So, we discussed what types of project they could make, and I mentioned an alarm system. Immediately they asked how this would be different from a simple burglar alarm project they had completed a few years earlier when learning about electricity.<\/p>\n
You’ve probably seen the experiment before, you make a simple pressure pad using card and some conductive material (could be wire, kitchen foil, conductive tape or even graphite pencil!). \u00a0When the surfaces are brought together, it completes a circuit with a battery and a buzzer.<\/p>\n
I responded by listing\u00a0the following modifications:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Create a delay between the mat being stepped on, and the alarm sounding<\/em><\/li>\n
- Change the buzzer sound to a recorded sample played via your computer or another device<\/em><\/li>\n
- Change the volume of the sound to increase over time.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Add\u00a0flashing lights<\/em><\/li>\n
- Set a maximum time for the alarm to sound for<\/em><\/li>\n
- Reset the alarm to replay after a suitable delay<\/em><\/li>\n
- Use additional sensors to make the alarm effective in different contexts – eg a Hall effect sensor and a magnet fastened to a door<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
To show my classes what was possible, I used a 3D extrusion pen to make some models.<\/p>\n
![\"nightlights\"](\"http:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/images\/4lights.jpg\")
Four intelligent nightlights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Starting with the house, I added an infra-red sensor so I could switch an LED embedded inside it on or off. We then changed this to a simple button which would light the house up when pressed, and switch off when not. We changed this to a delay, so that the house lights would switch on for a set number of seconds before turning off. Some of the students made their own houses and used capacitative touch sensors to trigger the lights coming on.<\/p>\n
Finally, we looked at using a light sensor – so that when it gets dark, the lights go on, by using three RGB LEDs switching on and off randomly.<\/p>\n
This meant you could make nightlights which cast interesting patterns on the wall as the colours of the LEDs change. My contributions included these three:<\/p>\n
![\"snail\"](\"http:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/images\/snail1.jpg\")
Snail light<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ![\"alien\"](\"http:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/images\/alien1.jpg\")
Guard Monster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ![\"fly](\"http:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/images\/shroom1.jpg\")
Glowing toadstool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The creative process doesn’t stop there though. We discussed using a microphone to make a noise activated light; using PWM pins on an Arduino to dim\/brighten the lights or phase from one colour to the next; adding a proximity sensor so that as someone approaches the light, it switches on or changes colour, and a buzzer that sounds if they get too close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We completed a control technology project with my 8th Grade class this term. The students could choose from a range of tools and materials including Raspberry Pi Arduino Makey Makey Lego 3D printed enclosures, or using a 3D extrusion pen So, we discussed what types of project they could make, and I mentioned an alarm … Continue reading Intelligent Nightlights<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-code-week","category-on-my-classroom-door"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16,"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3.142.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Change the buzzer sound to a recorded sample played via your computer or another device<\/em><\/li>\n