What is Arduino?
Arduino is an easy to use motherboard/breadboard, in which the boards are able to read inputs (light on a sensor, pushing of a button, etc.) and turns it into an output (activating a motor, turning on an LED). It also has a coding aspect where people can create code for the Arduino board to do a variety of different things. This kit can help introduce individuals into the world of coding and being able to use electrical components to create different projects.
Arduino Boards and Sketches
Below listed are all of the Arduino project that's I completed during this unit, ranging from beginner projects like Series and Parallel Circuits, to more complex projects like Knock Lock. Included as well are pictures of the motherboards/breadboards and code if code was necessary for the project.
Series CircuitThis was the first project that I completed with Arduino, which was introducing how to set up the breadboard to be able to create a full circuit. Overall, it was fairly easily after learning from my mistakes. How it worked was that after you pushed the button, it would complete the circuit. This was a great starter project as I was able to learn how the electricity is transported around the board and how to make circuits.
|
Spaceship InterfaceThis was the first project that included code from the Arduino app. It was a great way to introduce the coding section as the book was very in-depth and easy to understand. I didn't have much trouble creating this one, but I definitely had a few times where I went to verify the code that errors would come up. I also learned how crucial it is to have all of your code being declared as well as having no spelling/punctuation error as it will completely mess up your code. Overall I thought this project was pretty cool.
|
Love-O-MeterLove-O-Meter was definitely one of the first projects where I had to do a lot of tweaking and testing with the board as since it uses a temperature sensor, I had to make sure I had the initial start temp low enough so it would start the light sequence, but after a few tries I eventually got the code and breadboard created successfully. I did like this one though as it gave me a bit of struggle, in which I had to think about what I could do to overcome it.
|
Color Mixing LampThis was probably one of the more delicate and difficult ones as it was very hard to get the colored films into the wood pieces in order for the lights to be colored when light was shined over them. It was difficult as my hands are pretty large, so my fingers weren't as nimble as they should have been in order to put the films in. Eventually I got it, but it did take a lot of effort to do so. It was worth the effort though to be able to see the different colors mix in the bulb when the light was shined over.
|
Mood CueThis one was fun as it introduced the Servo motor, which was fun to use and test as I could actually make it rotate around. The code itself was very easy as it was very short and had a lot of lines of code that were similar, and building the breadboard wasn't too difficult, but sometimes the motor wouldn't get enough power, so you could hear it start to turn, but it wouldn't. Overall, I really liked this project and was excited to use the servo motor again in future projects.
|
Light ThereminThis one was probably the worst project to build as because it uses a piezo, which uses electricity to create a sound, and that sound was dictated based on how much light was seen by the light sensor (under my finger in the picture). The reason it was so bad as at first, when I started testing it, the piezo wouldn't respond with the light sensor, so it kept making an awful screeching noise that wouldn't damper when I covered the light sensor. Unfortunately I had to do this several times, but I eventually got it to work. This was probably my least favorite to build/test, but still was a good build.
|
Keyboard InstrumentEven though this build used a piezo, like Light Theremin, this wasn't actually as bad of a build as I could control the sound by pressing the different buttons, which would create different notes. This project didn't give me much struggle as the code was very simplistic and the build wasn't too difficult as well. One struggle I did have was that three of the notes were very distinct from each other, while the last one was very similar to the third one, so I had to do a lot of testing in order to manipulate the tone so it would be higher. This one was probably one of my favorites as it presented some challenges but was still attainable to build.
|
Digital HourglassThis was an interesting project as it introduced the tilt switch, which when shaken or inverted, would reset the code, so you code make an hourglass that lit up lights until all were lit, then invert the board, thus restarting the process. The only problem I had with the board was when I inverted it, the tilt switch sometimes fell out, so then I just shook the board so that the tilt switch would fall out.
|
Link to a video demonstration of Digital Hourglass
img_0243.mov | |
File Size: | 10335 kb |
File Type: | mov |
Motorized PinWheelThis project was a cool project as it added in a motor as well as the use of a battery as the power cord couldn't provide enough power to the board and the motor. It wasn't too hard to build, and the code wasn't too hard to code, but one problem that I had with the build was when I connected the battery to it, the wires would sometimes slip out, so I sometimes had to hold the motor, battery, and the button at the same time.
|
ZoetropeThis one was very similar to Motorized Pinwheel, but it added two new functions, in which you were able to increase/decrease the motors speed as well as switch directions of the motor. This one gave me a lot of trouble because I tested it for about 2-3 classes before I realized that I had my wires all lined up one slot below where they should have been and that I didn't have a return wire for the rotating switch, so I wasn't able to power anything and change direction/speed of the motor. After I adjusted it, it performed just as it should have, and was pretty neat to use.
|
Crystal BallThis was definitely my favorite build as not only was it really fun to use, but also posted the largest challenge for me. It was definitely the hardest to do as it had the most code out of all of the projects, but some of the code was directory for what the LCD display says, but also that it definitely had the most wires out of the projects, in which all of them had to be very close to each other, so it made assembly very difficult. It was fun to use as you could tap the tilt switch to change what the screen says after asking it questions.
|
Knock LockThis project gave me a very difficult challenge, in which when I first built it, everything worked fine except that the motor wouldn't spin at all, but I could see that everything else was working as it should. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why it wouldn't turn, checking my code and board at least 3 times each, to find out nothing. I also checked the official Arduino YouTube channel and watched how the created it, in which they created it the same as I did. Eventually, after a lot of research and trial and error, I went up to Mr. Willauer and explained what was going on and how I isolated the problem but couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work, in which he told me that I knew enough of why it didn't work, so I could get it to work if I knew how to, and he gave me credit for it. Overall I like this concept of this one, but actually getting it to work was very difficult.
|
Touchy Feely LampThis was the final Arduino project, and I thought that it was going to be more difficult than it actually was, but I was surprised. This project was based on not having a closed loop, but either using your fingers or metal to create the full loop. The build itself was very easy to build and the code wasn't too hard, but the hardest challenge was downloading the software and getting the CapacitiveSensor library to actually be implemented in the program. Eventually I got it done and it was cool to create a circuit without fully creating a circuit.
|
Final Summary of Arduino
I thought that this unit of Big IDEA was definitely one of my favorites as before I started the unit, I had created a custom pc for myself, so being able to learn more about coding and creating circuits greatly increased my knowledge about computers. I also thought this was a cool unit too as I had never experienced what it was like to actually write code. I had had some experience with coding, but it was the one with pre-programmed code blocks that you would put together in a sequence, but rather now I actually had to write the code by hand and make sure it was logical with no typing errors. Overall, I loved this unit and I hope I can experiment more with coding and building electronics in the future.