In my last blog, I wrote about the new Center for Engineering Innovation and Design opening this year. Quick recap: it’s a workshop on the first floor of Becton Engineering Center housing state-of-the-art machinery and tools for practically any kind of DIY project.
This week, in keeping with my goal of making a custom-built DJ controller at the CEID, I’ve channeled my efforts into learning how to code the open-source microcontroller “Arduino”. While the CEID will be offering workshops on how to code for Arduino later on, I was too excited and decided to give myself a head start!
I’ve been working off an electronics project book and this week put together a simple circuit consisting of 8 LED’s controlled by an Arduino board. I’ve never touched code before, and there was a steep learning curve, but I can now make the LED’s successively turn on and off or gradually increase and decrease in brightness (baby steps compared to the coding veterans out there!). The next step will be developing more complicated circuits and I’m also thinking about taking advantage of the CEID’s plastic vacuum mold and wood tools to produce an enclosure for future circuits.