My Reflection- Areej Jahangir

I think this project was a great experience and helped me explore another area of science that I only knew a little about previously and I ended up actually enjoying it. From this project I learned a lot more about what role different electrical components could play in an electronic and how even the same electronic component has slightly different variations. I found the most challenging part of this project to be the part about explaining the circuit and how the Joystick functions. However after doing all the work on it, I also found it to be the most interesting part of the project. I feel that it taught me a great lot and it gives me an advantage to many other students in other schools who won’t necessarily learn all of this. This helps me a lot because I know I love math and science and would like to go into sciences. This opened me up to a new topic that I hope to study in University. From this project I also learned about what makes different materials more suitable for a certain product or for a certain component of the product. I learned this because the Joystick had a casing of plastic but had metal parts inside; this allows the product to be lightweight, not very fragile but also not sensitive to corrosion. Throughout I think this was a great project and enjoyed doing it very much. I hope to have a project like this again in the future.

Maddi's Reflection

What I learned from this project was to never underestimate the power of tiny screws. They are more of an obstacle than they look, and they can cause you to have no other choice but to drill holes as a substitute to taking it out. That aside, I learned what components in electronics look like up close (as opposed to printed in a textbook), such as a printed circuit board and resistors. I’ve also learned how to disassemble an electric device, and know which pieces are what. I also know what a circuit diagram is and how to identify the symbols on it, and by doing so, am now capable of drawing on my own. I think that the project as a whole was pretty interesting and easy to get involved in. It was a lot of fun, despite all the little challenges along the way.

Constraints

Types of constraints that the controller would be subjected to are very few. Since a controller and console would stay in the basement, you would not ever take it outside where it would be harmed by the elements. Generally, one does not bend or take apart a controller for the fun of it (we’re an exception), so resilience and elasticity wouldn’t really be needed, nor would it be a problem.

There are really only constraints that a controller could possibly be subjected to. One of them is the constant button-mashing, which the controller is made for anyway.

The second one is the uncalled for high-velocity trip across the room when a player loses the game and enters a fit of rage. The plastic that covers a controller is hard and makes it resistant to this kind of damage. The only damage that could ever come to a controller from impact on the floor, the wall, or even the ceiling, would not be on the plastic covering, but the components inside. Another possible threat to a controller would be if food or drink was spilled on it, but even then, the damage wouldn’t be on the plastic (unless you’re drinking acid, which is unlikely).

Materials

Apart from the components inside it, the controller is made out of plastic. Plastic would be the ideal material used in this kind of situation. The components underneath the plastic of the controller are made of metals and alloys, and they are well-protected by the plastic.

Sometimes, when people play video games and lose, they take it out on the controller by either bashing it the floor or flinging it across the room. Because it is made out of plastic and not, say, porcelain or glass, it survives the fall without breaking (though of course, just like anything else, if it is thrown enough, it will eventually stop working).

It’s unlikely that a controller will ever be subjected to corrosion because its environment (usually, both a game console and controller will perpetually reside in your basement) will probably not damage it over time. Unless said basement is flooded, in which case the controller may be damaged, it’s unlikely that you’ll need to worry about the corrosion of the plastic covering the controller.

Plastic is also a good choice of material for a controller because it is a poor conductor, both electrical and thermal. The reasons as to why this is a good thing should be fairly obvious: you don’t want to be zapped or burned while playing Okami or Kingdom Hearts. You really don’t.

Circuit Components

Resistor- A device that limits the flow of current when voltage is applied

In our project:

The resistors limit the flow of current from the joystick to the PC when voltage is applied. Resistor symbol below.

Diode- Device that only lets current pass one way, and not back the other way

In our project:

The diodes only allows the current to flow in one direction therefore not allowing the current back to the joystick side. Diode symbol below:

Transistor- A device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals

In our project

Our joystick contains a PNP BJT Transistor, which if it has a voltage in its base (the leg on the side), it will pass the current from the collector (top leg) to the emitter (bottom leg). PNP Transistor Symbol Below.

