Final Project Week 1

Can't believe that the end of the semester is so near!
Tiffany and I started our final project by brainstorming different ideas for potential projects. 

For our pitch presentation in class, we came up with two ideas: one, to build a sound level monitor for the classroom; two, to build sensors into the sitting mats so that the children stay on the mats.

For the volume monitor, we proposed that we connect three LED lights to an Arduino board, along with a sound sensor. We would program the lights to light up when the sound level, as read by the sound sensor, is tolerable, blink slowly when the volume is a bit high, and blink more quickly when the volume is too high.

For the mats, we proposed that we attach touch sensors to the bottom of the carpet squares. The touch sensors would be programmed with Arduino. A speaker would also be attached to the Arduino. When the children wiggle around or start moving off of the mat, the speaker would start playing a tune.

After presenting our ideas in class, we decided to go with the volume monitor as our project. 

The next step was to speak with the woman in charge of the children to ask her about specifics of the project. For example, what is the easiest way to provide power to the system, plug in or a battery pack? What kind of pattern should the lights have so that the children are stimulated but not over-stimulated?

After talking with the director of the children's program, we realized that the blinking lights may be too distracting for the children. At her suggestion, we instead decided to arrange the lights in a linear fashion to mimic a traffic light. We would have a green light light up when the sound level is good, a yellow light light up with the noise is increasing, and red when the volume is too high. We planned to have the panel of lights be able to be hung up on the wall. Also, because of the uncertainty of being able to find an outlet, we decided to use a battery pack. 

We also wanted to have some kind of dial so that the teacher could adjust the noise tolerance level. So, we added some kind of dial, most likely a potentiometer, so that the teacher would be able to increase or decrease the tolerance of the noise level, depending on what kind of activity the children are doing.

Next, was the foam core model. 
We planned to make the structure of the project out of delrin. The front of the board would have the three lights and a box to hide the battery pack and Arduino board. Between the yellow and green lights are also the sound sensor and dial (potentiometer).

After showing the foam model to the class, we decided to change the design so that the box was behind the panel of lights. 

The next step is to start programming with Arduino and ordering supplies! Stay tuned~