[McHUG] The Arduino Way

[Rich Mitchell]

Thanksgiving Day I started to get together some Arduino items to take along on my trip to Vail in a week.  In doing so I found Massimo Banzi's book, "Getting Started with Arduino".  Probably Steve had given me the book last year.  As I scanned the first couple of chapters I came across this:  "Classic engineering relies on a strict process for getting from A to B;  the Arduino Way delights in the possibility of getting lost on the way and finding C instead." p. 5.

That got me thinking about how to get the excitement back in McHUG specifically and the club in general.  In the first chapter Banzi points out that the intended audience and users of the Arduino are designers and artists.  Remember that the Freeduino board that we built and used came from someone who teaches at Rhode Island School of Design, not M.I.T.  Physical Computing Banzi defines as "the design of interactive objects that can communicate with humans using sensors and actuators controlled by a behaviour implemented in software running inside a microcontroller". p.3.  The whole point of Arduino is to move this activity from the left side of the brain (logical) to the right side (creative).  

The scientific method is all about proving or disproving a hypothesis under strict control.  The Arduino Way is about not knowing where you are going and delighting in the discoveries you make under the freedom of creativity.  And so Banzi goes on to describe prototyping, tinkering, patching, circuit bending, hacking keyboards, playing with junk, hacking toys, and collaboration.  One of his illustrations is the Sniffin' Glue fanzine that gives the following instructions:  here's the A chord, here's the E chord, here's the G chord, now go form a band.  He sees physical computing more as the creativity of a rock band than the discipline of a scientific project.

Perhaps it's this spirit of discovery and excitement that we need to cultivate.  Certainly we need engineers putting together modules for some of the more difficult tasks that we can integrate into our hacking.  Maybe we need to play with more junk, get some after Christmas discounted toys to hack or do wondrous things with those excellent Christmas table centerpieces.

In the hopes of capturing the delight of starting at A and accidentally ending up at C, I have put together an 

"Ode to PICetSat, Rev A".

The PICetSat lay dormant.
For two years did she rest
Since flight on tied balloon
At HoCo fairgrounds fest.

Then up came our own hamfest
A demo needed bad.
We dusted off old PICetSat.
It worked and we were glad.

No time to calibrate
No tank of helium pure
With party gas balloon was filled
And launched outside the door.

As balloon rose slowly
PICetSat worked right.
The code sent back a message
Of temperature and light.

As minutes changed to hours
The signal did not stop.
It faded in the distance,
We never heard it drop.

And when we talk about it
And why it worked and how
We all seem in agreement
Collectively say "Wow"!

Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group