Learn Electronics & Microcontrollers
The first article in this series, Intro to Common Sensors You’ll Use in Your Projects introduces temperature sensors and some common mechanical sensors.
It also promises that the next article will cover acoustic sensors and optical sensors.
I like to keep my word, so that is exactly what we’re going to do in this post.
Let’s jump right in…
[Read more…] about Intro to Common Sensors 2: Acoustic and Optical Sensors
I recently got the chance to assemble and test a Keyestudio (that’s not a typo, the spelling is correct) robot kit. The name of the kit is the Keybot Coding Education Robot for Arduino STEM.
That’s a long name, but it suggests a few things. First, the robot is an educational tool which attempts to spark interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects.
Second, the robot is for children and teens, as there is a movement to spark an interest in STEM subjects in grades 1 through 12.
The robot is definitely a great educational tool for children age 7 or 8 to kids in their early to mid-teens. It makes a great gift for the aspiring Maker, tinkerer, or engineer. And it’s affordable.
[Read more…] about 3 Videos: Keybot Robot – Assembly Tips, Caveats, and Review
In the land of electronics, there are many different types of sensors.
If you start dabbling in electronics, it won’t be long before you end up needing/wanting to measure some sort of quantity like temperature, speed, light level, distance, sound, humidity etc.
This is especially true if you work with Arduino, RPi, PICs, or any sort of platform or microcontroller.
These days, there are many different electronic sensors to choose from. Given the pace at which technology advances and the myriad of sensors available, those new to electronics often find themselves confused about sensors and how to apply them.
What type of sensors do I need? How do I use this particular sensor?
The above are common questions hobbyists often ask themselves.
[Read more…] about Intro to Common Sensors You’ll Use in Your Projects
A while back I published a tutorial on the basics of logic gates. The tutorial talks about what logic gates are, truth tables, and active levels.
Then, the tutorial talks about the basic logic gates many of us are familiar with: NOT, AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, and XNOR.
Because of limited space, the post did not cover Boolean algebra, DeMorgan’s theorems, combinational logic, etc. It also leaves out an important and practical part of digital design with gates – the electrical characteristics of logic gates.
This tutorial on logic gates will with leave the topics of Boolean algebra, DeMorgan, etc. for a future tutorial.
This time, we’re going to focus on the important and practical, yet often overlooked, electrical properties and characteristics of logic gates.
[Read more…] about Tutorial on Logic Gates Part 2: Electrical Properties of Gates
This post will tackle the age-old question what is electric current?
It is another write up on a basic, yet fundamental and important topic.
We’ll also try to keep this one a bit shorter than usual. After all, I know the nice long holiday weekend is on everyone’s mind (at least if you live in the U.S.) and I’m no exception.
Plus, this fundamental question shouldn’t take 2000 words to answer.
As usual, I’ll give a similar disclaimer to the ones I often give for posts on the basics. Some of you already know this. If so, it will be a good review. If you’re just starting to learn about electronics, the information in the post is need to know, so please read it.
And now let’s find out the answer to what is electric current…
[Read more…] about Back to the Basics: What is Electric Current?
With today’s components, it is possible to make thousands upon thousands of useful circuits. These range from the very simple to very complex. But, did you know that there are only three basic types of circuits anyone can create? That’s right, every schematic you’ve ever seen, every circuit or project you or anyone else has ever built is one of three types of circuits (or a combination of them). [Read more…] about 3 Circuits You Totally Need to Know About
