🔋 Power & Energy Decisions
Why did you choose that specific battery (9V vs AA vs USB)?
Uses 2 double AA batteries. Easier to implement into the arduino
Can you explain the complete path of current in your circuit?
Current travels from the battery to the arduino, to the breadboard, to the motion sensor.
What physical quantity is your sensor measuring?
It is measuring the area of motion in front of it.
What coding language was used and why?
Python. It’s easier to understand and code. It’s also easier to implement into the arduino.
What was your biggest failure during prototyping?
Our biggest failure was coding the motion sensor
How did you ensure you didn’t over-voltage your board?
We put a resistor in it (100om)
Is your circuit primarily series, parallel, or a combination? Show an example.
It is a combination because the series circuit is in the arduino but the bread board circuit is parallel.
How does that sensor convert a physical signal into an electrical one?
It detects the objects coming near them and releases voice lines.
How often does your microcontroller read the sensor?
The arduino reads the motion activated as either motion 1 from motion sensor 1, or motion 2 from motion sensor 2.
How did your design change from your original idea?
We decided to change our design to dinosaur making it more kid friendly and targeted to a specific audience which is families with young kids
What would happen if you increased the supply voltage?
It would overload the circuit in the arduino to the point where it wouldn’t work.
Why did you choose that specific pin on the microcontroller?
It was easier to attach the wires to and connect circuits and resistors together.
What range of values does your sensor output?
Just 2 values, motion and nonmotion.
What would happen if you increased or decreased the delay?
It would either speed up or delay how fast the bluetooth speaker plays the voice lines.
What trade-offs did you make?
We didn’t use our original design because the one we have now is family friendly and we were able to narrow down our audience
What resistors do you have?
100ohm
What would happen if you moved the sensor to a different pin?
The circuit would be incomplete or not function properly.
How did you calibrate your sensor?
You calibrate your sensor by moving in front of it to allow it to detect motion before inputting any action.
How are you converting sensor values into outputs?
The motion sensors convert the signal into the arduino wifi signal which delivers a bluetooth signal to the speaker.
What would you improve and how would you do it?
I would improve the lines that connect to the motion sensor and make them stronger. And improving our paint jobs and design overall would be more neat.
How long would your device run on that battery? How do you know?
With two AA batteries that gives off 3.0V. The motion sensor takes 0.1 mA and the arduino takes 45 mA. This equals to 85% efficiency which is 3.75Wh x 0.85 = 3.2Wh. Power used is 5V x 0.05A = 0.25W and equals to 8 hours.
About 8 hours. I got this by calculating the battery energy (3.2 Wh) and dividing by the device power use (0.25 W).
Why is the microcontroller you selected the best one for your product?
It can send wifi signals to the bluetooth speaker.
What are all the components in your product and why are they important?
The motion sensor, battery, Bluetooth, trash can, and game pieces, they work together to create our product. The motion sensor plays the voice lines to encourage kids to keep going. The battery powers the motion sensor. Bluetooth allows people to hear the voice lines. The trash can is the main part of the product where the components go. The game pieces are what kids throw to play the game.
How do you prevent noise or unstable readings?
The arduino is only able to play audio files from a specific folder transferred onto the arduino depending on the motion.
Where does energy transform in your system?
chemical energy in the battery, turns into electrical energy to power the circuit, and finally transforms into sound energy in the speaker.”