Arduino

Arduino is an open-source physical computing platform designed to make experimenting with electronics more fun and intuitive. Arduino has it's own unique, simplified programming language, a vast support network, and thousands of potential uses, making it the perfect platform for both beginner and advanced DIY enthusiasts.

Circuit 1 Blinking and LED

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This was the first project in the Vilros booklet. The intent of this was to make the light turn on and blink. Thanks to the simplicity of this circuit, it was fairly easy to complete.

Potentiometer

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This was the second project in the Vilros booklet. With the potentiometer, the light got brighter or dimmer when we turned the knob. A potentiometer is also known as a variable resistor. When it’s connected with 5 volts across its two outer pins, the middle pin outputs a voltage between 0 and 5, depending on the position of the knob on the potentiometer.

RGB LED

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This was the third project in the Vilros booklet. In this project, we got the light to continuously change from red to green to blue. RGB, or red-green-blue, LEDs have three different color-emitting diodes that can be combined to create all sorts of colors.

Multiple LEDs

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This was the fourth project in the Vilros booklet. Attaching more lights and wires this time, as well as 330 resistors, we made the Arduino give off a light sequence.

Push Buttons

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This was the fifth project in the Virlos booklet. In this one, we were able to get the light to only turn on when we pressed one of the buttons. The way a push button works with Arduino is that when the button is pushed, the voltage goes LOW. The Arduino reads this and reacts accordingly. In this circuit, we also used a pull-up resistor, which helps clean up the voltage and prevent false readings from the button.

Photo Resistor

This was the sixth project in the Vilros booklet. In this circuit, we used a photo resistor, which changes resistance based on how much light the sensor receives. Since the Arduino can’t directly interpret resistance (rather it reads voltage), we used a voltage divider to use our photo resistor. This voltage divider will output a high voltage when it is getting a lot of light and a low voltage when it is not.

Temperature Sensor

This was the seventh project in the Vilros booklet. Here, we were able to get a reading of the temperature that the temperature sensor was reading on the computer. This particular sensor has three pins – a positive, a ground, and a signal. For every centigrade degree it reads, it outputs 10 millivolts.

A Single Servo

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This was the eighth project in the Vilros booklet. This was our first time using the servo and we got to determine how much it spun and how long it waited to turn back by changing the number of degrees in the code. Servos are ideal for embedded electronics applications because they do one thing very well that spinning motors cannot – they can move to a position accurately. By varying the pulse of voltage a servo receives, you can move a servo to a specific position.

Buzzer

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This was the ninth project in the Vilros booklet, using the buzzer, we got to use different tones to create songs. We used a buzzer that makes a small "click" when you apply voltage to it. By itself that isn't terribly exciting, but if you turn the voltage on and off hundreds of times a second, the buzzer will produce a tone. The one previously downloaded on the code was "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley which is the song in the video. After that, though the video is not on here, we change the notes and the note length to make it play the song "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel.

Spinning a Motor

This was the tenth project in the Vilros booklet. We used a servo motor. is requires the use of a transistor, which can switch a larger amount of current than the Arduino can. When using a transistor, we just need to make sure its maximum specs are high enough for our use. The transistor we are using for this circuit is rated at 40V max and 200 milliamps max. At this point, we had a hard time getting anything to work and were not able to get this to spin at that time which is why there is no video. Two projects later and we finally realized that it was a problem with the Arduino board itself.

Relay Code

This was the eleventh project in the Vilros booklet. The intent was to get the two LEDs to switch at a certain interval. A relay is basically an electrically controlled mechanical switch. Inside that harmless looking plastic box is an electromagnet that, when it gets a jolt of energy, causes a switch to trip. Same as the last project, we were not able to get this to work at that time, which turned out to be partially due to a faulty Arduino board. This was also part user-error because I do not think the diode was in the bread board properly.

Shift Register

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This was the twelfth and final project in the Vilros booklet. The goal of this circuit was to get the lights to turn on and off in a pattern going down the rows of LEDs. The shift register gave our Arduino an additional eight outputs, using only three pins on our board. Originally, we had a hard time getting it to work, only a couple would light up at a time, but then we tried a new Arduino board and it finally worked.

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