Winter Design Competition and Arduino Workshop 5 February 4th! Free Pizza!

The fifth and final ODC Arduino Workshop and the Winter Design Competition will be held Tuesday, February 4th at 6p-9p in Engineering 120.

First, participants of the Winter Design Competition will demo their projects! It's easy to participate if you weren't planning to already (more information here: http://csuieeedesign.blogspot.com/2013/12/ieee-winter-design-competition.html). Participants will show off their projects and be judged by IEEE student officers using the official ODC rubric that will be used in the final competition in March. First prize is a Raspberry Pi and second prize is a $20 gift credit to Sparkfun!

Following the competition, the workshop will be all about project design - how to come up with ideas, planning, prototyping, and completing effective, functional working projects for fun and for the competition in March! The presentation will be followed with a final demo project that will move through the entire process of project development. Even if you don't have an Open Design Arduino Kit this is a highly valuable workshop for anyone involved in the competition or interested in making projects in your free time.

We will have free pizza so come see some great small projects, learn all about project design, and start getting ready for the Open Design Competition in March!

Introduction to Analog Design (Workshop 3) - Detailed Guide

Guide Contents

I. Temperature Sensors

II. Transistors

III. DC Motor

IV. Demo Part 1: Assembling the Circuit

V. Demo Part 2: The Code

I. Temperature Sensors

A temperature sensor is made of a small, special resistor that changes its voltage drop based on the temperature of the sensor. It has three pins - HIGH, GND, and signal. A voltage is applied to the sensor to make it operational, and based on the temperature an analog value will be displayed at the signal pin. The Arduino's temperature library will convert that value to a digital value in Celsius that can be converted to Fahrenheit. 

II. Transistors

Arduino can only supply enough current to run sensors and small servo motors from its digital and analog pins. This isn't enough current to drive DC motors and other larger loads, so a DC amplifier is needed. A transistor acts as this DC amplifier in our workshop (transistors can be used in many other applications. This is just one use.) 

For this workshop we will be using an NPN BJT. The BJT has three terminals - a collector (positive voltage), an emitter (negative voltage or ground), and a base. The base is like a switch - put a voltage into this terminal from the Arduino and current will flow from the collector to the emitter.

Every BJT transistor has a Beta value, usually between 5 and 100. It equals the current amplification of the transistor. 

Introduction to Motor Control (Workshop 4) - Detailed Guide

Guide Contents

I. DC Motors

II. Servo Motors

III. Stepper Motors

IV. Demo Part 1: Assembling the Circuit

V. Demo Part 2: The Code

I. DC Motors

DC Motors come in two variants - brushed and brush-less. Most DC motors are brushed, especially small motors. They use graphite brushes, magnets, and coils of wire to create motion when a voltage is applied. Brushed motors are good when positional actuary is not important. Brush-less motors do not have graphite brushes and use sensors or a separate motor driver. They have less friction but are more complex to use. (See Workshop Guide 3 for a demo involving a DC motor.)

II. Servo Motors

Servo Motors use a small DC motor, a potentiometer, and a gear train. The gear reduction applied to the DC motor increases the output torque, making the motor easy to use. Servos specialize in high positional accuracy.

IEEE Winter Design Competition!

Don't have anything to do over the four long weeks of winter break? Enter the Winter Design Competition!

The Winter Design Competition is almost exactly like the Open Design Competition except for a few small differences:

       - It runs from now until January 28th (The tentative date of the ODC Workshop 5).
       - It has a prompt.
       - No need to sign up.

The prompt of the competition is simple - make something that can teach someone math. It doesn't matter what shape, size, or method it takes, just make it teach math and that's it!

The project will be judged by our officers using the official rubric for the final Open Design Competition and there will be prizes for the winner and runner up! (Official rubric attached in a forthcoming email.)

First Prize: A Raspberry Pi (literally a computer the size of a credit card) and 20 bonus points towards your final Open Design Competition score in March!

Second Prize: A $20 Gift Card to Sparkfun and 10 points towards the Open Design Competition!

This is a great opportunity to stay fresh over break and sharpen your design skills for the competition. Not only that, but you might win an awesome prize and get a leg up on the competition in March!

Good luck!

Cameron

Workshop 4, Motor Control Tonight (Tuesday, 12/10) at 7pm (TIME CHANGE)

Notice - Workshop 4 has been moved to 7PM in ENGR 100 (location is the same).

Besides an exciting presentation and demo on motor control, will have pizza and drinks and will be going over the Winter Design Competition!

See you there!

Open Design Workshop 4 - Motor Control - Tuesday December 10th at 6pm (With Free Pizza!)

Take a break from studying this Tuesday the 10th at 6pm and come join us in Engineering 100 for the last Arduino workshop of the semester! You'll get to learn all about motor control with the Arduino, play around with the DC and Servo motors in your kits, get the official scoop on the Winter Break Design Competition and enjoy some free Pizza!

See you there!

Cameron

IEEE

Code for Workshop 3

double val;
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);     //  setup serial
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
 
}
void loop() {
  val = analogRead(A0)-123;    // read analog input pin 3
  float Temp=CtoF(val);
  Serial.println(Temp);    // print to screen
 
  if (Temp > 85) {
    digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
    digitalWrite(12,HIGH);
  }else{
    digitalWrite(13,LOW);
    digitalWrite(12,LOW);
  }
 
  delay(1000);
 
}

double FtoC(double F)
{
   return ((F-32)*5)/9;
}
double CtoF(double C)
{
  return ((C*9)/5) + 32;
}