Project to keep our fellow Krumlink busy

[bloody-orc]

As I see from a n umber of threads Krumlink, you have too much time on your hands. Too much free time that is. Lets change that

Under this thread I would like everyone to post a project to keep our little friend busy

I'll start:

As I understand you are starting with microcontrollers. Sadly I think you have gone the wrong way (PIC way not AVR way). Oh well...
Anyhow, no matter what controller you are using, you need some equipment to play with or debug your future projects with.

First thing I would imagine is to build yourself a nice test board. To test all kinds of peripherals. This will educate you in programming and in electronics. Select one PIC with all the gadgets (well most of them at least), consult with us on the selection and then start adding peripherals. I'll make a small list on what you should consider.
1) LED sinking to output
2) LED sourcing from output
3) Pushbutton from Vcc
4) Pushbutton to GND
5) potentiometer
6) Light dependent resistor
7) IR sensor (the three legged version with amplifier and demodulator built inside)
8) 4bit character LCD
9) 7segment display
10) 74HC595 output multiplexer with 7segment LED display connected to the outputs
11) I2C EEPROM memory
12) Clock circuit
13) digital to analog converter (so that you can make sound). You can use both a chip or a resistor net to do that
14) NPN transistor circuit
15) PNP transistor circuit
16) FET circuit
17) relay circuit
18) as you are into robotics add a place, where you can connect your H-Bridge circuit, that you will assemble on a separate board so that you can use it on different robots.
19) ULN2804 so you can experiment with smaller unipolar stepper motors
20) small buzzer connected to your PICs PWM output
21) LED connected to PWM output of PIC (dimming)
22) MAX232 circuitry to connect your PC to the board (terminal)
23) KTY-81 thermostat (Termo resistor, or whatever).
24) Something with 1Wire connection. iButton or whatever (don't know, it's a PIC thing, so can't suggest anything certain)
25)... I think others can add something to the list.




I know this list seems long and it will burn quite a big hole to your wallet, but remember, this is a one time investment to the future! You buy everything once and you will be busy for a year or two learning how to use it all and writing libraries for everything. button debouncing, 7segment displays, LCD routines etc etc etc.


So good luck! I'm certain, that you can ask help from us with this board. Just remember: "Certain questions give you good answers!"


So I wish you good luck
Rain aka Bloody

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Hey Orc, haven't seen you for awhile. Sent you mail but no reply. Send me your address so I can send off the Mongoose prototype metalwork.

 

[Krumlink]

3v0 is going to help me out with the microcontrollers and stuff. I really want to do microcontrollers and embedded systems

Right now, he wanted me to play around with motor drivers and H bridges.

 

[bloody-orc]

No matter what, I still would like you to build this system also. It will make future development much MUCH easier for you.
ofcourse you could just go and buy one of those: https://www.mikroe.com/en/tools/easypic4/ but it might be a bit overpriced for you and a bit overkill for your current needs.

And I think 3v0 will agree with me here

PS! Bill, did you get my messages now?

 

[3v0]

Class info (long)

The trainer system you pointed may be a good one. But I am not in favor of using all-in-one system to teach young people. The complexity can scare them off.

The purpose of this class is to get the students hooked on electronics and CS. The class teaches students what they need to know to build robots. We start with very basic electronics and move into C programming.

Each student builds a robot inspired by Bill's Moongose. It has a Radio Shack project box for a body and uses separate PCBs for processor, h-bridge, I/O, and sensing. The box acts as a rack for up to 5 of the credit card sized boards which are connected with 10 conductor ribbon cables. The credit card sized boards were inspired by Nigels system of boards that he uses in his tutorials.

I designed the boards and CNC drilled the blanks. The students did the rest of the work to make (toner transfer etch, paint, parts placement artwork) the PCBs in class. So far we have built a transistor dual H-Bridge (David Cook's Miss Motor), a 20 pin PIC processor board, and simple LED driver board with 8 transistors.

We are about to start on programming. The students will learn to make sounds/music using a single output bit, PWM to dim LEDs, and then drive motors using PWM.

When we get to sensing the students will learn to use Eagle to design their own simple PCBs,

Each student will also be building a JuneBug. We will be using it mostly as a programmer/debugger.

This forum has contributed a lot to what I am doing with the kids. I would like to thank everyone for that esp Bill and Nigel.

Note:
I would not do this without parental permission. Yesterday I talked with Krumlink and his father via phone. Krumlink has a very supportive dad. I enjoyed talking to Krumlink.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

FYI the Mongoose CPU can be either a 18F2525 (recommended) or a 16F886

The 18F2525 requires very little bank switching and has CPSFxx (Compare and skip if = < >) instructions
It can also run at 32MHz using the internal RC clock and 4xPLL, can detect its VDD level (great for a robot or any battery powered device)
It is a more complex chip series to learn than the 16F chips, but worth the effort. And how can you pass up an excellent C compiler C18 (student edition is free) or BASIC (Swordfish looks promising)

Looking forward to photos

 

[Omar.M]

3v0 -- this is really excellent what you are doing.
You seem like an excellent teacher to have-- supportive, kind and very knowledgeable.

From my own experiences, having a teacher that knows what he or she is teaching is one thing, but having a teacher that really shows interest in what the students do / want to do: that really is what makes the difference. Most of my technology course teachers since middle school to (beginning of) high school have been teachers that just know how to "read from the book". This year, I have an excellent teacher, seems quite like you-- really knows what he is talking about and is interested in what the kids want to do THEMSELVES.

This will all help Krumlink greatly and really fuel his desire to know more about electronics. Way to go!
-Omar

 

[blueroomelectronics]

I agree with 3v0 too about the all in one trainers. I would not expect a first timer to not be overwhelmed by something like the easypic4.
Although my review might be biased (I make a line of kits including trainers) I broke my designs up into a handful of smaller standalone kits, combined they can do as much if not more than the easypic4 pictured below.
Personally I take the Junebug and often another kit like the Dragonfly with me on the road, the pair are very small and fit easily in my laptop bag.
The odd thing about the easypic series of boards (they appear to be popular) is although they look complex 30% of the PCB is sockets.
**broken link removed**