Week 1: Introductions/Overview, Basic Electronics
Thursday, January 20

• Who are we? How/What/Why physical computing?
• Intro to Electronics: Tools, materials, and theory.
• Soldering
• Assignments:
  • Join the physcomp listserve
  • After I've notified you that your blog account is set up, make an initial post.
  • Attend a Tool safety session in the shop. All students using the shop are required by the University office of Environmental Safety to attend a safety session. You can sign up for your shop clean up days here. Here's a summary of some of the new features of the shop this year.
  • Lab: Electronics
• Reading:
  • Buxton, "Less is more (more or less)" (online)

Weekly Notes

For my class, there's a mandatory basic power setup. Get it down now and you never have to worry about it again - that means less time debugging sketchy circuits.

Check out Jef Raskin's Humane Interface as counterpoint to Buxton.

Week 2: Programming Microcontrollers
Thursday, January 27

• Microcontrollers: what they are, different types, levels.
• Intro to PIC and PIC programming
• Digital Input and Output
• serout2 (for debugging; more detail in week 6)
• Introduce Imaginary Project , determine groups
• Assignments:
  • Lab: first PIC program
  • Begin Project 1
  • Begin posting to the class blog. You should have received an email with your login information; contact me if you haven't.
• Reading:
  • Crawford, The Art of Interactive Design, chapters 1 and 2 (in coursepack)

Here are two ways to connect LEDs for digital output.

The Pic Basic Pro Compiler manual, in pdf format and hyperlinked HTML.

Week 3: Variables and Analog Input
Thursday, February 3

• Memory and variables: Decimal, binary, hex.
• Analog input, what an ADC is.
• Imaginary Project: Present initial observations
• Assignments:
  • Lab: Analog in; tracking changes with variables
• Reading:
  • Donald Norman, "Emotional Design: Attractive Things Work Better", 2002, from Norman's website
  • MIT Technology Review, "10 Emerging Technologies", 2004 (pdf)

Week 4: Analog Output
Thursday, February 10

• Imaginary Project: show final paper prototypes
• Analog output: Devices that create analog motion or sound. (servo, freqout, PWM)
• Assignments:
  • Lab: servo/analog out
• Reading/listening:
  • Myron Krueger: (1) CTheory interview by Jeremy Turner; (2) Audio interview by Henrik Föhns

From the Ctheory interview with Myron Krueger: "Human interaction is like flying. It is not enough to taxi down the runway, you have to do it fast enough to take off. In general, computer scientists have exempted themselves from speed constraints. It is as if aeronautical engineers did not think gravity was interesting."

See also Praveen Vajpeyi's thesis and this wild German site. Gary Indiana!

Week 5: Big Switches
Thursday, February 17

• Digital output: Transistors and Relays: switching higher-current or AC devices (light bulb and switch)
• Motors and Inductance:
  • DC motors
  • Steppers
• Introduce Midterm Project
• Reading:
  • Selections on technology and war (zipped pdfs).
• Assignment:
  • Lab: Controlling a motor

Tip120 diagram and datasheet.

(Simple transistors like the tip120 can't handle AC, but solid state relays can.)

Some motor animations: DC, stepper and brushless.

EL Wire information and sales.

The Tech Awards.

Week 6: Power Management
Thursday, February 24

• Reschedule: Power issues
• Assignments:
  • work on midterm
• Reading:
  • Selections on brain-machine interfaces (zipped pdfs).

Week 7: Midterm Preview
Thursday, March 3

• Show midterm prototypes
• Assignment:
  • work on midterm
• Reading:
  • none

Week 8: Midterm Presentation
Thursday, March 10

Spring Break

Week 9: Serial Bootcamp
Thursday, March 24

• Serial output: Sending bytes out
• Serial interpretation: ASCII
• Serial to desktop: Into Processing
• MIDI into lots of stuff
• Assignments:
  • Lab: Serial output and Talking to Processing; or midi output

Refer to this thread if you're using proce55ing and a usb-serial adapter.

Midi Spec from Harmony Central

The supercomputer at the Hayden Planetarium has a midi input.

This giant piano turns switch closures from the keys into serial input via an Alcorn McBride IO64 and sends DMX serial output to full-color LED light bars via a Leviton I/F 501. There's a layer of MIDI in between as well.

Week 10: Serial II
Thursday, March 31

• Serial back to the Pic
• Synchronous serial and talking to peripheral devices
• Discuss final

There's a wealth of devices that can be serially controlled:

• Al Williams' PAK-V PWM Coprocessors were used in this robot.
• Scott Edwards' Serial Servo Controllers are used in the wooden mirror.
• Parallax sells a number of serial "AppMods" including Text-To-Speech, Bluetooth and USB.

Code from class today: synchronous serial (controlling the AD5206) and serial with interrupts (modified from this file in MELabs' collection of example programs.)

Here's a picture of the 5206 connected to the BX - the wiring will be the same for the PIC.

Week 11: Next Steps
Thursday, April 7

• Present Final Project Concepts

Week 12:
Thursday, April 14

• Project Workshop

Week 13:
Thursday, April 21

• Final Project Presentation (half of projects)

Week 14:
Thursday, April 28

• Final Project Presentation (half of projects)