This was my second studio, and was one of my favorites since doing this type of thing interests me such as learning programing, learning more of arduinos and learning of different components of electronics. For the first week my studio wasn’t assigned projects yet we spent it learning of the basics of programing and did different projects and mini lessons. Which were very interesting such as the persistence of vision and the annoyatron.

                Near the end of the first week my studio started projects, at first I had trouble coming up with ideas for what I was going to do for my project. The problem that our studio wanted to solve was everyday problems that people face that can be solved with electronics.  I then remember a problem that I deal with on a daily basis, which was that when I play videogames for extended periods of time especially in the winter my hands would get very cold. So that’s where my idea of the heating system in a game controller originated from. I didn’t really need much material when I started the project. I had an old PS3 controller that I didn’t really have much use of anymore.

                All I needed was some resistors since they produce a good source of heat that would suit my purposes. I also had some copper that could be attached like applying tape. The reason for it was that copper is a good conductor of heat so it can spread the heat out from the resistors more. After getting everything I needed I then learned on how to disassemble a PS3 controller which turned out rather simple. There were some complications when it came to finding a place for the resistors to be placed. I had to sacrifice the rumblers in the controller which was what made the controller vibrate. But that wasn’t a big deal. Next I had to do some modifications to the controller, such as putting holes in the casing so the resistors and the switch. I learned how to use a dimsel which is a tool that uses sandpaper at high speeds to carve holes, which is what I used to modify the casing of the controller.

 After everything was starting to get finalized my last task was to hook up the controller battery to the resistors. However a problem showed up that I wasn’t expecting which was that the battery has a smart feature on it that if the battery is powering anything else then what it was meant to provide power for it shuts off its flow of power. So I had a bootleg PS3 controller so that I can take the battery from it and use it for the controller.

 While this worked the resistors were generating heat and the controller was working, but on the day of presentation the controller stopped functioning. However I solved it temporary by having a battery pack connected to the controller via USB. My hopes is to soon resolve the power issue before the final exhibit.