Sara Taylor's NMD 342 Blog

 Project One Observations The main observation about my project is that it is difficult to get people to use LOCKBOX in the first place. The aesthetics of my design suffered due to time constraints and limited access to resources. A lot of people glaze over my project and walk away. It is incredibly difficult to create a design that people want to use for a variety of reasons. First of all, Working with a 6 and a half inch long breadboard makes it difficult to slim down down the size of my device. Second of all, plug in wires is not useful for the fact that they will fall out if not placed correctly. They also stick up a couple of inches, so this also creates size constraints. Third, the Arduino itself is finicky, has to be powered through the wall or my laptop, because I do not have the parts to convert to a 9V battery. To make it worse, the servo has to be placed at the opening of the box, so it is virtually impossible to hide. If you hide the servo, the box wouldn’t be abl...

I expanded upon my original idea to create the LOCK BOX. The goal is for the user to figure out the button path they must take in order to enter the correct password. Then the box opens for a surprise! The trick to this box, however, is that the button paths change after each successful box open. I have coded a total of 16 button paths, where one is chosen randomly after each successful open. The code allows the user to continue playing in a loop, and the trick to the challenge is a good memory. Here is a video of me playing with LOCK BOX: Here are some pictures: Here is the very long code for LOCK BOX: #include <Servo.h> Servo myservo; const int led1 = 8; const int led2 = 9; const int led3 = 10; const int led4 = 11; const int but1 = 6; const int but2 = 2; const int but3 = 3; const int but4 = 4; int randchoice; int butt1 = 0;        int butt2 = 0; int butt3 = 0; int butt4 = 0; int lbutt1 = 0; int lbutt2=0; int lbutt3=0; ...

Design of Everyday Things CHAPTER 5 I was relieved to know that once I got to the end of the chapter that the Author admitted that there are accidents that do occur directly due to human activity. There are times when people have directly malicious intent in their actions, so those actions should indeed not go unpunished. Human error is not the error of the human. It is an error in the design of the tool/object they are using. Humans are much more fluid than rigid machines. If something has many similar steps or various modes, one can expect slips or mistakes to occur if the design is poor. There are many examples that express this idea. Slips are less severe than mistakes because they are easier to detect. Mistakes, however, might go undetected for too long, and possibly fatal consequences could ensue. The important thing to remember about mistakes and slips is that they critically reflect on elements of your design. If your design causes injury, you should desperately try to...

Here is a video of my contraption. The contraption did not turn out visually how I expected, it was difficult to build around the breadboard and microcontroller. I'm satisfied with the aesthetics of the device regardless. Here are some additional photos: And here is my final code: const int buttonPin1 = 4;    const int green =  8;    const int buttonPin2 = 2;    const int yellow =  9; const int buttonPin3 = 3;    const int red =  10;     // variables will change: int buttonState1 = 0;        int buttonState2 = 0; int buttonState3 = 0; int RED = 0; int YELLOW = 0; int GREEN = 0; void setup() {   Serial.begin(9600);   pinMode(green, OUTPUT);   pinMode(buttonPin1, INPUT);   pinMode(yellow, OUTPUT);   pinMode(buttonPin2, INPUT);   pinMode(red, OUTPUT);   pinMode(buttonPin3, INPUT); } void loop() { buttonState1 ...

I went through multiple designs before deciding on a contraption that I wished to make. First Attempt: Plink-It! This device stemmed from my love of playing random-chance win games at arcades. I decided not to pursue this idea because it required a lot of building in very little time. Second Attempt: Show-Off Bot This little robot was a nice idea to pursue but after we were told in class that we needed to incorporate the idea of challenging preconceived notions and knowledge of the brain, I figured it would be better to pursue yet another design. Third and Final Design: The Annoying Stop Light This design is one that I am very excited to pursue. I have a love for coded randomness, so I plan to use this idea in my device. The "Goal" for the user is to correctly input a password using the buttons to turn on lights in the correct order. This will shut off an annoying tone played by the buzzer continuously until the correct password is used. Basing off the ide...

Design of Everyday Things Chapter 3 This chapter focuses on the psychology behind memory. I took AP Psych in high school, so I’ve already got a firm understanding of the short term and long term memory and the process of exchanging information between the two. I used to have an outstanding memory, I could perform complex math in my head, I could even take derivatives in my head. Then I got my 3rd concussion right before entering college and everything was much different. I need to write down numbers to subtract now. It’s terrible if I had never gotten that 3rd concussion I might still be majoring in computer engineering. I get headaches every day, and more often than not those headaches develop into migraines, especially when I have to do a lot of math. Math is one of my most favorite subjects, so I am really upset that I just can’t keep up with it anymore. The important takeaway from this chapter is that disrupting people’s pre-existing mental models by creating designs that cl...