Love Meter
Assignment: Make a luv-o-meter with analog inputs. A luv-o-meter is a device that measures a person's potential to be a lover, and displays it on a graph of lights. Your luv-o-meter can measure any analog physical quantity that you want, providing you have a sensor for it. Make sure the display is clear, so the participant knows what it means, and make sure it is responsive.
For this assignment, I attached a flex sensor to a wire, supporting a target for the participant to aim at with a soft ball or toy bow and arrow. The more accurate the hit, the more the flex sensor bends, and the higher love rating for the participant (white=mild, yellow=medium, red=spicy).
Problems I encountered while working on this assignment related primarily to the delicacy of the flex sensor. I accidentally tore one of the pins off the sensor when installing it in the box, and had to duct tape it back together.
Breadboard & Arduino Setup
Arduino Code
int flexPin = 0; // Analog input pin that the flex sensor is attached to
int flexValue = 0; // value read from the pot
int lowLED = 3; // low LED
int mediumLED = 4; // medium LED
int highLED = 5; // high LED
boolean loveInput = false; // test whether someone has tried
void setup() {
// initialize serial communications at 9600 bps:
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(lowLED, OUTPUT); // set the yellow LED low pin to be an output
pinMode(mediumLED, OUTPUT); // set the green LED medium pin to be an output
pinMode(highLED, OUTPUT); // set the red LED high pin to be an output
}
void loop() {
Serial.println(flexValue); // print the flex value back to the debugger pane
// read the flex input:
flexValue = analogRead(flexPin); // read the flex value
if (flexValue <= 45) {
digitalWrite(lowLED, HIGH); // turn the low LED on
digitalWrite(mediumLED, HIGH); // turn the medium LED on
digitalWrite(highLED, HIGH); // turn the high LED on
loveInput = true;
}
else if (flexValue <= 60) {
digitalWrite(lowLED, HIGH); // turn the low LED on
digitalWrite(mediumLED, HIGH); // turn the medium LED on
digitalWrite(highLED, LOW); // turn the high LED off
loveInput = true;
}
else if (flexValue <= 72) {
digitalWrite(lowLED, HIGH); // turn the low LED on
digitalWrite(mediumLED, LOW); // turn the medium LED off
digitalWrite(highLED, LOW); // turn the high LED off
loveInput = true;
}
else {
digitalWrite(lowLED, LOW); // turn the low LED off
digitalWrite(mediumLED, LOW); // turn the medium LED off
digitalWrite(highLED, LOW); // turn the high LED off
}
if (loveInput == true){
delay(2000);
}
}