Visible Breadboard: System for Dynamic,Programmable, and Tangible Circuit Prototyping with Visible Electricity

摘要

This paper reports a new system for prototyping circuits called the Visible Breadboard. The Visible Breadboard is a solderless breadboard that allows users to make or erase physical wirings with tangible input by hand and to see the voltage level of each hole at all times by a colored LED light. The Visible Breadboard has 60 solid-state relays set in parallel crosses and controlled by a micro-controller. These relays connect the 36 holes on the system surface. The connected holes work as wirings in the circuit into which users can insert electronic materials. Each hole has an AD converter function working as a voltmeter and a full-color LED. The voltage of each hole can be visualized by these full-colored LEDs. Users can operate this system by touching the surface with their fingertips. Users can also connect the Visible Breadboard to a PC. When the Visible Breadboard is connected to the PC, it functions as a new kind of interface for developing and sharing circuits. Our experimental results showed that this device enables users to build circuits faster and more easily than an ordinary solderless breadboard.