DIY Activity Tracker

The build process and the programming went pretty smoothly while working on this milestone. While assembling the project I didn’t have any problems as all I had to do was solder on some header pins to the Arduino Pro Mini and connect all my components via jumper cables. After I connected all my components together and already flashed my program onto the Arduino my problem started. I tested the project with the app but it wouldn’t display any of the accelerometer data. I ran through all of my code and there was no problem in it. I then checked up the problem and thought that a pull-up resistor should solve the issue with the Arduino. I tried implementing that solution and realized that the problem was I had connected the SDA and SCL pins to the wrong one. While working on this milestone I learned many different programming aspects and how they work specific to my code along with what pull-up and pull-down resistors are. A pull-up resistor or pull-down resistor is a resistor used to ensure a known state for a signal and usually used in components such as transistors and switches. 

The building process was pretty simple as I only had to connect a few wires to an Arduino Uno. While establishing the connections I didn’t have any roadblocks. After I had finished with the wired connections from the module to the board I ran into many problems. The instructions had mentioned that once the module is paired with a device the light should stop blinking and the module wouldn’t do that. After troubleshooting this problem I figured that the module needs to be paired with an app to stop blinking and carry out a function. Something I learned while working on this milestone is how the Bluetooth module works. The Bluetooth module is a slave module and is designed for wireless serial communication. A slave module meaning that it can receive serial data when serial data is sent out from a device able to send serial data through the air such as smartphones. This allows for the Arduino to be controlled via a master device. 

DIY Activity Tracker

There wasn’t much to the build process as I only had to connect a few jumper cables from the accelerometer-gyroscope to the Arduino Uno. Even though the build process was really simple there were many aspects of the accelerometer and gyroscope that I learned about. Some of the things I learned while working on this milestone was a more detailed explanation of how they work and what the accelerometer and gyroscope do. I also learned how to interpret the data that the accelerometer and gyroscope output. The components of this milestone work by using either the gravity or small movements or vibrations using the piezoelectric effect or by sensing the difference in capacitance. The gyroscope sensor, it helps the gadget to detect its position and alignment in space. It creates a 3-axis dimensional virtual space which helps this gadget to check its alignment in it. An accelerometer is a compact device designed to measure non-gravitational acceleration. When the object it’s integrated into goes from a standstill to any velocity, the accelerometer is designed to respond to the vibrations associated with such movement. This then gives off the data in an X, Y, and Z form. The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board that takes care of the processing and allows for you to code it.

DIY Activity Tracker

The process of building was pretty rough in the beginning for me but smoothened out towards the end of the building process. Some of the roadblocks I had during my building process was that I soldered on the wrong resistors in the beginning and had to desolder it using the suction pen which required a lot of time and patience. The desoldering process, in the beginning, cost me a lot of time and delayed my completion date by a day. Another roadblock I bumped into was my wires weren’t securely attached to the circuit board. This made me think of a better solution so that the wires would be securely connected, I eventually came up with the solution of attaching the metallic area of the wire flatly onto the circuit board and that worked and soldered it on like that. I learned about the functions of many of the components that were included in the MiniPOV3 such as the microcontroller, zener diodes, and resistors and how they are classified along with parallel and series types. The purpose of the microcontroller is to do the processing in the MiniPOV3 and is the part that allows for the customization of the LEDs. The zener diodes essentially blocked the current from going a specific way in a circuit and the resistors reduce the current flow and adjust signal levels. Parallel and series are two ways that components can be set up. The advantage in a series type is that it will provide double the voltage written on the battery and a parallel type is that there is more capacity than a series type.

MiniPOV3