Stepper motor and ir thermometer

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello!

First of all I want to let u guys know that I have no prior experience with arduino. I have only read a couple of tutorials and it seemed interesting to me.

How difficult/feasible would it be to create a project that would read a surface temperature with an ir thermometer for example (Infrared Thermometer - MLX90614 - SEN-09570 - SparkFun Electronics) and then if the temperature is above a certain threshold move a stepper motor.

The object would be on wheels and weigh about 30 kg/60 lbs so the stepper motor would have to be quite powerful.

Thanks
Joonas

2

What is your time budget and your money budget?

Paul

3

Would like to finish it in about 6 months. Haven't really thought about a budget yet... Would like to keep it under 500 eur if possible.

4

pjoonas:
Would like to finish it in about 6 months. Haven't really thought about a budget yet... Would like to keep it under 500 eur if possible.

All depends on your background. 6 months full time seems about right.

Paul

5

6 months full time wow. I was not expecting that.

Does it just take so long to learn arduino to accomplish this or is this project so difficult?

I just looked at some tutorials that were just reading the temperature with this sensor and then displaying it on a lcd display. That did not seem so difficult. I would only need to add a feature to move the motor at certain temperatures.

Joonas

6

The time is in the details. Commercial products seem to take about 18 months from concept to completion and that is full time. Based on your non-experience, 6 months seemed good to me.

Paul

7

I don't think what you want is particularly difficult from a programming point of view.

However I don't understand the role of the stepper motor. A stepper motor is unlikely to be ideal for driving wheels on some vehicle.

...R
Stepper Motor Basics
Simple Stepper Code

8

I need it to move very slowly that's why I was thinking about stepper motors.
The "vehicle" would move approx 15 cm per minute.

Also I thought it would be easier to control.

Anyway I ordered the starter kit and will start experimenting with it next week.