In this project we were tasked to learn how electricity works and then how to program using Arduino. It was then our job to wire and program a piece of art to show it off to the class in a Robot Art Show. The beginning of this project was rather unique as we got to work from packet full of experiments to give us a chance to understand how electricity works. After the packets we examined a couple of programs from Arduino as well as setting up the circuits to see how they worked.
After we did the packets and circuits we began to work on making our own programs. At first we tried to make a magnet train using electromagnets but we ran into a problem as an electromagnet needed about 70 more volts then was available so we needed to come up with something else so we decided to try to make whack a'mole we did this by basing it off of the final program we analyzed which was a game called Simon which played similar to whack a'mole except it built itself larger making you need to remember what was pressed before but after about a week of trying to get the program to work we decided to go back to an old game i made when i was messing around with the final program which I titled Realm of the mad Casey as I changed all the button keys to a different key so it was almost impossible beat. How ever instead of me having to change it by hand we changed the program to pick a random number then change the keys to correspond to that button. After this we decided to be very very evil by making the randomization button take for ever to work as well as making the loss noise very obnoxious thus deserving the name Realm of the Mad Casey.
After we did the packets and circuits we began to work on making our own programs. At first we tried to make a magnet train using electromagnets but we ran into a problem as an electromagnet needed about 70 more volts then was available so we needed to come up with something else so we decided to try to make whack a'mole we did this by basing it off of the final program we analyzed which was a game called Simon which played similar to whack a'mole except it built itself larger making you need to remember what was pressed before but after about a week of trying to get the program to work we decided to go back to an old game i made when i was messing around with the final program which I titled Realm of the mad Casey as I changed all the button keys to a different key so it was almost impossible beat. How ever instead of me having to change it by hand we changed the program to pick a random number then change the keys to correspond to that button. After this we decided to be very very evil by making the randomization button take for ever to work as well as making the loss noise very obnoxious thus deserving the name Realm of the Mad Casey.
circuit
A loop of conductive material from positive to negative sides of a battery. A circuit should have have a some resistance between the 2 sides in order to prevent short circuiting.
RESISTANCE
The measure of how much the current is slowed in a circuit. You can think of it as when you block a river and how its flow will slow greatly. Resistance is measured in Ohms or Ω. You can calculate it by using the equation R=V/i. Its variable is R
current
Current is the flow of electricity through a circuit. You can think of it as the amount of water in a river as its amount doesn't change if move where it is. Its measured in amperes or amps. Its variable is I. You calculate it by using the equation I=V/R
voltage
voltage is the potential energy drop across a component of a circuit. Think of it as the drop of a water slide and how it is always moving downward. Voltage is measured in volts or v and its variable is v. You can find the voltage with the equation V=IR
power
The amount of electrical energy consumed over time. You can think of it as the amount of water that flows out of a river over a set period of time. It is measure in watts and variable is P. The equation for power is P=JV
Parallel
A parallel circuit is when to parts of a circuit separate does something then connects back to each other. You can calculate the resistance in a sequence of parallel circuits by finding total amount of resistance in each branch of the parallel circuit then use the equation 1/Rtotal=1/R1+1/R2... . The voltage of all the arms of a Parallel circuit are the same voltage. The more resistance in an arm of a parallel circuit the less current will go through.
series
A series circuit is when parts of a circuits are arranged in a straight line. You calculate series circuits resistance by adding up all the resistance like Rtotal=R1+R2+R3... The voltage going through each piece of resistance is proportional to the amount of resistance and the amps are the same going through it
Reflextion
This project was very different from the other projects as the primary challenge of it was trying to figure out the science and terminology over things like math and time where in other project we would spend lots of time doing math and managing time as we make stuff this project we spent most of it doing the science involved and trying to figure out how to program it to make it work how we want it to this made the whole thing being very time consuming. This made everyone very impatient as it was quiet tedious so most people got frustrated and irritable. This let me understand how hard it is to focus on something that was very boring to work on which luckily for me was not a big problem to me as the partner I was working with was very good at focusing which lead us to be able to finish. This is something I wish to improve as it is very hard to complete a 2 person project if only one person. Another thing I had difficulty with is being over confident at the beginning as I already have pretty good grasp on how to program in java script however we were programming in a C language which meant all the prior knowledge was more confusing then helpful. Combined with this and the point that I was alone for the first half of the project made it very difficult to focus on my work which is why next time I will avoid being over confident with prior knowledge. I also learned knew things as well for example I learned the importance of multiple plans as even though we had two plans we wanted to do we made neither of them and turned to something random I was making instead. This will help later on as it will allow me to look at all previous work for help in future plans and back ups in case of failure to complete the main goal. Another thing I learned to do is ask other groups for help as when I was a solo group it i had difficulty getting the materials needed to complete the experiments so i found it was easier to go around to other groups to try to work with them to find the answers to the problems. This is new to me as i am generally a very self reliant worker who is not to big on working with groups so me being able to move around and work with others is a good things.