ARDUINO
This is the most significant part of my programming and electronics experience. Arduino is a microcontroller platform with digital and analog inputs and outputs. It is programmed in C++. It controls external electronics such as LEDs and motors and reads signals from input components such as buttons and light sensors. I purchased an Arduino kit in grade 7. In my leisure time, I learned from online sources and created many simple electronics projects. Learning to make these projects gave me a strong foundation in programming and most of my circuitry skills. Some of my best projects can be found below.
PROJECTS
REMOTE CONTROL ROBOT
I do not have the programmer for my line follower robot from the C page, so I decided to modify it. I replaced the PIC with an Arduino Nano and added the IR decoder, as well as a second set of batteries dedicated to powering the motor. The robot is controlled with a Sony remote, has three speed settings and can make noise by vibrating the motors.
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SUMO COMPETITION
SUMO is a type of robot competition where two robots try to push each other out of the ring. I worked on this robot with two other students throughout the entire school year. It has two motors, two wheels, an ultrasonic sensor in front and a line sensor at the bottom that detects the edge of the ring. It is controlled by ATMega328, which is the brains of an Arduino. It is programmed by detaching the ATMega328 chip and placing it into an Arduino board. The power source is a 9V battery with a 5V regulator.
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SIMON
This is a game where the player repeats the light sequence that the Arduino shows by pressing the buttons that corresponds to the LEDs. A long time ago, I found the source code for the game online. I modified it to improve the musical sequences. The original setup can be seen in the old video. Recently, I made a version of this game that is controlled by the ATTiny84, which is a smaller microcontroller chip that can be programmed through the Arduino Uno. I also added a volume knob for the piezo.
 The ATtiny84 version |  The Uno version setup |  The Uno version schematic |
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IR PROXIMITY SENSOR
An infrared phototransistor picks up infrared light from an adjacent IR LED that has bounced off an object. Black plastic from a garbage bag is used to block visible light the the phototransistor and let infrared through. The sensitivity is adjusted with the potentiometer and the piezo makes noise when an object is detected. This is an original project idea that I thought, inspired by hand detectors on hand driers in public washrooms.
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IR REMOTE
This is a universal remote that records an IR signal, stores it in EEPROM memory. It can broadcast stored signals. I got source code online, then modified it to include a soft potentiometer to select the memory slot of the signal to broadcast.
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WIKISPACE
In grade 7, I made a Wikispace for my Arduino projects and to help classmates who were also trying to use Arduino. Wikispace is like a website others can edit. Wikispace has closed down, forcing me to take my pages offline. The HTML files can be viewed, which have pictures, words and code, but the background graphics are not visible.
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