This was the first time we had a (nearly) completely open assignment. We could do anything in these 6 weeks as long as we experimented and researched. We had to explore a technology in depth in the form of a personal passion project.

I chose to delve into Arduino and C++. I have always loved playing with basic electronics. Taking apart RC cars or making a boat run with a DC motor. This was my chance to take this to a whole new level. I only have a very small amount of experience with Arduino, but this was previously experimenting with sensors. I like to look beyond just a computer screen and keyboard

Before the expert weeks began, we already had a chance to think about our concept. This was a difficult phase, especially since the assignment was so open. Before I came up with the initial idea of the Connectree I had about 5 other ideas (see beginning of the blog). The concept was not good from the beginning, during the first 2 weeks I refined the concept, there needed to be more focus on the connection part.

I grabbed every opportunity that came my way when it came to personal coachings. Thanks Simon! The only thing I did miss here was sometimes the input of another teacher. On the other hand, you have a coach who is immediately on board with your concept and knows your process much better.

The hardest part was finding a good a scalable way to connect and control an Arduino over WiFi. Which takes not only time, but also an investment in hardware and components (Arduinos, assecoires, Ethernet shields,...). You have to look for different ways in coding, but also for hardware. You have to do good research before you start spending money. This I have certainly learned here. This assignment has cost me about 600 euros in hardware, the ledstrips were the biggest pain in the wallet.

And this immediately brings the second biggest challenge: working with hardware. So far in Devine I have only delivered 'virtual' projects (outside of the game board of int 4), just code. If you make a mistake while coding, you can just 'control+z'. But if you accidentally short-circuited the led strips, it was game over. This also bring a new kind of stress when I was cutting and soldering the led strip. A chance to buy a second strip was out of the question. You also can't just go back to previous versions or make backups of Arduino setups. This is where I learned to deal with it.

If I were to do something different in the future, I would use a more powerful Arduino board with more storage and RAM. Maybe experiment with a Raspberry Pi.

At the end, it was all worth it. Especially when I saw the finished product standing in the living room. The fact that the tree is so large and made with wood completes it. All the goals and delivrebales were met, and it is so satisfying to send messages and drawings to the tree. My favorite feature is that you shake the Christmas ball, and a heart will appear on the tree. Hard to believe I made this myself in 6 weeks time

Finally, I would like to thank my coach Simon for guiding me through this assignment.