Robotics Notes

Term 1:
Lesson 1:
- With a growing human population, which is estimated to rise tremendously,
food shortage is a major concern.
- Estimates state that food production will need to increase by 70% to keep up
with the rapidly growing population. (2025)
- Robots used in agriculture are commonly referred to as Agribots/ Agbots.
o They use AI technology to assist farmers with manual repetitive tasks.
- Agriculture must become more efficient; AI can help with that.

Lesson 3:
Getting started with tinkercad:
- Simulation software is a safe way to explore the world of circuitry and coding
without ant component damage or risk of injury to the user.
- Simulation software helps understand and use components safely. It guides
the user to installing software, navigating the workspace and creating basic
circuit projects.
Simulation explanation and its usefulness:
- Although simulations are not real, they are designed to imitate the effects of
what would happen if the experiment was conducted in the real world.
- Simulations are cost-effective.
- Simulations can be edited freely until the best prototype is identified.
- Simulations provide a safe space for testing.
o Due to these advantages, it is a safe, cost-effective way to explore new
ideas and learn concepts.
What are cyber threats?
- Cyber = anything computer, virtual reality and data on internet, related.
- Threats = Any malicious attempt to unlawfully damage, steal or disrupt a
system.
- If cyber threats are not successfully stopped, it my lead to a cyber-attack.
o Leads to loss of data and an array of lawsuits from customers and
components to compensate for damages.
- It is very important that programmers protect their data with suggested
security measures.
Types of Cyber threats:
 - Cyber threats are divided into categories based off of the type of result the
illegal software was designed to achieve and whether they achieved it.
- Each of these classes can be removed with the correct antivirus software.

Securing Data and software:

- Since cyber threats increase as the IoT grows, it is vital for all individuals and
programmers to avoid falling victim to these scams.
- When creating accounts, ensure to create strong passwords.
o Biometric authentication is a safer way to be identified as no one would
have the same biometrics.
- Adding multiple levels of security, also limits potential damage that can be
done to systems.
o Limits the ability of a hacker or fraudster to accessing details.
- It is best to keep electronic systems locked away to limit data losses and
avoid physical damage to components.
Circuit components:

Voltage and current:

- Voltage is the electrical force that causes electrons to move around the circuit.

- A higher Voltage will cause the electrons to move faster, much like what will
happen in your liquid system at home.

- Similarly, an LED’s brightness will change based on the amount of electrical

farce or voltage it receives.

- Current is the rate at which electrons flow past a specific point in a circuit. The
current in an electrical circuit is measured in Amperes and is denoted in an
equation with the symbol (I)

- Although the formula will not be tested, it can help with understanding the
relationship between voltage, resistance and current. Calculating the voltage
(V) of a system can be done by multiplying the resistance (R) of the circuit
with the current (I)
o V= R x I
Lesson 4:
What is Arduino?
- An Arduino is an open-source microcontroller development board. This means
that the Arduino can be used to read sensors and control things like motors
and lights. This allows you to upload programs to this board which can
interact with things in the real world.
How Arduinos Work?
- Written code can be uploaded from a computer to the Arduino through a cable
connected to port(A).
- After the Arduino code has been uploaded and the Arduino is disconnected
from the computer, a power cable is inserted at the other port (B).
- Once the Arduino is powered, it will continuously loop through the circuit until
either power is cut or it is switched off.

Components of an Arduino:

Advantages of an Arduino:
 - The only limit to an Arduino is the ability to create code, if you can code it, you
can use it.
Block Coding:
- Block coding is a special type of language.
- This language was created as an easy and simple way for learning how to
code, for giving basic information to a computer in the form of block coding.
Advantages of Block Coding:
- Simple
- Easy to use
- Large community to support
Disadvantages of Block Coding:
- Limited in what it can do.
- Slower that script coding
Block categories:

Inputs and Outputs:

Inputs:
- Any information that is put into a system is called an input. As an example, we
will make you the “system”.
- Inputs will include information collected from taste, sounds, smells and seeing
sensations, which are received by you (the system).
- The information thus comes into the system and is called inputs.
Outputs:
- The actions that the system takes in response to the input data are called
outputs. Using the same example as above, the actions (or reactions) you
show in response to the input data would be your (the system’s) outputs.
- If you smell a fire (an input), the output from the smell can lead to you putting
the fire out.
- Outputs from seeing a ball coming toward you can cause you to kick the ball
away; or the output from tasting something gross can be you spitting it out.
- Likewise, hearing someone greeting you (input) can be responded to by
greeting them back (output).
Digital Signals:
- A digital signal simply refers to a signal (which could be an input or output)
that is in one of two states: on or off. There are no in-betweens.
 Lesson 5:
What a real Arduino looks like:

- In simulation programs, the Arduino board takes on a sort of “cartoonish” look.

