Networks

This week was a marathon for most of us, but with the collective knowledge of the class we were able to get some simple networked connections up and running. I redrew the simplest ESP32 board, but faced multiple issues and ultimately ended up using a version of the board that Doria had made for her Tangible Interfaces project, which worked much better.

Like many in our section, I followed a very helpful Random Nerd tutorial which walked through the steps of how to program the ESP32 to connect over wifi and subsequently relay data to Firebase. A couple helpful notes for others based on what our section learned: 1. Adding the ESP32 to Arduino isn't obvious at first, but using the Preferences option in the File dropdown enables access to the Board Manager where other board options can be listed with commas. 2. Due to HUIT restrictions, it isn't possible to connect an ESP32 over wifi on campus, so the SSID had to be for a phone hotspot instead. Connecting to Firebase sets us up well to continue working with transmitted data next week. I'm hoping to program an interface for my final project that will record each hit on the punching bag through a digital pin connecting the SAMD and ESP boards, and perhaps even sync to the music for some neat audiovisual displays. For now, this network is a step in the right direction!