My Experience at BSE & My Personal Prize
Being a member of the BlueStamp Engineering Program has definitely proven to have been one of the most productive and fulfilling ways in which I have spent my summer vacation. Since I look forward to joining the Robotics club and taking a physics course at Newark Collegiate Academy this fall, I’ve found myself filled with more excitement and drive to dive into my junior year in high school than I’d ever imagined possible. The positive and encouraging environment here at BSE has enabled me to witness the completion of amazingly innovative projects, and to become exposed to infinite approaches and options concerning my career choices and the ways in which I seek to go about my college experience in the years ahead.
As a personal reminder of my successes and relentless attempts to complete my final project here at BSE, I will be able to take home my RGB LED Tropical Flower Display and use it as perhaps one of the most extraordinary night lights that I’d ever owned in my lifetime. Coding and physical construction of the device’s components were challenges that consistent effort and risk-taking enabled me to fully embrace and achieve a quality piece. See below for my video and schematics!
Veronica’s Code: Code for Veronica’s LED Project
Learning about Arduino and the Lighting of LEDs
Today I’m furthering my recently accumulated knowledge of how to blink LEDs using an arduino board by adding a bread board to my circuitry and increasing the number of LEDs that I used in my circuit. Learning about the coding and the way a bread board works seemed like a weird maze before, but now, using schematics, I actually know what the mind boggling words, lines and pins mean. Now I’m going to try to do my own sketch for my project with the help of arduino and the instructables site.
Laser Target Starter Project
This Project was my first experience in engineering where I had to work individually to comprehend the structure and functions of my device and its components. I learned how to solder, which is actually one of my favorite activities, and I learned the true purpose of resistors. The CDS cell and the potentiometer were confusing at first, but after reading the background information concerning my target’s operation, I managed to fully understand what role they played.