My Design
To add on to the bionic aesthetic, a non-movable hand that displays a light at the palm of the hand and the back of the hand will have an LCD screen. The back of the hand would have a screen that says charging and would change to the press of button that reads “repulsor blast.” Additionally, the front of the hand would contain an LED light with a ping-pong ball diffuser that would light up in response to the button press. All of the components would be inside of the hand except the button which would be located outside the hand to allow for easy access for users. Overall, this feature adds to the bionic/robotic aesthetic that the artist was pursuing as it allows the user to feel like they are Iron Man and shoot a light that says repulsor blast like Iron Man’s hands. The design features:
- a removable cap to access electronics with hole for LCD screen
- a hollow interior for electronic housing
- a button to allow the turning on and off the light as well as the change of display of the LCD screen
- a hole for ping-pong ball diffuser and lights
- a threaded hole to attach to arm
How it was Achieved
Firstly, the LCD screen was wired to the Arduino board and potentiometer. A 330 ohm resistor was used to for the power connection. Next, the button sensor was added and analog pin was connected to the board to input voltage values. the LED light was connected to the same power source as the button allowing for the button to turn on and off the LED light. The LED light would be hidden behind the ping-pong ball diffuser on the hand.
Code Explanation:
- Section 3
- Sets the input and output pins for the LCD
- Declares the variables as floats and the input values as integers.
- Section 5-10: void setup
- Size of the LCD screen was declared and the serial.begin function was used to display the words in real time.
- The button was set as an input and the lights were set up as outputs.
- Section 12- 24: void loop
- Voltage is measured from the analog pin, then converted to millivolts, then converted to the words “repulsor blast” and “charging” when the button is pressed.
- If the button is pressed the light will turn off and when the button is released it would turn on.
Actual Circuit
The actual circuit displayed the words Repulsor Bwhen the light was on. However, only one LED light was used due to material limitations and breadboard space and the LCD screen was also directly connected to the breadboard due to wire limitations, causing some wires to be rearranged.