Students
Richard Wolf
Computer Science, 2021
Jonah Lytle
Computer Science, 2021
Project Description
We bought a 3 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot goal since our pipes and joints never arrived. We attached to the crossbar the Arduino with light and PIR motion sensor attached. This light lights up when a ball rolls into the goal due to use of the PIR motion sensor.. We wrote code to program the Arduino to recognize when the PIR motion sensor detected movement and subsequently turn on the attached light. We experimented with different positions for the motion sensor and placed it in the optimal location to recognize a ball passing over the line and into the back of the net. We wrote this code code in the Arduino application in C. Jonah and Richard are on the varsity soccer team Princeton University, and wanted to create something interesting related to soccer. Both students are also in the BSE computer science department at Princeton, and wanted to utilize programming in combination with a motion sensor to create something fun and practical.
Technical Background
Arduino boards are extremely useful because they are capable of reading analog or digital input from different sensors, such as a PIR motion sensor, and turning that input into output. The majority of arduino boards consist of an Atmel 8-bit AVR microcontroller. Arduino boards are loaded with program code by a serial connection to a computer. Serial arduino boards utilize a level shifter circuit that enable the board to convert between RS-232 logic levels and transistor-transistor logic levels. An arduino functions by taking in as input pulse-width modulated signals from auxiliary sensors, performs operations based on those signals, and produces a corresponding output signal to auxiliary attachment technologies. If an external sensor, such as a PIR sensor detects a change in one image to a subsequent image, it generates an output signal to indicate that change. An arduino is capable of taking signals such as this one as input, and then performing a function utilizing the microcontroller coupled with the uploaded code along with the input signal to produce some output signal that produces the desired effect in the attachment. The arduino board has most of its microcontroller I/O pins exposed, so that they can be utilized by other circuits. These exposed I/O pins enable circuits of auxiliary technologies, such as motion sensors, to function alongside the arduino. The arduino itself is an open sourced electronics platform used for building electronics projects. An arduino consists of a microcontroller, or a physical programmable circuit board, as well as an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). This piece of software runs on a computer, and can be utilized to write and upload computer code to the microcontroller. There are many different kinds of arduino boards that differ in operating voltage, clock speed, analog input number, and other components, that all make use of the same arduino IDE. As a result of all making use of the same IDE, the same code can be utilized to operate every arduino circuit board.
Arduino. (2019). Introduction to Arduino. Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.arduino.cc/en/guide/introduction Tutorialspoint.com. (2019). Arduino Board Description. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.tutorialspoint.com/arduino/arduino_board_description.htm