Arduino Introduction

On Friday, we learned about the basic uses of the Arduino microcontroller, which used aspects of both electronics and computer science. My partner, Jiaming, and I have a little experience with both of these topics since we're both currently in PHY 108, where we're currently working on circuits and often use Python for physics animations. Python isn't exactly the same as the C++ that the Arduino, but the way of thinking necessary for computer science is similar.

Potentiometer

Tools we used:

breadboard – where we build
our circuits

resistors

LED – Light Emitting Diode

Applications:

• For the first project we started with a basic example program and had to figure out why a delay time of 10 leaves the light on constantly. Through this exercise, we learned that the time unit for the program is milliseconds and the delay of 10 ms is so small that the human eye can't register it, which is why it appears to be on continuously.

• For the second project, we had to create a blinking light pattern with at least three different lights, while using the delay function. We chose a pretty simple pattern, but it could easy made longer and more complicated by altering delay times and adding in more on/off commands.

• For the third project, we turned the difficulty up a notch; we had to use the potentiometer to change the delay time of a blinking LED. A potentiometer has fluctuating resistance that is dependent on the degree of rotation of a nob. It makes changing values like delay times, in this exercise, really easy. Potentiometers are really useful tools!

• For the fourth project, we had to figure out a way to create a 3 LED light pattern without the use of the delay function. Instead, we used multiple if - else statements to accomplish the task. This was definitely the hardest of the four tests. This activity definitely taught us the importance of careful bracket placement. We accidentally left the time update code outside of the while loop which created quite a predicament.

Reflections:
Learning how to use the Arduino wasn't extremely difficult. The circuitry wasn't very difficult although it took some adjusting to get use to the non bread board part of the circuit. The programming portion is very similar to the C++ that I learned previously in high school, so for me it was less of learning something completely new and instead, learning new conventions for things I've learned previously. That being said, this is just day one with Arduinos and I anticipate the programming portion getting a lot more difficult. Things that I struggled with was definitely the little things – making sure the program is set to the correct port, spelling words correctly, putting the brackets in the correct place, and the ever pesky semicolons.