logic probe, serial communicator, programmong

I started class by assembling and soldering a logic probe,  this was harder then expected do to the technique involved.  I had to un solder a few times but turned out with a good logic probe.

After that I built a Serial communicator which will aid me in my programming.  this for one reason or another was much easier.  I just had to make sure that the exposed wires did not touch.

Then I set up a Circuit with a micro controller and hooked it up to a computer and used picAXE to program the LED to turn on and off.

building the robot and setting up a Logic Probe

Today started with the assembly of the square bot, this took a couple of hours and was a lot of fun.  It was setup with two engines, 6 gears and four tires.  I also had to set up the controller and the logic sensors.

Once the car was finished I drove it around a bit and moved on to the next part of class.

The next part of class was to set up a transistor logic probe on a bread board with two LEDs.  The set up used a 2N3904 transistor and 3 resistors.  After that I went to begin to make a permanent Logic probe but ran out of time.

Breadboard and building the robots

Today I begin the class by talking an inventory of my robotics kit.  Then I begin to learn about how switches work and they can have multiple poles and throws.  I set up a circuit with multiple switches.

Next I learned about how Relays work and how to set them up with push switches.  This was very challenging as the diagrams were hard to read, but with much help form the professors and fellow students I felt as though I had a good understanding by the time I set up this circuit.

That was of course intel I set up the next two circuit which tested my understanding of the push switch relay system even more.  We had to set up a system, with two LED lights that had one light on and when the button was pushed switch to the other light.  After that we had to set up a Capacitor through the Relay to get the lights to oscillate when the button was pushed.  When these two tasks were done I felt a great deal of accomplishment because I had learned so much.

Finally I began to build the square bot with the robotics Kit but ran out of class time,  I will be able to pick up where I left off though on Tuesday.  I just wish the class was one hour longer so I could see it run today!!

THE MULTIMETER

We started the day off by using to multimeter to test the soldering on the circuit boards and learning the definition of continuity.  We also tested the continuity of the power outlet we spliced.  Next we examined a resistor and a solder-less board. 

A solder less board is a great tool due to its ability to be used many times and have many ports for different resisters, compositors, LED's and batteries.  We used the board to learn to create and test a circuit.  

Next we set up three LED's and learned about how current and resistance affects the brightness of the LED's.

Finally we calculated the optimal Resistor needed to make the LED the brightest.  As you can see in the photo of the red LED.

Soldering, wire stripping and splicing...oh my!!!

Today I was introduced to soldering.  I had never soldered before and was completely ignorant to the process.  What we assigned to do was to take a circuit board and solder about ten different resisters and compositors to it.  This process was very interesting and was a great learning experience due to the fact that there was no worry of damaging the appliance.

Next we learned how to strip wires, after stripping about ten wires I begin to splice multiple wires together using the soldering techniques.  Then came the true litmus test.  We had to take a power source and strip a small point of the wire.  We then stripped the positive and ground wires which was interesting as they were very small.  Next we spliced two separate wires to the ground and positive and placed a heat shrink over it.