Blind Assistive Technology (BAT) Sleeve Part 3: Electronics Assembly

Today we will be assembling the electronics for our glove. It won't be quite ready to play with though, tomorrow we will still have to program the little guy, but once the programming is done, you will be finished with the electronics completely! Lets get started!

The first things we need are your Arduino, mini-breadboard, PING))) sensor, speaker, and wires. For now, set aside your USB cable and battery pack.

Plug the PING))) sensor into the breadboard so it looks like the photo. Ignore the plastic molding on the sides, that will be covered in a later step.  It is important to note that the sensor needs to be placed parallel to  the thicker groove in the center of the breadboard.

Notice that the sensor is parallel to the grove in the center of the breadboard.

Now we have to do our wiring. Pull out three wires, with the colors blue, green, and red. The colors don't matter, but it will make it easier for you to follow the directions. On the front of the sensor you will see that the three pins are labeled GND, 5V, and SIG. Plug the blue wire directly behind the SIG pin, the green wire behind the 5V pin, and the red wire behind the GND pin. If this is confusing, refer to the photo to see how it is done.

Do it just like this and you can't fail. 

Here comes the fun part. You are going to wire up the Arduino! No need to be terrified, it is actually remarkably easy!

Take the other end of the blue wire, and plug it into port 2 on the Arduino.

Take the other end of the red wire and plug it into one of the GND ports on the Arduino.

Finally, take the other end of the green wire, and plug it into the 5V port on the Arduino.

You can see that all the ports are clearly labeled. 

The last step for today is to hook up the speaker. This is what will be giving the user feedback when the device is in use.

The speaker will have 2 wires. Take either wire you like and plug it directly above the red wire that you plugged into the breadboard. This will ground one side of the speaker.

Take the other speaker wire, and plug it into pin 8 of the Arduino.

Nothing to it!

That's it! Good job everyone, you have just wired up the electronics on the BAT Sleeve! Next time we will program the Arduino, which will give you a working device! After that, I'll show you how to make a sleeve to mount it on the hand!