Day 33 - Arduino LED Blinked for the first time;

22 Mar 2017 100daysofwriting · arduino · beginners · cameras · programming

YES! I think that everyone reading this is going to think 1 of 2 things:

(a) A fourth year engineering student is getting so excited about getting an LED to blink on an Arduino? Are you kidding me? AMATEUR!

(b) What is the big deal?

Well, a back story is in order. I have been a part of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle since February 2014. That was the second semester of my first year, since then I have seen people around me in the Embedded and Electronics teams of this research group do stuff with Arduino, other micro controllers, small computers like Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black or Intel Galileo. I never really meddled with any of these and stayed within the confines of larger computers whose motherboards were out of sight.

Obviously, through the years I have had the chance to look at others writing code for an Arduino and the whole process of reset-burn-start for “sketches” written for it. So, I am familiar with the process, but I hadn’t done it myself till today. And that is why this is so important to me. To finally understand the final part in most software-hardware interactions. The micro-controller is as close to the actual circuitry as I can get for now.

By the way, I didn’t do this LED blinking thing simply because I wanted to. It is part of the process of running a stepper motor (which DID work!) using an Arduino and a Rhino Stepper Motor Driver. The connections were actually rather easy to understand, and alongwith a couple of other Masters students, we were able to get it to work today itself! It was pretty satisfying.

I am still inching ahead with Handmaid’s Tale, and the book has become rather easy to read and understand because finally the dust is settling and we are getting more information per page! I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have fun reading the first obscure and opaque part of the book.

Tomorrow will be some more working with the Arduino and other hardware to get a machine ready to work.

Meanwhile, I got to thinking about 360 cameras! What a GREAT thing, essentially, once they become the norm instead of a novelty (think: Digital Cameras in 2001) there would literally be no requirement of a person to photograph or videotape small family events like birthdays. There would be no Camera to “look into” and say “cheese”. Everything around the camera upto a particular distance IS the frame of the camera! No one is out of frame, you don’t have to squeeze anymore, In fact, a circular group photo around the camera would make a lot more sense because it could then be flattened and posted anywhere! So, they are very very exciting for the casual video taping of events. Also, it makes the experience easier because there is no longer someone who needs to monitor the camera. I feel like I already said that and simply rephrased and wrote it again. Ah, whatever. This series is not about quality writing (GOD NO!), it’s about process. (And I am starting to enjoy it.)

P.S. Today is the 1/3rd milestone. Slightly less than that. (33.33333333…)

POST #33 is OVER