Since the last report, I was able to further test the sensors and work on Arduino communicating with Python.
In class, I was able to take some measurements with the help of my teammates. We tested the viability of bending the FSR into a Z shape. The circuit we used was similar to the one in the last status report.
The above image is a screenshot of the Serial Plotter from the Arduino during the measurements. The peaks represent taps by the foot on the FSR, while the plateau represents keeping the foot there for a period of time. The results seemed to be quite reliable. More details about the results are discussed in the team’s status report.
The next thing I worked on was the Arduino file which would relay the values from the FSR to the Python file. Caio showed me a really good resource which showed how analog values could be mapped on to keyboard buttons. Registering FSR hits as keyboard buttons would make integrating the game much easier. Using that file as a reference, I was able to write Arduino code that should work for our purposes. The code is in the following link.
https://github.com/CaioA1516/Capstone/blob/main/ardToRaspPi.ino
We were going to test it with 4 simple buttons and the minigame that Caio developed. However, we found out that Arduino Uno doesn’t use the Keyboard library. We have taken steps to solve that issue which is described in the team’s status report. Once the Arduino Leonardo with headers arrive, this code can be tested and modified accordingly.
The next week, I should be able to further work on this once the Arduino arrives. Furthermore, I will get very involved with the construction of our mat once the parts arrive. I believe I am one week behind schedule due to not having ordered materials for the mat earlier. However, there should still be time to make progress on that in the upcoming weeks.