discussed the use of transistors to boost speaker volume.
corrected my circuit:
in doing so, i realised that the arduino output pins are not meant to serve power. they are meant to give little voltage spikes to register changes (and then to do something based on those switches (such as recognising a switch turning on & off)).
we discussed my strange case of the servo motor, and tom explained that this was perhaps because the motor did not have enough electricity to overcome inertia. we explored the use of a capacitor (to make sure that the current through the circuit is consistent), and giving the servo more voltage to begin with (5v instead of 3v).
it worked.
we also discussed that the output pins give as little as 1.5amps.
tom asked me to look at programmable resistors and digital potentiometers.
we also had a base-level discussion about making ‘right’ assumptions as a designer, where people need autonomy and where it’s beneficial for machines to have it.
i do feel a little discontent with the class — the discussions are not as fruitful or critical as i expected them to be, because a bunch of people don’t speak out or complete the reading. they don’t share their thoughts, and that way our thought (as a group) does not have enough inertia to move in a different direction (that is impossible to do ourselves).