Reflection Week 6: Cruising

This past week we spent a majority of our time putting together the rest of the playfield. We were able to cut all the important components for the physical side of things and begin building the flipper mechanism. We also started planning what needs to be done before we leave for spring break. A list of what needs to be accomplished can be seen below, as well as on our trello board. In addition to these steps, I also began working on the physical computing aspects of the project. The first thing I did was re-associate myself with Arduino programming and circuitry by building some small examples of basic circuits that use serial communication. The circuit incorporated a force sensor and an LED, which would light up when force was applied. The purpose of this was to get an idea of how to read in when the ball strikes a bumper or object to then produce a score value. We are also thinking of having an open circuit made of copper tape that would become closed when the ball passes over both pieces. This would also allow us to display a score. Next week we will be away, but before leaving we plan to have a functioning analog machine.