Tonight, I hooked up buttons, a twist knob, and a flexible sensor to the Boarduino so I could twist, push, or bend them and a range of values (that made sense) were sent to my laptop computer.

This is my first project where I connected physical objects that people use (buttons, knobs, bendy things) with computer hardware and electronics. Another step towards a working prototype of my art installation.

I spend all day today soldering and finished everything needing it. All three Boarduinos (an Arduino clone made for breadboards) are done as well as several breakout boards for other components.

I’m running test programs on them tonight to see if any problems show up. Tomorrow night, I’ll start on some simple programs to familiar myself with the Arduino development environment and platform.

Today, I soldered for several hours and made my first working computer prototyping board. Its called a Boarduino and is a clone of the popular Arduino. I’m going to use the Arduino platform to prototype an art installation I’m doing for Burning Man 2009.

I’m a geek and an artist. I went to Georgia Tech and almost got a bachelors in electrical engineering but towards the end switched to computer science. So now, I get to build on all that knowledge and my work experience to make art.

Soldering isn’t easy for me. I tend to burn or overheat the components. They’ve got a few burn marks on them. I bought extras just…in…case. I tested the board half way through and it seemed to be working. Then at the end, I wrote and run the equivalent of “Hello World” on the board. Hello World is usually the first program taught to students and run on new computers. I had to do it. And on this computer, it makes a red LED flash.

So I’m off and running on the prototype and look forward to sharing my progress after I file my provisional patent on the art installation. I believe it is great!