The Final Video

Here is the final outcome of the game I designed

Prototyping Phase - Soldering the Accelerometer and Processing

 Prototyping Phase

3) Soldering the Accelerometer

Soldering the accelerometer will improve the stability of the accelerometer readings.

Accelerometer and it's readings

The readings have been documented better since the solder has made it stable. The pics are posted below:

Flat orientation

Portrait Down orientation

Portrait Up orientation

Landscape Left orientation

Landscape Right orientation

4)  Variation of Acceleration

Now to plot the variation of acceleration, I have used a serial reading plotter.

Serial Plotter showing variation of acceleration

Prototyping Phase - Testing and Using the Accelerometer

 Prototyping Phase

1) Accelerometer Testing and Use

After reading through the hookup guide, I came across the circuit diagram and code to execute the Arduino code.

Circuit Diagram of the Accelerometer hooked up to the Arduino

As you can see in the circuitry above, we can see the two resistors of 330 ohms connected to the SDA and SCL ports. I have connected the circuit as shown below:

Accelerometer and Arduino connected

2) Running the Code and Testing

I connected the circuit above and used the laptop to program the code to test the circuit. 

Coding ongoing

The code is shown in the pics below:

The code was tested and it worked, but the only flaws that we saw was the loose connections, so we are going to solder it.

Prototyping Phase Begins - Accelerometer has arrived

 Prototype Phase 1

1)  Spark Fun Triple Axis Accelerometer

The triple axis accelerometer has finally arrived at my doorstep. I opened up my soldering kit and I started to solder 6 small strips of red wire to the pins on the accelerometer.

Accelerometer soldered with 6 red strips of wire

Specifications and Libraries used

The MMA8452Q is a smart, low-power, three-axis, capacitive MEMS accelerometer with 12 bits of resolution. This accelerometer is packed with embedded functions with flexible user-programmable options, configurable to two interrupt pins. The MMA8452Q has user-selectable full scales of ±2g/±4g/±8g with high pass filtered data as well as unfiltered data available in real time. The device can be configured to generate inertial wake-up interrupt signals from any combination of the configurable embedded functions, allowing the MMA8452Q to monitor events and remain in a low power mode during periods of inactivity. This board breaks out the ground, power, I2C and two external interrupt pins.

Accelerometer And Pin Diagram

Preparation for the Presentation - Week 7

This week is the presentation week and I have prepared my slides for the presentation. The presentation will discuss about my new formulated research question which is " How might we design a product that would encourage sports training in indoor spaces ". The presentation would talk about the impact of Covid-19 and how it has forced the entire globe to move into lockdown. My project would aim to provide athletes to train at the comfort of their home or for purpose of entertainment. The presentation is due tomorrow and is in class.

Game Ideation for the Installation

 Ideation Phase 2

The idea for installation would be a penalty shootout game with a physical motion detector that would decide the movement of the ball virtually. The idea behind the game is to kick the motion detector and it would simulate the movement of the ball. The user would also be wearing a sole like apparatus with 4 vibration motors connected to it. 

Proposed Simulation of the Game

This would vibrate in response to how the user would shoot the ball. If the user kicks with harder intensity, the motors would vibrate intensely reminding the user to control the intensity of the kick. It would also vibrate the motors responsible to denote the trajectory of the ball, since the motors would be connected in 4 different places to denote direction of the moving ball.

The motion detecting kicking apparatus

I have also decided to not use the FSR (Force Sensitive Resistor) for this project. I would consider the previous test as failed test case and not feasible for the new idea. Instead I have placed an order for a Triple Axis Accelerometer and use that to detect motion sensing instead.

A few parts have arrived - Started to test the arduino

 Ideation Phase 1

This test involves the link of Arduino IDE with the Arduino mega. The other component used is an FSR (Force Sensitive Resistor). The above test shows the direct relation of pressure applied to the intensity of the LED. As we apply more pressure on the FSR, the intensity of the LED increases.

This test was a success and the FSR can be used in the footwear to detect pressure applied. Addition of an FSR could give the feature of applying pressure to move objects in a simulation. Although the mechanics of the game is not decided yet, I still think this is a successful test. Still waiting on the other parts to arrive.