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[Reply #15 on:]

David,

Thats a lot of info there on analog! (Maybe too much?) Ill have a look through the next day or two. Ive always told my students that digital is just on or off, high or low, +5v or 0v and that analog is everything in between. That is of course too simplistic.

My contribution today was to start on the schematics. Ive never liked the look of EagleCAD-esque schematics so I whipped out Illustrator and drew my own. I linked them to each bulleted list starting with "Schematic:". They are a little high res, 300dpi at 3"x3" but I have in mind a print version. I will continue with the schematics for now and then edit a course workshop next.

Brian

[Reply #16 on:]

Hey guys, I split out serial communication into its own section, since it didn't really seem to fit with all the miscellaneous sensors and because I think it's important enough to have its own section.  

What do you think about renaming the "Advanced" section to something like "input devices" (or "sensors") and then creating another section called "output devices" (or "actuators") that includes the various types of motors, driving a relay, etc.?

[Reply #17 on:]

Dave: sounds good, I like the idea, can you then split the chapters?

Brian: if you make your basic files available, then we can all help out making more illustrations

I will work more tonight, now I have some moving to do

/d

[Reply #18 on:]

Added a handful more schematics and found an extra couple of examples thanks to Tom Igoe's archives.

First I think Analog Output should be rolled into a combined Analog Input/Output as was done for the Digital side. Although it seems like there is a possible redundancy in having the "Sensors" and "Actuators" broken out. A lot of these either send or receive an analog or digital signal and use similar code to one another. Big exception with the SRF04 (although the new matchbotix sonar outputs an analog signal). Maybe it should be Basic Digital IO (switch & LED) and Basic Analog IO (pot, variable resistor, PWM LED) and everything else filed under Sensors or Actuators? Either that or for Sensor & Actuators to somehow get rolled into both Digital & Analog IO?

I really dont know. Thoughts, opinions?

Brian

[Reply #19 on:]

I think it makes sense to separate digital/analog from sensors/actuators.  The former is more of an introduction to the concept of analog and digital signals and to the basic Arduino functions for interacting with them.  The latter talks more specifically about particular sensors and actuators, what they do, and how to control and use them.  That is, in the digital/analog sections, you might talk about the pulseIn function, but in the sensors/actuators sections you would talk about an accelerometer (that you might read with pulseIn), what acceleration means, etc.  

I also think it makes sense to split the analog input from the analog output, as they're really different things: real analog signals vs. PWM.

[Reply #20 on:]

actually, I agree with Dave ... it is my experience during teaching workshops that it is better to keep it this way

/d

[Reply #21 on:]

I was poking through Tom Igoe's & Dan O'Sullivan's sites today for research. Dan had an interesting beginning to an article on Basic Basic. http://itp.nyu.edu/~dbo3/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi?Programming

Has anyone written anything like this concerning the basic structure of the Arduino language? Loops, If statements, Variables, etc. I mean more than just the basic reference?

B

[Reply #22 on:]

Hej,

I wrote something in Spanish for a workshop I made recently. I could try to make a back-translation ... but in a way ... I think that we should invite Casey Reas to speak about the ideas behind Processing, which are the ones originating Wiring/Arduino. And then Dave should be the one reflecting about how Arduino works in depth, since he knows the most about it.

(if we don't get Casey involved ... we can alway write it ourselves :-) )


Dave?

/d

[Reply #23 on:]

I got a little distracted the last few days. Am still trying to compile more example code and Im having problems with code for hobby servo control. I noticed wiring has a servo library at http://wiring.org.co/reference/libraries/Servo/index.html which would make running servos as easy as they should be. Is there any way to get this working on the arduino? Any other suggestions?

Brian

[Reply #24 on:]

hi

here is some servo code written by .... well, check the header. I used this in a workshop recently and all ten particpants had it working perfectly.. some scaling of the photocell values is of course in order.

D

PS there is also this fine servo library that was just posted..

Code:

/*
 * Servo Follows Photocell
 * -----------------
 * Move an R/C servo back and forth (0 to 180 degrees) according to light levels,
 * using delayMicroseconds() for pulse and delay() for time between pulses.
 *
 * 22 March 2007
 * copyleft  djmatic
 * adapted from Tod E. Kurt <tod@todbot.com>
 * http://todbot.com/arduino/sketches/servo_move_simple/servo_move_simple.pde
 * Who adapted it from Daniel @
 * http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1160470155/0
 * who adapted it from "Temporary Servo Function"  by Tom Igoe and Jeff Gray
 * (we all take pleasure in our adaptations)
 */
 
 
int servoPin = 7;            // R/C  Servo connected to digital pin
int myAngle;                 // angle of the servo (roughly in degrees) 0-180
int pulseWidth;              // function variable
 
void servoPulse(int servoPin, int myAngle) {
  pulseWidth = (myAngle * 11) + 500;  // converts angle to microseconds
  digitalWrite(servoPin, HIGH);       // set servo high
  delayMicroseconds(pulseWidth);      // wait a very small amount
  digitalWrite(servoPin, LOW);        // set servo low
  delay(20);                          // refresh cycle of typical servos (20 ms)
}

void setup() {
  pinMode(servoPin, OUTPUT);          // set servoPin pin as output
  Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop() {
  myAngle= analogRead(0);             // read a photocell connected to analog pin 0
  myAngle= (myAngle - 50);
  
  // Serial.println(myAngle);
  
     servoPulse(servoPin, myAngle);
  
  delay(10);
}

[Reply #25 on:]

guys please, don't loose track in this forum-topic ;-)

we are suppossed to be creating an educational guide here :-)

let's move on

/d

[Reply #26 on:]

Been a while..  

I am actively working on courseware for use in a K-12 school at a big new University in Saudi Arabia (KAUST).

Anyone active in this subject??  There are some good starts here, and a good overall organization..

Regards, Terry King  ..On the Red Sea at KAUST

[Reply #27 on:]

What about adding curriculum that can be used in other areas of science?  Arduino projects that relate to biology or chemistry?  

• Students make their own probeware to measure temperature and light.
• Physics students create their own timing software and photon timing gates to measure speeds.  
• Chemistry students add an arduino to a coffee maker to experiment with the effects of temperature on the taste of coffee.

I teach science at a small 9-12 school in Minnesota, USA.  This quarter I started a physical computing class with the Arduino and my students are picking up the basics very quickly.  I would love to make arduino projects and tinkering part of each class I teach.

I would love to hear any other ideas on how the arduino can be used in the other core areas of science.
thanks