Output Devices

Assignment 9 - Fab Academy Barcelona

M Tucci

This week I:

  1. Learned about Output Devices
  2. Created a new dev board
  3. Programmed a haptic motor to vibrate
  4. Helped with Group Work



Overview

In class we were introduced to a wide array of output devices, with a specific focus on motors.

Dev Board with XIAO Esp32s3 Sense

To work with output devices, I designed a dev board using the XIAO Esp32s3 sense to work with haptics. This seemed ideal for eventually integrating with my final project - it can easily integrate with haptics, the distance sensor, and a camera should I choose to add that (the XIAO esp32s3 Sense comes with a camera and mic that can snap directly onto the MCU itself). I also designed it with a shield so I could switch out for the Esp32c3 if needed (given it's a bit cheaper and I may not use the video camera for the fimal project design). I had to troubleshoot a bit putting the board together as the Neopixel LED footprint I used for the design did not match the footprint of the Neopixel we had in the lab. I had to hack a bit with wires to get the board working.

SCHEMATIC
Schematic
PCB Design
PCB
Design Files
  1. Kicad Files
  2. Traces PNG
  3. Holes PNG
  4. Outline PNG

Haptic Output

I then programmed the board to make a haptic motor vibrate. As my final project will use haptics, this was an important learning towards that goal as well. I created a simple blink program in Arduino, using ChatGPT to help write the initial blink program. Once I got the board working (see above), getting the code to run was simple and didn't require any real debugging or problem solving.

Blinking Motor Control
Haptic Motor Blink Code
const int motor_pin = D10;

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:
  pinMode(motor_pin, OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  digitalWrite(motor_pin, HIGH); // turn the motor on
  delay(1000); // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(motor_pin, LOW); // turn the motor off
  delay(1000); // wait for a second
}


Final Product - Working Haptic



Group Work

The group work can be found here. We tested and characterized an LED and a Pololu geared motor.