Robot Art Show

Our Task

In this project, we worked with partners to explore and learn about electricity and circuits. The end goal was to apply this knowledge and create a robot "art show" to present to the class. We started the unit learning about static electricity, electromagnets, and voltage, and completed a lab/experiment about each of them. Then we moved on to building and coding simple circuits and experiments using breadboards and Arduino. 

I worked with Sahana to create a hand that could be controlled using flex sensors and servo motors on an Arduino breadboard using Arduino code that is a variant of C++. The flex sensors were attached to a glove, and measured resistance when bent and straightened. These values were then "mapped" into angles of the servo motors, which would pull strings to move the fingers. 

Hardware

Content

Circuit: a closed loop of conductive material from one end of power source (-) to the other (+)

Series Circuit: circuit with single path and multiple components

Parallel Circuit: circuit with branches and separate paths for flow of charge

Charge: magnitude of electrical quantity

Power (p): rate of transferring electrical energy through a circuit (p = iv). Units - watts (W)

Coulomb's Law: the force of attraction/repulsion between 2 static charges is proportional to their charges and inversely proportional to the distance between them squared (F = kq1q2/r^2)

Resistance (r): amount the current is slowed/resisted through an obstacle. Units - Ohms (Ω)

Voltage (v): potential energy difference from one side of component to the other (drop/height). Units - Volts (v)

Current (i): flow of charge/electricity through circuit. Units - Amps (A)

Ohm's Law: voltage is equal to current times resistance (v = ir)

Flex Sensor: a sensor that measures the amount of bending and resistance

Reflection

Out of all projects we did this year, this one was definitely one that I enjoyed the most. I had some previous experience with coding, while my partner had some experience with Arduino. While my partner did most of the wiring and circuit work, I worked mostly on the code and 3D printed the fingers for the hand.

Over the course of this project, one strength we had was critical thinking. When a problem occured in an experiment and project, we were able to modify the wiring and code to identify the problem and find a solution. For example, our original plan for the hand project was to use an IR remote or make our own flex sensors to control the servo motors. However, they did not work as planned, and we began writing code and experimenting with using buttons to control the motors, before obtaining actual flex sensors. Another area we were successful in was conscientious learning and staying on task. Since this subject was something that both me and my partner were interested in, we were able to work hard and explore different ideas and projects while having fun and not getting distracted.

However, an area that posed a challenge to us was time management. Since we ran into some difficulties with the flex sensors and 3D printing the fingers, we were working until the last minute to get the wiring and circuit diagram ready for the presentation. Another area that could have been improved was communication. There were times in the project when we had slightly different ideas of the process in our project, resulting in some confusion because of miscommunication.