A couple of weeks ago, we built a light theremin, you can see a more sophisticated one in action here. The basic idea was that by using a light dependent resistor(LDR), a piezo buzzer and some code we could create sound by using the movement of our hands. 

How it works is that the LDR measures the intensity of the surrounding light. The reading of the intensity of light changes if we cast shadows on the LDR using our hands. By using some nifty code and an electrical charge, we can translate those changes in light into the changes in pitch that the piezo buzzer makes. 

The wiring on this project was a little simpler than the preceding week but the code was a little harder. We introduced the concept of calibrating our Arduino before the program was initiated, we learned how to create several variables in our code, and we learned about the map and tone functions.

It was lots of very very very noisy fun.

This is just a reminder to all of our participants and parents that our Moving Metal Code Club will be an extra hour long on March 10th. This is to allow students, especially our year 6's, to get more time working on their robot since they will not be around for our March 17th meeting.

Soldier: Those lights are blinking out of sequence.
Murdock: Make them blink in sequence.

A couple of weeks ago we tried building a blinking light interface using 3 LED's and a push button. The aim was to introduce a greater understanding of circuits, some more complicated wiring, and to get started on some basic code. We also learnt about resistors, which are a major component of most Arduino projects and ensure that our other parts don't fry.

It was a difficult session with some people excelling at the coding and others the wiring. And everyone gained invaluable experience with one of the foundations of electronics: troubleshooting! Whilst not everyone got their interface working, it certainly laid the foundations for building the robot building we are working on now.