The electronics skill-builder was a chance for us to develop our coding knowledge and learn about different components that can be coded in a circuit. My goal for this project was to learn what a potentiometer is and how it could be applied in a circuit with other components.
Part of the project was to develop a deep enough understanding of our chosen component to make a reference guide that other students would be able to use in the future when in need of help coding the part. For the potentiometer, I gathered information on what the part does, how it works, how to use it, and how to code it in order to form a complete reference guide.
Learning to code a potentiometer was a struggle at first, as it was using code that we had not used before in class. In order to figure it out, I had to first gain an understanding of what a potentiometer does and how it is important in certain circuits. After I had a basic understanding of what it could do, I started looking for coding examples using resources from class and troubleshooting my own code when it was not working. After I was able to to get the potentiometer to function, I dove deeper into the code to understand how it worked and to figure out how I would be able to explain it to other students when it came time to create my reference guide.
Another portion of the project was to teach a few other classmates how to use your part, and then build a circuit combining all three of the group members' chosen parts. In my group, we had a potentiometer, a motion sensor, and an LED strip. Together, we were able to code the LED strip to turn on specific LEDs by turning the potentiometer, and to make the LEDs change color by triggering the motion sensor. We were able to combine all of our components into one unique and complex circuit and create a fun LED light show, all by teaching each other about new types of coding that we did not have the chance to learn about in class.
Our project was different from a lot of the others, as each component was involved in more than one step. The potentiometer could change the colors of the LED strip when the motion sensor was triggered, and when it wasn't triggered, it was able to turn the LEDs on and off, which was a more complex version of what our circuit could do.
Through this skill-builder, I was able to learn not just about how a potentiometer works, but how to combine multiple components in a creative way in one circuit. It helped me develop my knowledge of coding and what different parts are involved in making a complex circuit. I was able to demonstrate my problem-solving skills through trouble-shooting code, and my creativity through developing a complex circuit with my group members. All and all, I was able to learn about electrical components that I will encounter in my future engineering career and get exposure to them early on in my coding journey.