This week I wanted to focus on finishing my project by Friday to allow for all the work to be complete by the end of week 13. Earlier in the week I focused on finishing the Shadow Birds.
Last week I had been told that my laser cutting was finished, so on Monday I collected it and then assembled it. I modified a piece of foam into a branch to hold the laser cutting and neopixels. I also painted a piece of foam to make it look more like a branch. Due to the painting I could not attach the neopxiels to it on Monday, instead I will do this on Tuesday. I also spent time using a hot glue gun to attach neopixels to the acrylic. I had previously tried doing this last week but had been unsuccessful and this week I tried a different approach. This method was successful and later in the week I will also glue the wires behind the acrylic.
One of the issues I encountered was my arduino ceasing to work halfway through the day. I tried fixing this myself but was unsuccessful and I had to refer to my supervisor. I also had a conversation discussion power options for the arduinos and what would be suitable for the project.
















Other activities which I accomplished throughout the early part of the week was the soldering of a new arduino, the glueing and positioning of the wires, testing that the setup is working correctly, positioning the acrylic and sticking it there. These activities I completed which have then lead to new goals for later in the week. These goals include positioning fabric over the back of the acrylic to cover the wires and neopixels. This will also tidy up the space a bit. I also have to cut the piece of acrylic due to it falling and cracking resulting in the end piece being broken. The way I am going to fix this, is to cut the end off and just shorten the piece.
I have also made the choice to stop work on the owl. The more I logically think about it, I do not think it is a wise choice to have a motion sensor with sound and lights operating in a research area. Not only is it likely to provide annoyance to the students but it will also decrease productivity. I do have a working demo and code for the Owl but after thinking about it for two weeks, I do not think it is a wise choice for this situation.
I completed the previous tasks mentioned earlier in this post, with the piece being cut today along with fabric being placed. On Wednesday I also positioned the neopixels on the branch and solved my issue for the second arduino. This means that my project is nearly complete. I am very excited about this and I think it will be finished tomorrow. The finale jobs I have to complete include placing the branch and acrylic in position, along with programming the second arduino with the code I have already created and then doing some finale testing to make sure everything is working properly.

On Thursday, I planned to finish the tasks mentioned above but due to unexpected circumstances I was unable to. I then was unable to work on the project until Saturday. On this day, I finished the project with both pieces of acrylic and sensors in place. One of the last issues that appeared with my first piece was the sticky taped cardboard was not going to work. To combat this I have removed the cardboard and instead have stuck the sensor to the glass. Both of these installations work well, with both responding to my hand and my phone’s torch. I have specifically designed the wall bird to respond to a brighter source of light just to increase the reaction. I think this works well. I am also spending some time commenting and tidying up my code before posting it here. I should have the two full pieces of code posted soon.






