Honors Activity - ArtDuino Make-A-Thon

For an entrepreneurial mindset to be effective, creativity is paramount.  Focusing on the 3C's, the purpose of this tool is to aid participants in realizing their own creative capabilities, to intentionally connect making with art, and to demonstrate intrinsic value in personal ingenuity.  In addition, participants will gain an understanding of the Arduino platform and develop their programming and mechatronics skills.  Seeking personal inspiration from past and present artisans, participants will experience open-ended design using an Arduino and common materials found in the university's makerspace.  The overall goal is for a group of participants to see themselves as a creative design team making an art piece, that includes a basic level of control via an Arduino, to represent a STEM principle.

The foundations of modern civilization and technology, STEM principles, are not often considered more than rote to be memorized and regurgitated for an exam. Additionally, engineering students often focus heavily on the functional aspect of their making and can easily experience design fixation. Requiring it’s participants to consider foundational principles from a different perspective, this makethon will result in the “representation” of principles rather than the sole “demonstrations” of principles. This distinction in thought does not mean that a selected principle (such as the conservation of momentum) can’t be demonstrated (as seen with Newton’s Cradle), but rather that the itention is to consider creative means of representation as primary. This allows students of all backgrounds to participate regardless of their educational focus or experience.  

Additionally, this makethon introduces the arduino platform as a constraint within the design process. The hope is that participants of this makeathon will leave with an increased understanding of their personal creativity as well as a greater understanding of their ability to program and engage with mechatronics. 

Participants in the ArtDuino Makeathon will...

• Demonstrate a basic understanding and familiarity of coding using the Arduino platform.
• Apply basic electronics and control skills.
• Create a representation of a self selected STEM principle.
• Apply design skills within an artistic framework.
• Evaluate other participants’ artifacts using the 3Cs of the KEEN entrepreneurial mindset.
• Collaborate in a team-based environment.

This makethon is intended for students at varying academic levels and from disparate disciplines. 

The overarching feel of this makeathon is more about form than function.

Students with a technical background may need encouragement in thinking less about the function of a principle.

Students with potentially less of a technical background may need greater encouragement in the Arduino implementation.

There is no correct answer or means of successfully completing this Makeathon. Flashing an LED within some representation of a STEM principle is more than a success!

For further details on wiring, soldering, Arduino programming, and several sensor experiments, we recommend going to 

https://fit.instructure.com/courses/604044/assignments - Dr. Brenner's Basics of Making course

ArtDuino Makeathon--Instructor Resources.zip

ArtDuino Makeathon--Supplemental Resources.zip

Servo motor shield also works for DC and stepper motors: https://www.ebay.com/itm/183783988127

Instructions:  https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield and https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield/downloads (Note that the site will tell you to go to a newer version of the Adafruit motor shield, but that is not the one that I am specifying.):

Go to the Canvas folders marked servomotor and steppermotor and download all files in those folders.

Download and install all of the following under Sketch/Include Library/Add .zip Library:  AccelStepper.zip, AFmotor.zip

Adafruit-Motor-Shield-library.zip  (This version has the number of steps set for our stepper motor to 4075.77 in all of the .ino files.).  Unzip this, and find Motor Party within the examples.

===================

All students registering for any of my Honors Activities need to follow the following instructions:

• Student Initiates the process: “Submit an Honors Option Contract” at https://www.fit.edu/honors-college/honors-curriculum/ using a TRACKSlogin@fit.edu (omit "my" from the email address) as login name and TRACKS password.
• Student uploads the course syllabus and submits the request.
• Course Instructor is notified via email and Teams to review the request.
• If approved, Course Instructor enters the Honors Option contract requirements in “Comments” box on the form prior to approving the contract (via email or Teams).
• Honors College reviews the request.
• If approved by Honors College, the course Instructor is sent a request to complete the final report for Honors Option Contract at the end of the semester.
• If the student has successfully completed the Honors Option Contract requirements, the Registrar is notified to enter Honors Option annotation on the student's transcript.

=======================

In addition to Prof. Subasi's instructions that apply to all Honors Option Contracts for anyone, see the following:

Go to HonorsActivityBrenner.xlsx.  On that form, I want you to fill the box yellow for the activity that you are doing and which class it applies to.  Note that some activities do not count for certain classes because they are expected for non-honors students in those classes.