Here is the code!

As a user you can enter your braille patterns and retrieve it on the serial monitor. The green led lights up if you enter a recognized pattern of an English alphabet and the red one lights up otherwise.

Challenges I faced:

I was short on time as I had already passed the submission deadline due to other tasking commitments. I, therefore, had to complete my project in class – which was a fun challenge!

The code was initially bulky, which I did a good job on making more readable and accessible for someone evaluating.

The circuitry was more tasking that expected. Push buttons aren’t the best thing to wire up, especially with jumper cables and resistors interfering with each other.

What I want to do next:

If I get time, I’ll attach an HC05 bluetooth module to this. Once done, I can spin up a quick app that can connect to this assemblage and make learning braille for both blind students and others a complete tech solution.

link to zip file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5Odh0nyHUsJTnl6VzFXTlVHbmM/view?usp=sharing

Arduino sketch and video:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3_nRvY5FHyHcW5CeHdVZGRRUDQ?usp=sharing

In terms of building this project, I had a little trouble with the pseudo-analog input because I forgot that only the digital inputs with the “~” sign allows the LED to have a smooth output of transitioning between different levels of brightness. During the building process, it was also hard to keep track of the location of buttons, wires and resistors.

Here is the link to the video demo and arduino code:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0lS0mmjvCWPSFB0S2IzaEE0V2s?usp=sharing

The red LED, controlled by the photoresistor, would light up once there is more shadow casting upon the resistor, and vice versa.
The second analog switch, the potentiometer, not only the brightness of the yellow LED, but also turns on/off the both red and blue LEDs, depending on whether the potentiometer values hit between 0 and 1.
Lastly, I’ve played with a thermo-sensor that controls the brightness of the blue LED.

Video, Circuit Diagram and Arduino Code linked in below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B70fyRiHk85qVnRkUnpObTR4c1U

Initial Idea:
Create an interactive led light show controlled by a potentiometer and a few switches. Brightness would be controlled by the potentiometer and the lightshow chosen would be controlled by switches.

What didn’t work:
1. With the number of lights that I wanted to implement with a dimming and brightening features, there weren’t enough AWS supported pins on the Arduino to do that. Most of my initial confusion and frustration came from not realizing that not all pins supported AWS.
2. The next gimmicky challenge that I came across was the implementation of a potentiometer as I wasn’t really 100% sure how to integrate one into the circuit. I eventually figured it out after some trial and error and in the process reworked my circuits and finalized my idea for the project.

Changes I made:
1. The original circuits that I made were more or less test circuits to make sure that I knew how to use the different components such as potentiometers, switches, and LEDs.
2. The next big change happened when I finalized my idea to creating a visual display for the setting on the potentiometer. I essentially added many more LEDs as well as moving the potentiometer to a better spot.
3. The last change that was made was just wire management as well as a little tidying up in the final phase of the project. This change included using uniform color wires, choosing wires of similar lengths, making the LEDs more uniform and aligned.

Final Product:
The final product consists of a potentiometer connected to and read by an Arduino, which in turn lights up a series of LEDs, the number of which is controlled by the resistance of the potentiometer. The resistance can be changed by turning the nob on the potentiometer and the lights move from a white LED, indicating power, to green, then yellow, and finally red, indicating the amount of voltage currently in the circuit. Finally I also implemented a switch that can turn off the entire circuit in case anything went wrong/caught on fire/short circuited.

What I learned:
1. Basic understanding of Arduino programming, building, and debugging.
2. Fundamentals of breadboarding.
3. Debugging/troubleshooting breadboard circuits

What went wrong:
1. The biggest issue that I had in the beginning was the confusion regarding the individual pin support for AWS on the Arduino. I didn’t realize that not allof the support that feature and therefore spent a lot of time debugging essentially nothing.
2. Spent a good amount of time learning the Arduino language as well as the basics of wiring up an Arduino, probably more than I should have.

What I’ll do next time:
1. The first thing that needs to be changed is the sketch for the project. I feel like much of it was simple repetition and could have been done in 1/10th of the lines I took to write.
2. Wiring. I initially wire by project pretty haphazardly and paid the price in the end when everything for extremely messy. Had to re-wire. Next time: use colors!
3. Planning. Plan things out before actually doing the project as not to waste time doing menial tasks.