Project Two: Ball Movements with Obstacles

UML Diagram

At first I wanted to create a game that involved juice, lemon, and a cup so that the user can control the lemon with the controller and roll it in to the squeezer and fill the cup with juice. So I began with a diagram.

The way of depicting that was a challenging process. At first I thought about doing things using P3D. I thought that it would be cool to image the ball moving around a 3D space. I started off by trying to create a bouncing sphere (the lemon) inside a 3D space and I started to learn how to think in a 3D space. However, it was very hard to calculate the rotations of the sphere. So I had to pivot in to a new direction.

Sensors

Pressure Sensor

Accelerometer and Gyroscope

To allow users to squeeze the lemon in to the cup, I thought about using a pressure sensor.

This would allow user to move the lemon around the page.

Coding Process

Step One

Created a set of code to create the elements in processing and replaced all the interactions with keyPressed() so that I can add the interactions later on when I put together my board.

Step Two

Designed the board on the particle.io in order to see how I wanted to place my controllers on the breadboard. Then write code on Arduino to connect the sensors.

Step Three

Connect the board on to Arduino

Step Four

This was a bit challenging because of the way the sensors are shaped. I had to make it so that the the user is able to turn the sensors over and also think about how the users might want to press on the pressure sensor. I first came up with an idea where the user would use the controller like the old Nintendo Wii. However, I wanted it to be more interactive and fun to use so I took some magnets, a dome shaped plastic, and allowed the user to move the sensor around the dome. Then I put cardboard around the breadboard and cut out the part where cords and pressure sensor was coming out. I also thought that it would be easier for people to put pressure on it on top of the cardboard instead of having to push it down all the way to the breadboard.

Challenges

P3D Errors on Mac

The first codes consisted of trying to work with 3D. On the reference site, it told me to add P3d to size but I ended up getting errors on the code. I tried to fis the problem by searching the rror codes but I couldn't figure it out. But it turned out that I had to include frameRate() in order for it to start up.

In addition trying to make the ball rotate with 3D was not an easy concept to grasp. So I had to pivot in the middle of the project to depict it in a more feasible way. The first codes consisted of trying to work with 3D. On the reference site, it told me to add P3D to size but I ended up getting errors on the code.

Port Issues

Sometimes the sketch did not upload and I wasn't sure why. I tried to restart my computer but it still didn't work. When I checked the port, and it only had /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port. It turned out to be a problem with the cable, which was a very simple fix.

Final Physical Prototype

Future Improvements

There were some errors in the code and so I would like to be able to make the pressure sensor also react in processing. I would also like to think of more ways to make the controller so that it can be hand held.