What I wanted to learn, and why it interested me: I wanted to learn about the accelerometer because it represents changes that we all physically experience: tilt, vibration, acceleration, etc. 

Process and reflection: 

I started by using what I learned in the technical skill-building, which was knowing how the accelerometer tracked orientation using the X, Y, and Z axes. Then, I began by wiring up the accelerometer to pins A0, A1, and A2 to to read information for all 3 axes. After the accelerometer, I wired up the LED as usual, with connections to ground and 5V along with a resistor. After, I began doing the coding portion by defining all the pins and pin modes. Most of the pins were input while the LED is wired up to an output pin. The coding wasn't too complex, and mainly revolved around the logic of defining the difference between its original position and its current position. The logic is as follows: as the difference gets greater, the vibration level increases, and the LED gets brighter. While there were a few hiccups, I was able to get through the coding portion rather smoothly, and I'm pretty satisfied with where I ended up.

/*

    60-223 Intro to Physical Computing, fall 2025

    Domain-specific Skill Building exercise: Accelerometer

    This sketch connects to an accelerometer and an LED to measure vibration and generate

    an output to the LED in response to it. Its function is to measure the movemente of the

    accelerometer relative to its original position, map that vibration to a level from 1 to 10,

    and control the brightness of the LED based on how strong vibration is.

    Pin mapping:

    Arduino pin | role  | details

    ------------------------------

    A0           input    XPin

    A1           input    YPin

    A2           input    ZPin

    5            output   LED

*/

const int XPIN = A0;

const int YPIN = A1;

const int ZPIN = A2;

const int LEDPIN = 5;

int restingY = 0;

void setup() {

  pinMode(YPIN, INPUT);

  pinMode(LEDPIN, OUTPUT);

  Serial.begin(9600);

  // resting val when board is still

  restingY = analogRead(YPIN);

}

void loop() {

  // tests the different from original to current ypin value (vibration)

  int diff = abs(analogRead(YPIN) - restingY);

  // mapping

  int vibLevel = map(diff, 0, 60, 0, 10);

  vibLevel = constrain(vibLevel, 0, 10);

  // led brightness based on vibration level

  int brightness = map(vibLevel, 0, 10, 0, 255);

  analogWrite(LEDPIN, brightness);

  // debugging output

  Serial.print("X=");

  Serial.print(analogRead(XPIN));

  Serial.print("Y=");

  Serial.print(analogRead(YPIN));

  Serial.print("Z=");

  Serial.print(analogRead(ZPIN));

  Serial.print(" vib=");

  Serial.print(vibLevel);

  Serial.print(" LED=");

  Serial.println(brightness);

  delay(100);

}