Tong Xu's Report on Arduino.

1. Report on Arduino
---Tong Xu
. Introduction and Relation to Dissertation
The process of making Arduino was an exciting experience as we were
not only working on computers, but also going to the lab to make the
shield to the Arduino by hand.
When browsing useful links about Arduino, a project called
“Wanderlust” drew my great attention. That was because the research of
Wanderlust was closely related to my dissertation proposal. Wanderlust
was a mobile service, using identities and needs (in terms of time and
distance) to explore new or unexplored spaces as well to meet people
with similar interests. Though I wouldn’t study mobile devices, I
benefited a lot from its research methods and the way to connect and
gather people together.
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2. . The Process to Run Arduino in the Lab
1. In the ECE Lab we were given the equipment to make the shield for
Arduino. The parts consisted of two resistors (10k and 1000hm
respectively), one LED, three wires for connections, and three strips
(4pin, 6pin and 8pin), just like what was displayed in figure (a), in
which the red circle represented the model of stripboard. At the same
time, suitable stripboard was offered to us as well, and Arduino board
has given us before.
2. Then I placed all components on the stripboard according to the
schematic diagram of a LED circuit. As the stripboard was small,
carefulness was required to consider the location of components to
realize a proper layout of stripboard.
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3. 3. Then I cut off tracks on the stripboard to prevent cross circuiting
through the board. Generally speaking, tracks on stripboard were all
connected, so I drilled and cut holes to break connections.
4. Then I took a long time to soldering them on the stripboard. As the
components were difficult to be hold at one time, I thought it would be
better if it was a group project. The whole process should be taken
seriously and carefully because soldering could be dangerous. I worn
safety glasses at all times during working to prevent the lead solders
and its toxic fumes.
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4. 5. Until now the shield for the Arduino was finished, then I fitted it on
top of Arduino.
6. Then we needed to write a sketch to control the LED based on
potentiometer. Viewing that the code was provided on the tutorial, we
just needed to copy it and operate the Arduino board on Mac. It
worked and the LED was lit!
Now, the final board to control the light of LED from the computer
has finished!
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