Our Project
The focus of this project was to teach us about electronic coding. We learned about how circuits worked, and also how to calculate voltage, resistance, and current. To do this, we first worked out of a packet with a variety of experiments. When we completed this packet, we had a basic understanding of these principles. Then, we moved on to more complex experiments using Arduino boards.
Content
(P) Power - rate at which electrical energy is transferred by a circuit { P=F(V) }
(Ω) Resistance - measure of how many obstacles (for the current) are present or how much current is slowed { R=V/I }
(V) Voltage - potential energy drop across a component of a circuit
( I ) Current - "flow" of electricity through a circuit { I=R/V }
Ohms Law - the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the current across the two points.
(Ω) Resistance - measure of how many obstacles (for the current) are present or how much current is slowed { R=V/I }
(V) Voltage - potential energy drop across a component of a circuit
( I ) Current - "flow" of electricity through a circuit { I=R/V }
Ohms Law - the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the current across the two points.
Our Project
The final result of my project was getting our circuit to play the Star Wars theme song while displaying the message "In a galaxy far far away..." on a LCD board. We did this by coding the proper wavelengths of the notes in the theme song, and then coding in the letters of the message. A copy of this code is included below, as well as some pictures/videos of our circuit in action, and a picture of the circuit diagram we made.
Reflection
Overall, this project was really frustrating. I learned a lot about coding, and circuits, but the process was super tedious and unpredictable. For example, it took a really long time to build each circuit, and if every single little part of the circuit wasn't perfectly placed, it wouldn't work, and it would take even longer to figure out what the mistake was and how to fix it. Despite the frustration, my partner Tara and I worked together really well during this project. We were both at the same academic level regarding robotics, so we both helped each other understand the concepts. For example, if one of us didn't understand something, the other one would stop what they were doing to make sure the concept or idea was understood. Another thing that we did well together was time management. Due to the numerous amount of set backs we had during the project, our in-class work time was somewhat compromised, so we had to make up for lost time during lunch. Because of the extra time we put in at lunch and after school, we managed to complete the project on time. A couple of things that didn't go very well during this project were technical setbacks and unexplained technical errors. Due to the dependence on technology during this project, a lot of things managed to go wrong. For example, when we were trying to enter in the code for the notes of our song, the system kept saying there was an error in the code, even though we knew the code was correct, so we had to go back and re enter in the entire code. Another technical difficulty we had during this project was on one of the last work days, the power at school went out, so we had no internet access, meaning we couldn't research the information we needed for our code. Even though this project was extremely frustrating, the end result was really cool, and I learned a lot about robotics, circuits, and coding.
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