Well my relay is finally here!  There is, however, one problem. The relay is marked in Chinese characters and I cannot read Chinese..

I’ve recruited the help of some of my Chinese friends in order to translate the device.  What we’ve gathered is that the left most channel says open and the right most channel says closed.  The middle channel is illegible, but I think I can look up common designs of relays in order to guess what it may say.  When I finally translate it (after waiting months for it to ship) I’ll be able to begin my project.

It seems like my Arduino hasn’t left its drawer in weeks, which is true.  I am excited to get back into it and hopefully making something awesome.  I must remember that the point of the Arudino is to impress potential employers in order to get an internship. By the career fair next year I’ll have made the coolest invention ever.  I’m excited to get to work again!

There are many different input devices available for Arduinos.  There are devices to measure pushing force, stretch force, distance, temperature, and much much more.  By using some combination of these devices one can allow their Arduino to reach to physical changes in the environment.

Conductive rubber chord is an extremely interesting input device.  Normally rubber isn’t conductive to electricity, but particular type has been carbon-black impregnated, meaning it can carry a current.  As the chord stretches, its resistance increases.  So by measuring the amount of voltage getting through the chord, one can tell how far the string is being stretched and incorporate this information into their Arduino programs.

Ultrasonic range finders use sonar like a bat or whale to find how far the nearest solid object is by detecting sound waves bouncing off of the surface of that object.  Devices like this can be used to make a scary Halloween pumpkin that flashes and plays spooky sounds when children get near it.

This liquid flow meter could be used to make the Inebriater, which I posted about in my previous passion blog post.  It works by measuring the rotation of a pinwheel enclosed within the sensor.

There are even liquid level sensors that measure how far a liquid comes up the sensor.  I can imagine making a system that reminds you to buy more milk with something like this!

There are many more types of sensor on the market that perform a variety of unique, but useful  functions.  Perhaps I’ll acquire some of these senors over winter break and be able to make some really cool new projects.

This is a picture of Dorothy Counts, the first black student to be enrolled at Harding High School.  In the photography you can see Dorothy and her father marching towards the school with solemn, disappointing looks on their faces.  You can see what seems like the entire white community of the town taunting, ridiculing, and attempting to intimidate the counts.  Looking at this picture transports the viewer back into the late 1950’s and begins to do the impossible task of relating what it would be like to be Black in that era. The hate received by black people from men, women, and even children is documented in this photo.

The photo shows just how far we have come as a society, but also reminds us that not too long ago racism was encouraged and acceptable behavior. The picture begs us must remember lessons we learned from the Civil Rights movement and be careful not to repeat the same mistake with different peoples from other cultures.  A lesson we must take careful heed of as more and more different cultures become and peoples more prevalent in the country.

Well my relay still isn’t in from China and my projects are all at a stand still.  So instead of updating you all on my progress, I’m going to show you awesome Arduino inventions others have built!

First is this awesome automatic bartender called The Inebriator. This person programmed the recipes for a variety of cocktails into his Arduino and used the Arduino to operate a conveyor belt and valves on bottles to mix the drinks automatically.  I suppose the name is extremely fitting.  Having this in your apartment or at a party would be a great conversation piece and would undoubtedly be a big hit with all your guests.  This is something I may consider building the in future.

The coolest project of all, in my opinion, is the Laser Harp. By sensing the distance of your hand from the base and whether or not the laser is being broken, the Arudino decides the note of the sound to play.  Not only is the laser harp very functional and awesome sounding, but it looks amazing too.  I can imagine something similar being used in electronic music shows and sci-fi movies.

There are a lot of cool things that one can make with an Arduino.  The possibilities are limited just by your imagination.  As I learn to make more complex inventions and gain more knowledge from my classes I hope to create something that rivals the laser harp.  I have a long way to, but at least these fantastic creation provide a source of motivation for me to continue my Arduino work.

So the relay I ordered off of Amazon is apparently coming all the way from China, meaning it won’t arrive for another month most likely.  This puts me in a bad situation because there aren’t many worthwhile projects I can make without a nice relay as the one that came with the kit I bought really isn’t very good and is impossible to use practically.

In the mean time I’ve been learning a lot of coding, especially in my CMPSC 121 class.  I haven’t done any coding before this year, but I find that I am really enjoying it.  I look at each project a new puzzle waiting to be solved.  Arduinos are coded in their own purpose designed language, but I’ve found that it is based off of C++, which is what I’m learning in class.  This makes learning to program the Arduino extremely easy because I don’t have to learn any new syntax.

I hope my relay arrives soon and I can get to work on my automatic box fan project.  Using relays truly unlocks the power of the Arduino as a control system and I can’t wait to see what projects I’ll build in the future!  What sort of devices would my readers like to have automated?

Marijuana has experienced a great shift of perception by the public.  Back when marijuana was first introduced into the culture of the United States, its users were not highly looked upon.  The very fact that we call the plant marijuana in the US is in fact racist in origin.  In contemporary times, a variety of states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes and cannabis use is becoming part of popular culture.  The public’s opinion on cannabis has undergone significant changes in the last few year and there is evidence to suggest the change will keep its momentum for while longer.

There are a lot of possible sources I could use for my essay.  I plan on using polls concerning the percent of the US population that thinks marijuana should be legalized, the frequency of references to marijuana in popular culture, frequency of use now vs in the past, and possible changes in legislation dealing with the decriminalization of marijuana and the use of cannabis for medical purposes.  There is no doubt that a paradigm shift is happening and I’m interested in analyzing it.

All of my creations so far have been low voltage circuits.  It’s been fun making them and playing around with the Arduino, but I’m ready to make something really cool!  In the United States, the sockets in the wall are a source of 120V AC current.  The Arduino runs on 5V of DC current.  The difference between the two is most easily explained visually in the video at the end of the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZjMuIHoBeg.  Since wall sockets produce 120V AC current, most appliances (including my box fan) are built to run on this amount and type of power.

This begs the question, how is one supposed to control 120V AC circuits with a simple 5V DC circuit?  The answer is by using a relay.  A relay is a mechanical switch that can be turned on and off based on whether or not it is receiving current.  Relays work by producing a magnetic field that physically closes a switch on the other side of the relay completing the second circuit.  By using relays, I can turn 120V circuits on and off at my will.  Using a relay and an temperature sensor I plan to turn on and off my box fan based on the temperature in the room!  When it gets to cold, my Arduino will turn on the fan, pushing the heat from the radiator around the room.  This could also be changed for summer so the fan turns on when it gets to warm. I am looking forward to starting on this project, which I plan to do as soon as the new relay I ordered comes in the mail.