Assignment: DC Motor: Actuation Assignment 1

Collaborators:

Description

The goal of this assignment was to use a DC motor to explore the use of motion as an output. My project takes advantage of the sound produced by that motion under controlled circumstances to yield a spooky halloween sound! The sound comes from carefully tuned resonance on the cantilever that the motor rests on, magnified by the effects of the glasses case. Interesting overtones are created by friction between the cork and motor.

Components Used

The following components were used:

• Arduino
• Breadboard
• Rubber band (2)
• USB cable
• Jumper Cable (several)
• 10k Ohm resistor
• Potentiometer
• ...and many more!

Arduino Code

The following code allows the potentiometer to be used to control the pitch of the sound produced by the DC motor when it is held in a glasses case and affixed with an unbalanced piece of cork. The cork and glasses case were carefully tuned to increase resonance and produce the most interesting and haunting sounds from the motor.

/*
* one pot fades one motor
* modified version of AnalogInput
* by DojoDave
* http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/AnalogInput
* Modified again by dave
*
* Reimagined for i262 assigment by Eric Mai
* October 14, 2009
*/

int potPin = 0; // select the input pin for the potentiometer
int motorPin = 9; // select the pin for the Motor
int val = 0; // variable to store the value coming from the sensor
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
val = analogRead(potPin); // read the value from the sensor, between 0 - 1024
Serial.println(val);
analogWrite(motorPin, val/4); // analogWrite can be between 0-255
}

Video

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Pictures

Special Notes

Any perceived lack of inventiveness is due to a 100.2 degree fever.