For many years now, people have been improving their tools, studying the forces of nature and bringing them under control, using the energy of the nature to operate their machines. Last century is noted for the creation of machines which can operate other machines. Nowadays the creation of devices that interact with the physical world is available to anyone. Our course consists of a series of practical problems on making things that work independently: they make their own decisions, act, move, communicate with each other and people around, and control other devices. We will demonstrate how to assemble such devices and programme them using the Arduino platform as a basis.
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After this course, you will be able to create devices that read the data about the external world with a variety of sensors, receive and forward this data to a PC, the Internet and mobile devices, and control indexing and the movement. The creation of such devices will involve design, the study of their components, the assemblage of circuit boards, coding and diagnostics. Along with the creation of the devices themselves, you will perform visualization on a PC, create a web page that will demonstrate one of your devices, and figure out how an FDM 3D-printer is configured and how it functions.
Besides those keen on robotics or looking to broaden their horizons and develop their skills, the course will also be useful to anyone facing the task of home and industrial automation, as well as to anyone engaged in industrial design, advertising and art.
The course does not require any special knowledge from the participants and is open even to students of upper secondary school. Programming skills and the level of English allowing to read technical documentation would be an advantage, but this is not obligatory.
The entire course is dedicated to practice, so the best way for you would be to get hold of some electronics, follow the illustrated examples and experiment on your own.
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Welcome to the course! During Week 1, we are going to introduce you to the course (go through the Introduction, that’s very important). Then we shall start our work: getting acquainted with Arduino, the development environment and our first components. You will learn how to assemble circuits on a breadboard and will write your first program and assemble your first device. Don’t forget about the DIY section, which is also very important.
WEEK 2
It’s time to learn how to receive data with the help of sensors. During Week 2, we will teach you how to read off digital and analog signals, exchange data with a computer, create more complex algorithms, and use new output devices.
WEEK 3
During Week 3, you will learn to explore the world around you with the help of a distance sensor, and visualize data on a computer. You are also going improve your programming skills by creating a device with moving components.
WEEK 4
After going through Week 4, you will be able to connect your device to a network, plan its creation beforehand , control heavy loads, and power your device correctly.
WEEK 5
Let’s turn one wheel and then two wheels at once, and the robot car will start moving. It’ll be moving along the line or under your control. It could as well be just messing with your hand with which you are trying to control it.
WEEK 6
Having learnt to create a step motor, you can create devices which can perform very precise actions. For example, a 3D printer, which we will study in detail and then use to print some components.
