Assignment 5a

Arduino Uno

About

The advancement that I chose is the Arduino Uno. The arduino uno is a low cost way to test electronic circuits and to have the functionality of a microcontroller without needing an actual microcontroller. This can benefit many different groups of people with the primary target audience being students. It is a low cost and beginner friendly way to gain experience with microcontrollers and the coding required to make them work. Arduino created a device that allowed for a microcontroller to be easily and quickly modified and changed, as opposed to typical microcontrollers which would have to be custom made per any change to the design. There are other approaches to this, such as companies that make custom microcontrollers for low prices, especially in bulk which would allow you to create multiple iterations of a design in one order however these lack the dynamics that having first tested with an arduino would provide.

Incorporation

Overall using an Arduino would benefit me most during the components or modules phase however for this I will be discussing the benefits of the components phase. The arduino would be beneficial by allowing the testing of multiple different motor types and configurations as well as different methods for operating the motor such as the use of an electronic timer, app functionality as well as just a simple button. The arduino would allow me to test and overall decide on the practicality of either of any of the activation methods as well as the different motors or pulley systems to test. This can also be used in the testing of the more mechanical aspects of the design such as the gear ratios and how efficient the design would be. A challenge would be that it can be seen as unnecessary since it is not actually part of the design and would be used for testing it can be considered an unnecessary cost. If I were actually incorporating an Arduino into the final product the product would end up costing more due to the difference in price of an arduino to a simple microcontroller. What would need to be determined before integrating this would be determining the electrical calculations, such as the voltage and current needed to supply the motor and what other components would be needed to keep the device running safely.

References

Arduino Uno Site

Selecting Microcontrollers

Choosing a Motor