- The board is made up of an AT mega, a USB (universal serial bus) port, a 12
V charging point and several input and output pins.
- The AT mega chip is where code is stored, and calculations are made. The
pins are used to control several different devices, such as lights, alarms and
motors.

- This chip has an immense amount of power, so much so that building robots
or sending a rocket into space became a possibility.
The Arduino Development board:
The Arduino is made up of many different parts:
- Orange:
o The USB port (using the USB cable provided where we can)

a.) Sends our code to the board for testing.

b.) Receives messages from and communicates with the Arduino using
serial communication
c.) Powers the Board.
- Red:
o Secondary jack to supply additional power to the board if necessary.
- Yellow:
o IC (integrated circuit) that allows you to program the Arduino.
- Purple:
o Input and output pins.
- Green:
 o Replaceable IC (AT mega). Sends our code to the board for testing;
receives messages from and communicates with the Arduino using
serial communication.
Components on the Arduino Board:

At the bottom of the Arduino there are power rails similar to those on the breadboard.
Each pin is labelled and is used for the following:
- Vin - used to get voltage power from our external power supply.
- GND - ground pins to connect to negative rails.
- 5 V - supplies 5 Volts to a separate device or circuit.
- 3.3 V - supplies 3.3 Volts to a separate device or circuit.
- RESET - can remotely reset the Arduino when it is polled.
- IOREF - provides a reference for external communication.
The pins on the Arduino Board:

What is an Arduino IDE?

- An integrated
development environment
(IDE) is a software
application that provides a
space for computer
programmers to develop
software.
- Any IDE normally consists
of a source code editor,
build automation tools and
debugging functionalities.
 - This allows coding to be done faster and it has colour coded text to easily
identify different types of functions.
- It also has code examples for small projects and helps the programmer
manage the code with comments.
The Arduino IDE:

- The Compile button checks for errors and makes sure there are no issues in
your code.
- The Upload button uploads all your code to the Arduino.
- The Serial monitor: opens up a monitor which allows the programmer to
communicate with the Arduino and get information from it. This will be
discussed in detail later.

- Windows commands have the standard file format: save, edit, etc.
- The setup block: this is where code is written. It has two built-in functions.
First is the setup block which will only run once - it is indicated by “void
setup().” The second is the loop block which will continue to run forever (just
like the Scratch software loops) - it is indicated by “void loop().”
- The IDE feedback block shows compilation errors if they are made and where
they are located.
Lesson 6:
Arduino and Computer Communication:
- The metal block on your Arduino is used for serial communication.
- Serial communication allows communication between an Arduino and a
computer.
- With serial communication, the Arduino and the computer share a common
GND (ground) terminal.
- The serial communication connection also connects the TXD (transmitter pin)
on the Arduino with the RXD (receiver pin) on the computer, and vice versa,
i.e., the TXD on the computer with the RXD on the Arduino.
- Both pins are present on both devices so that there can be two-way
communication between the components.
- The TXD and RXD are seen on the Arduino board. They will flicker and blink
when the code is uploaded to the Arduino from the computer.
- This is the result of the serial communication connection between the
computer and the Arduino.
How serial communication is used:
- Arduino code starts with a setup function called “void setup()”.
- Line 1 is the setup function.
- Line 2 is left blank to allow for easier readability.
- Line 3 can be broken up and explained as follows:
- “Serial” is a library (holds a lot of functions) that is used in the communication
between the Arduino and the computer.
- The full stop “.” provides access to all the functions within the library.
- “begin” specifies the way the Arduino and computer communicate.
- “9600” is the Baud rate, which means it is the speed at which the computer
and the Arduino communicate.

- The clock speed that is defined ensures that the Arduino and computer
communicate at the same rate, otherwise they would not understand each
other; a practical example will follow later.
- The main loop is used as an example.
 o “Serial” is the library that was defined previously (it is used again just as
it was imported from setup)
o The “.println” function causes the code to print the next output text on a
new line, as opposed to“.print” which continues to print the text output
on the same line.
o Inside the bracket is the data to be printed. In Figure 6.11, the data to be
printed is a string of characters, i.e., “Hello world!”. Remember that text
requires double quotation marks.

- This shows the numbers on the serial monitor.

- Note that double quotation marks are not required to display numbers.

