Week 5

Ideation

Tell us about your assignment's idea for this week. Why do you care about this idea? What inspired you? (Please include images or links to sources of inspiration)

Sumo car by Fatma, Omar and I

For this week’s assignment, my initial plan was to build an ambulance siren using a red LED and a buzzer. Inspired by the sumo car task during the EOW session, I decided to merge the concept of an ambulance with a moving vehicle. Therefore, for this week’s assignment, I’m creating a toy ambulance that emits a sound and flashes a red LED.

For the body of the ambulance, I was inspired by the following DIY projects:

Tool Chain

Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?

To simulate the circuit:

Electronic Materials:

Jumper wires

Mini breadboard

Piezo buzzer

Crocodile wires

220 ohm resistor

LED

5v adaptor

Female DC power adaptor

ON/OFF switch

Materials for the enclosure:

Cardboard

Plastic bottle caps

Cutter

Toothpicks

Glue gun

Design/Preparation Process

Explain the design and/or preparation process of your assignment. How did you use the tool or software to design and/or prepare your assignment before fabrication/implementation?

Simulating on Tinkercad

Screen Recording 2025-08-25 at 3.27.25 PM.mov

Simulation video on Tinkercad

Added components:

Breadboard (small)
5v power supply
LED (red)
220Ω resistor
Piezo buzzer
ON/OFF switch

Connected 5v power source to breadboard
Connected LED using 2 wires to breadboard (because this is how I will connect it in real life to be able to move the LED and mount it on cardboard)
Connected a 220Ω resistor to the LED cathode
Connected the piezo buzzer in parallel with the LED
Added a switch to the same rows where the power and other components are connected

Parallel circuit: The LED, buzzer, and switch share the same power rails, meaning this circuit is connected in parallel, and each component works independently because there are multiple paths the current can flow in at once.

Power supply: This circuit uses a 5v power source because both the LED and buzzer can operate fully at a low current.

Input components:

ON/OFF switch

Output components:

Piezo buzzer
Red LED

Development/Implementation Process

Explain the development/implementation process of your assignment. How did you use the machine/tool to manufacture or implement the design of your assignment?

Building the circuit:

Connected LED and 220Ω resistor to breadboard using male-female jumper wires

4. Connected to power supply

2. Connected buzzer and switch

5. Tied the wires to organise the circuit

3. Connected switch with crocodile wires

Final circuit

IMG_4949.MOV

Final circuit video with output components working: LED and buzzer

Building the cardboard enclosure:

Cutting the pieces

final outcome (side)

2. Assembling the pieces

final outcome (front)

3. Making the wheels

IMG_5158.MOV

final outcome (video)

4. Mounting the components

Overcoming Challenges

When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this assignment?

A challenge I faced was that on the physical breadboard, the switch only controlled the LED, while the buzzer was constantly working. I realized the buzzer was wired incorrectly and directly to the power source. This meant that the current did not pass through the switch before reaching the buzzer. After a few trial and errors, I managed to rewire it to share the same path as the LED, and both then worked properly.

IMG_4946.mov

Switch controlling the LED only and buzzer is constantly working

Assignment Design Files

Tinkercad Simulation

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