Welcome / Lab Overview:
In this lab, you will get some hands-on learning with sensors - devices that computers use to gather environmental information from the world around them. You will then build on this knowledge of microcontrollers and sensors to create a basic robot. You will create a robot from your temperature sensor by adding an actuator (i.e. motor - in this case simulating a fan), by integrating all the components of a robot: a sensor, a controller, and an actuator. With this fundamental knowledge you will be able to understand the myriad combinations of these components, from consumer aerial drones, to surgical robots, to self-driving cars.- Assemble electronics components using a soldering iron
- Build electronic circuits on a breadboard using components such as resistors, LED's, and temperature sensors
- Program the Bluefruit board to accomplish the following tasks:
- Control the Bluefruit's outputs (LEDs, speaker) based on user/sensor input
- Display text/images/simple graphics on the TFT Gizmo (display)
- Control a servo based on user/sensor input
- Improve understanding of Python by making the effects of Python programs more tangible
- Foster excitement in computer science, electrical engineering, and embedded systems
- Give every CY105 student the tools to build a microcontroller-based device
- Have fun!
Scenario
The Temperature Sensor converts the physical ambient temperature into electrical signals as shown in this diagram. (Think back to what we learned about Analog to Digital conversion!)
Next, our goal is to build a simple robot that will cool itself based on ambient temperature. It does this by sensing the ambient temperature, converting it to degrees Fahrenheit, calculating the fan's rotations per minute (RPM) appropriate for the temperature, and adjusting the fan speed as appropriate. The schematic below shows adding a servo (the “fan”) to the device:
