this project, I brainstormed a bit and some how came up with the idea of a laser-cut VW-esque van in which the headlights were the two LED lights.

PART 1:

For the first part, we needed to build the pull-down resistor circuit so that we could use a switch or button as an input on the Arduino. I did this by connecting a 10K resistor between the button and ground, and the other side of the button to an input pin.

Then I needed to create the basic LED circuits, which consisted of an LED and a 220 Ohm resistor.

PART 2:

Next, I had to program the Arduino. I already had a decent amount of experience with the Arduino, so programming this sketch was fairly easy. I set the input and output pins for the button and LEDs respectively, and set a basic if statement to turn the LEDs on or off based on a state set by the button.

PART 3:

Finally, I had to create an enclosure for the Arduino setup. I decided to go with a basic laser cut van enclosure. I took inspiration from this:

From there I sketched my idea:

And took my sketch to Rhinoceros where I developed the cut template:

My first prototype was way too small and didn't fit together well, but that's why we prototype with cardboard! (Sustainability first, ALWAYS)

For the final iteration, I found that using little slots versus just cuts in the sides of the van let the base be a lot sturdier. I also changed some dimensions and scaled the overall design by about 1.5X.