Lesson 7:
What an RGB LED is and how it works:
- An RGB LED is the combination of three LEDs (red (R), green (G) and blue
(B)) in one little package.
- These LEDs can produce any colour light by combining the above mentioned
three colours indifferent intensities.
- The intensity of each LED can be changed in one of two ways:
o either the Resistor connected to each LED can be changed (higher
resistances will lower the intensity on the LED)
o or the voltage applied to each LED can be changed (higher voltage will
increase the intensity of the LED).
- This is normally done by controlling the voltage.
- The voltage and current in a circuit are linearly proportional to one another,
hence both can be used to control the colour of the LED.
- The common Ohm’s law equation given below shows the direct proportionality
of voltage and current and how they both affect the resistance.
- If the current in the circuit stays constant, and the voltage is increased, the
resistance of the LED will need to decrease for the equation to be valid;
hence, the light emitted by the LED will change in intensity.
- The same will happen if the Resistor connected to the LED is increased; the
voltage used by the LED will need to increase, thus affecting the light intensity
emitted.
- OHM’s Law:
o V=IR
- There are two main types of RGB LEDs: the common anode RGB LED and
the common cathode RGB LED.
- The main differences between these are the way they are connected, and the
type of signal sent to the RGB LED to control the three LEDs.
- We will be using the common cathode LED.

- An RGB LED works by connecting the LED colours so that they can combine
to generate a secondary colour.
- Both red and blue are connected, as well as the voltage supply and ground.
- As red and blue are both connected, the resulting light emitted will be a
combination of these two colours (i.e. magenta).

- The reason for using the RGB additive colours red, green and blue (and not
the primary colours, i.e. Red, green and yellow) is because these colours are
emitted (a process which uses the additive colours to create secondary
colours) as opposed to painted (a process which uses the primary colours to
create secondary colours).
- The additive colours are used to produce different colours by ‘addition’: any or
all combinations of red, green and blue can be used.
- Different combinations of the RGB lights will cause the emitted light to appear
as a secondary colour, i.e. Yellow, magenta, cyan or white.
- Each colour has associated RGB values. These values tell us what voltage
each LED must be set to, in order to emit that specific colour.
 What an RGB LED is and how it works:
- RGB LEDs are used in plenty of different environments, such as:
• The LED strips and colour changing light bulbs that are capable of emitting a
wide range of colours, use RBD LEDs.
• On gaming computers, mouse and keyboards produce a wide range of RGB
LEDs for that cool gaming look.
• By far the most useful case for RGB LEDs is every LED screen that you use,
whether on your phone, computer or TV, all powered by a wide range of RGBs.

Lesson 8:
Types of variable resistors:
- Variable resistors come in many shapes and sizes, but always have three legs
(terminals) connected to either a dialler (like the temperature knob on an
oven), or a slider (like those on musical equipment).
- The resistance of diallers is adjusted by turning the knob left or right, while
sliders can be adjusted by sliding the button from one side of the straight line
to the other.
Where are variable resistors used?
- Diallers on microwaves
- Sliders on music equipment
- Both diallers and sliders on medical equipment.
How do variable resistors work?
- A variable resistor works by fluctuating (changing) the resistance.
- A conductive pad (wiper) is connected to a rotary shaft, which connects to the
component to be controlled.
- The wiper moves between two nodes, 1 and 3, on the resistive element.
- The closer the wiper connection point (on the resistive element) is to the node
of interest, the less the resistance.

Lesson 9:
Buzzers:
Where are Buzzers used?
- Doorbells
- Alarms
- Old phones
Types of Buzzers:
- Although there are many types of buzzers, the piezoelectric active buzzer will
be focussed on. Buzzers make sounds by using specialised discs.
How do Buzzers work?
- The piezoelectric active buzzer is classified as an active buzzer because it
has positive and negative terminals.
- Without power, the buzzer will be flat as opposed to having a bulged shape
when power is available.
- When alternating the power supply between 0 V and 5 V, a sound can be
heard.
- Since the button needs to be pushed between 400-5000 a second, an Arduino
is required to create different tones on the buzzer.
- A single line of code: “tone (pin, frequency)” is used to control the buzzer
sounds.
- If used in a loop, tones can be made by combining different tones.
- In the buzzer code, the first parameter describes the Arduino pin the buzzer is
connected to, while the second parameter depicts the buzzer frequency.

Lesson 10:
What is a Tilt switch?
- The electric diagrams below each picture, a tilt switch works much in the
same way as a normal switch.
- The only difference being that this switch’s main action comes from changing
its orientation.
- When the tilt switch is upright, the circuit is complete and the ball bearing
inside of the switch connects the two poles inside of its casing.
- When the switch’s orientation is changed, or if it is “tilted”, the circuit opens.

Where are Tilt switches used?

 - Tilt switches are used as a cheaper alternative to components akin to
accelerometers.
- Wherever motion is detected, the Arduino should do something according to
how it is programmed.
Incorporate a Tilt-warning:
- Two LEDs can be used to create a tilt warning system where a green light will
remain on if the orientation of the Breadboard is upright and, if tilted too much,
a red light will replace the green light.
- This will warn the user that the circuit has been tilted too much.