Week 9

This week proved to be valuable to us as it was our first forray into arduino technology with hands on practice and experimentation.

We began with a brief explanation of physical computing, which we learnt was essentially the use of hardware and software to build devices that can interact with the real world, (with the help of the traffic light system example)

We then were taught about the components which we would be using including transducers, a device thats function is to convert one energy form into another for input (sensors) and output (audio and light based output) devices, and resistors, a device thats job is to resist the flow of electricity.

We covered other devices in the arduino kit we were given, including the breadboard, wires/jumpers, capacitors, resistors, usb cable etc.

We then had a recap on what voltage, current and resistance were and the about analogue and digital and the number of differences between them with real world examples

Exercise

Is the following analog or digital?

• A light switch (Push button)- Digital

• A light Bulb (LED)- Digital

• Volume control on an MP3 player (sound sensor-piezo sensor)- Analog

• Sunlight levels (light sensor-photo-resistor)- Analog

• A Light Bulb with different fade of lights (LED)- digital

We then learnt the reasoning for phyisical computing which is to make the process of taking control of a processor and have it do tasks easier.

We then made an account for tinkercad and installed arduino on our PC's/laptops and tried out some example codes with our arduino kits