assignments
due Thu Jan 27
Assignment 1
- Browse through the links on the resources page. Start thinking about what you might want to do for a project, what materials (including tools) you'll need, and how you'll get 'em. A proposal assignment is coming soon.
- Download the Zap notes, and start reading them; we'll discuss this week.
due Thu Feb 3
Assignment 2
- Tell me your background, interests, relevant skills, and what you'd like to get out of this term.
- Propose what you intend to do for your initial exploration, including what you're going to order and from where.
- Using some resistors from the lab, build an equivalent of a tetrahedron or cube, and measure its overall corner to corner resistor with a meter. Hook up a battery to those spots, measure the voltage and current explicitly, and confirm that V = I R .
- Following the "Getting Started" arduino instructions on their web page, download and install the software, and run one of the simplest "get the LED to light" examples on one of the lab arduinos.
due Thu Feb 10
Assignment 3
- Order your materials and/or tools for the first project. (One person already has 'em: two day shipping is excellent.)
- Start putting things together and/or reading from your online sources.
- Please do take some photos as you go; makes "what I did" reports much much clearer.
- Since many of you are working with LED output and/or arrays, please read
- Explore the links on that page and try to understand how it works. In particular:
- There's a comment about power consumption. Explain if it makes sense for the Arduino Uno's power, when plugged in via USB. (You'll need to do some reading in the arduino docs to see what it can do for volts and amps.)
- Explain comments 2,3,4.
- There are lots more LEDs than the Uno has connections - how can each one be individually turned on and off? (Hint: google "charlieplex". Wikipedia's "Multiplexing" may also be helpful background.)
- In any case, describe what you did this week, and come to class ready to talk about that.
due Thu Feb 17
Assignment 4
- Tell me here what you've been up to this week.
- Be specific (if you haven't been already) about what online tutorials you're using, what you've ordered from where, and so on.
- Come to class tomorrow ready to talk about (and preferably show) what your progress is.
due Thu Feb 24
Assignment 5
- Describe what you've been up to this week.
- Come to class ready to share your progress.
due Thu Mar 3
Preliminary MidTerm Project report
- Once again, report on this week's progress.
- Come to class ready to share your (hopefully almost finished) midterm project.
due Thu Mar 10
Final MidTerm Project report
- Our last class before spring break.
- By the end of the week, post here your midterm report describing what you've done for this first project.
due Thu Apr 7
End-of-term project proposal
due Thu Apr 14
progress report
- What did you do this week? Summarize here, and come to class ready to discuss.
due Thu Apr 21
penultimate progress report
- Tell me what's working and what isn't. Bring the good and bad to class to discuss.
due Thu Apr 28
final project presentations
- Our last class: bring your gear to show and explain your final result.
due Fri May 6
final project writeup
- Submit a writeup of your final project.
- The grading rubric used will be the same as the midterm project; look back on my comments there for the details.
- In general I'm looking for a clear exposition of what you did which would allow someone else to repeat your work. It should include
- a parts list, including where possible links to suppliers, parts and prices
- references and links to sources you based this on, including tutorials or other starting points
- some images, preferably of the work as it developed
- any arduino sketch or code used
- a discussion of issues along the way, what you'd do differently, and what you liked
- Questions about the format? Ask.
term grade
- a place for Jim's overall remarks
