Electronics
The goal for the electronics unit was to develop a better understanding of how electricity works. The class started off by learning how to complete a basic circuit, then moved on to more complicated matters, such as series, parallels, resistors, capacitors, and LED's, among other things. After learning a bit about this, it was time for the bread boards. Electricity was fun and interesting, as well as educational.
Concepts:
Ohm's Law: Voltage = Current x Resistance (V = IR)
Circuit: a complete loop of conductive material with a power source
Resistor: poor conductors that inhibit electrical flow
Voltage: push/pull of electricity, Potential Energy difference
Amperage: amount of power in the circuit (remains constant throughout)
PCB: Printed Circuit Board (that shiny green thing that components are soldered to)
Solder: soft metal that is melted to a PCB to fasten components to it (almost like welding)
Multimeter: device used to measure resistance, voltage, etc.
LED: Light Emitting Diode (just a diode that emits light)
Breadboard: basically a PCB that requires no solder and can be used multiple times
Series circuit: voltage is split between components
Parallel circuit: current is split between components
Adding Resistance:
Series - add all individual resistance
Parallel - add up reciprocals and then take the reciprocal of that number.
Concepts:
Ohm's Law: Voltage = Current x Resistance (V = IR)
Circuit: a complete loop of conductive material with a power source
Resistor: poor conductors that inhibit electrical flow
Voltage: push/pull of electricity, Potential Energy difference
Amperage: amount of power in the circuit (remains constant throughout)
PCB: Printed Circuit Board (that shiny green thing that components are soldered to)
Solder: soft metal that is melted to a PCB to fasten components to it (almost like welding)
Multimeter: device used to measure resistance, voltage, etc.
LED: Light Emitting Diode (just a diode that emits light)
Breadboard: basically a PCB that requires no solder and can be used multiple times
Series circuit: voltage is split between components
Parallel circuit: current is split between components
Adding Resistance:
Series - add all individual resistance
Parallel - add up reciprocals and then take the reciprocal of that number.
Programming
Another project that was going on during the electricity unit was programming. We used a website called Codecademy and learned a basic programming language called Python. We learned Python because this is the programming language that the Raspberry Pi's database used. While learning Python I learned about looping, functions, Boolean operators, lists, dictionaries, and more. Python was fun and interesting at times, and really frustrating at others because of how easy it is to make a mistake. I'm glad I did it though so I will have a base for future reference.
Robotics
Robotics was very fun and enjoyable. Using the skills that we learned during electronics, we soldered components to the Raspberry Pi and connected it to a different computer and monitor. From there, we used our programming skills to make the robot move autonomously and carry out commands that it was given.
Reflection
During this entire unit I learned A LOT. It was a great experience for me and I enjoyed it very much. There were definitely some things I could work on such as focus and time management. For a lot of this project I was off task and not really helping my group, so I will work on that next time. I also struggled with time management and ended up cramming in some last minute work. A couple of things I learned were patience and more patience. Programming requires the utmost patience because a single misplaced period or capital letter will mess up the entire program which makes it extremely difficult to fix and very time consuming. Electricity was also a test of patience because at times there were so many wires and components hooked up to the breadboard that it was hard to see where the circuit was broken. Overall though, I had a really fun time with this unit.