The tech lab was one of the reason I started the MA course. I have a number of ideas which might involve using Arduino to control sensors and actions. The weather project is one. I would also like to use Raspberry Pi to access weather data online.

As an artist/designer using technology, I'm interested in how programming and robotics could be used within my practice. As our environment becomes immersed in technology, we are accessing more and more data. As art schools fill up with digital natives, increasingly, atrists and designers will want to access this raw data to use as inputs for their projects. I’ve managed to teach myself Rhino and 3d printing and having been freelance for years, I’m used to having to learn software.

Above left: The Arduino breadboard for prototyping circuits. Above right: The Arduino programming interface is very simple.

The workshop took us through some quite basic stuff. The aim of the day was to make a Rube Goldberg inspired machine to get a ping-pong ball to do a circuit of the workbench. We worked as a group and put our minds to the problem. We used movement sensors to activate servos - using the momentum of the ball to activate levers and gates.Having a tangible problem to solve makes learning anything new much easier. I have always learnt new software through a need to use it on a job. It gives the learning a focus.

Above: Stills from the film of our Rube Goldberg inspired machine.

This was excellent fun. We really benefited from learning together.