PDI Studio 5

Hardware Improvements

The physical structure of the Physics Plank 2.0 was superior to the first iteration in just about every way. However, there were a few areas that could use improvement. This first is the wiring could be neater. Secondly, the supporting structure located in the middle of the board that prevents the top board from bending during use could be made smaller and fit better aesthetically.  Finally, the current design prevents the vertical ribbon sensor from being plugged into the bread board.  A future design must either raise the bread board higher or reduce the height of the top board from the bottom board.

The next iteration of the Physics Plank must allow for the short ribbon sensor to easily plug into the bread board.

Software Improvements

There are several improvements we would liked to have done to the functionality and the current code we have. In the live feedback setting, the wave went across the LED matrix from right to left and would have to refresh back to the right side of the LED matrix. We would change this so that the wave would travel from left tow right rather than right to left so that the user would feel more comfortable with it. Also we would make it so that the wave would be continuous and not have to refresh once it reached the end of the LED matrix.

 

In terms of new features we would want to have, we would replace both the ribbon sensors with better linear potentiometers so that the users would not hurt their fingers due to the friction and heat created on the sensor. We would also incorporate the short sensor to allow for an amplitude setting that would teach the user about amplitude by allowing them to adjust the amplitude of a wave and that would change the volume on a speaker. It would also have an energy lesson as well that would teach the user about energy of a wave by using a lit LED circle on the LED Matrix that would grow and shrink based on the energy of the wave that the user created using the amplitude sensor and the frequency sensor.