In making this project, I learned a lot about capacitive sensors, Arduinos, electronics, LEDs, and the process of creating a large project.
This project gave me an opportunity to learn more about capacitive sensors and electronics. I got to experience hands on how to modify certain codes, how to wire relatively more complex diagrams, and how to use capacitive sensors. I learned about send pins and receive pins, and how capacitive sensors work by using the arbitrary value of the amount of time it takes for the receive pin to go into the same state as the send pin. Although looking back it seems obvious, I also learned that capacitive sensors work by allowing another person to be a capacitor; this knowledge will all be substantive when I go about working on my FabAcademy project.
I also learned about the process of creating a large project, and how I work under longer time frame due dates. I learned that I tend to overestimate and over-plan the progress I make in the beginning of an assignment, and that I ought to be more realistic in my planning. I also learned that the finishing touches of a project are actually the hardest parts of a project, and that the home stretch often takes the most amount of time. In this project, I subconsciously focused more on designing each layer and put off working on the capacitive sensors. In retrospect, I learned that I should be more aware of all aspects of a project and should try to balance out how I spend my time on different parts.
If I could spend more time on this project, I would change quite a few things with it. First, starting with the look and design of the project, I would like to size things down a little bit to make it more portable, and would to laser-cut layers in wood to give it a more professional look. Furthermore, I would also re-solder the capacitive sensors so that they each have one 1M Ohm resistor, allowing the code to differentiate which signal comes from what sensor. This way, I would be able to code more colorful and creative patterns for the Eclipse and would be able to specify the origin LED for each run of the pattern. If I had a lot more time, I would even like to incorporate the MIDI aspect back into the project, similar to what it was in the original project. I could make it similar to a speaker that plays and shows different sounds/songs and patterns whenever a specific sensor is pressed. Regardless, I loved making this project and learned so much from it.