Howard Teng - Skills Dev IV: Motors and Movement

Goal:

The goal of this project is to learn how to use motors and actuators to deliver outputs and interact with environment. The project is using a solenoid to generate output.

Process:

The project follows the instructions provided on the course website about motor control. I choose to use a solenoid as my actuator. The circuit was built according to the sample circuit provided in the tutorial. The major components included are: a solenoid provided in the IoT kit, a transistor, a diode, and a external power source cable. The code was written on the particle app and flashed to the Photon2 module. The code is a simple loop that allows the plunger to move back and forth with a 1 second delay between each movement.

code:

Outcome:

The circuit was built as shown in the cover image. The code worked as intended and the solenoid plunger moved back and forth just as intended. A video of the running circuit is provided below.

Reflection:

We successfully built a circuit that connects a sensor to the output device(bulb) and adjusted the signal with the sensor input. One issue during circuit building is that I used the wrong resistor to connect the circuit so the motor wasn't able to move. The problem was resolved once I switched to the correct resistor for this circuit.