How the Circuit Works

We had to explain how the circuit in the Joystick worked with reference to the Circuit Diagram. Here is how I explained it:

On the joystick side of the circuit, when the Extra Button [5] is pressed, it sends a signal to Button 2 [7] on the PC side. When Button [6] is pressed, a signal is sent to Button 1 [1]. The +5V on the joystick side goes to the two +5V on the PC end; these volts are used in order to maintain the transistors, resistors, and diodes between the more important components on the Joystick end (Forward [1], Backward [2], Left [3], Right [4]) and the PC end (+5V [1], Pot x [3], Pot y [6]). Ground on the Joystick side goes directly to Ground [4 and 5] on the PC side. Forward [1], Backward [2], Left [3], and Right [4] on the Joystick side go through the electrical components diodes, transistors, and resistors.

After going through these electrical components the signal is sent to +5V [1], Pot x [3], and Pot y [6] on the PC site. There are potentiometers as components in the actual circuits as well as on the PC site. The ones in the circuit can take between 0 and 150K ohms. Pot x and y are potentiometers on the PC side, which control the amount of power being used. This is used for joysticks because it is possible to move the stick forward but not all the way forward so that for example the object or person in the video game moves but does not go full speed ahead. For example in a race car video game, moving the stick half way forward would make the car go half as fast in a forward direction.

This relates to the game port where 7= but4, 6=but3, 5=but2, 4=but1, 3=stk4, 2=stk3, 1=stk2, 0=stk1. 3, 2, 1, and 0 are all sticks therefore they each have a hexadecimal value and range from 0- 255. For example, 255 would be full speed forward. This whole game port and potentiometers are on the side of the PC, which receives the signal from the joystick and makes the activities in the game work. Also on the side of the PC, there are buttons like I have stated above like in the game port. 7, 6, 5, and 4 are all buttons and that means that they can only be 0 or 1. 0 means low and nothing happening and 1 is high with things happening. However the state can only be at 1 during the time the button is pressed so therefore when the pressure is released off the button, it goes back to 0, the original state.

Going back to the circuit and the electrical components diode, transistor, and resistor. These do not play a big role in the processing of the signal to the PC, they act more to limit the current and protect the PC circuiting just like the +5V does. The diode only allows the current to flow in one direction therefore not allowing the current back to the joystick side, which would cause a problem if the current were allowed to flow back. So this allows the current to only go from the Joystick to the PC. The transistor in the diagram is a PNP BJT Transistor, which if there is voltage in the base, will pass current from the collector to the emitter. The resistor limits the flow of current when voltage is applied. Therefore these components are more for limiting the amount of current and protecting the PC circuiting.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Take off!!!

This is our last class to work on this project so we better work fast. Maddi is completely our circuit board diagram and then answering the questions for our documentation and reflection on materials and what she has learned. I'm finishing this website and answering the questions for our documentation and reflection on electrical engineering and what I've learned. We'll post that stuff on here after we've put it all together. It seems like a lot of work to do in the next week taking into account that we have soo much homework these days. I can't believe everything is do next week, our website, our board, and our documentation. Maddi and I will mostly likely meet on Thursday at lunch to put the board together. Well I should get to answering those questions for our documentation and reflection.

Smooth Sailing

Today we first looked at what we had to complete this week and next week in order to have this project finished for February 17. We decided that one of the most important components left was the circuit diagram. We found a sample diagram for a PS1 controller and Maddi used it to draw a circuit diagram using her tablet. So while she is doing that I started our documentation and this post. For the documentation component, which is worth the most points, we split the work so that I do the documentation for the electrical engineering component and Maddi does the documentation for materials, some of what we had spoken about in our proposal. Also since next week is our last week to work on this, we have to write up our reflection and post that on here too. We plan on doing most of this work in class and some at home in order to finish on time. Wow! It seems like a lot more work now after writing about it then it did before when just discussing it with Maddi. Another thing we still have to do is label everything and put them up on our presentation board so that we can present is to our class and demonstrate the importance of each piece. Thankfully though, everything has been going smoothly today in class unlike last class where we faced some problems taking the controller apart.

A few screws loose...

So, after much time running after our controller (we had to find it first, really), we finally caught it. A Playstation One Controller.

We've just begun to take out the screws, a task which proved more difficult that we thought it would be. Well, it's not really a terribly difficult task, but the real challenge was to actually find a screwdriver able to reach the screws, which were very small and in very deep grooves in the back of the controller.

Progress is finally being made, even if it's going very slowly.