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Output Devices

Goals

Group assignment:

  • Measure the power consumption of an output device.
  • Document your work on the group work page and reflect on your individual page what you learned.

Individual assignment:

  • Add an output device to a microcontroller board you’ve designed and program it to do something.

Prior Knowledge

In my final project of Electrical Engineering, I programmed a self-balancing robot. This involved using a motor driver.

Timeline

Process

Planning

I originally planned on churning the water with a spinning stepper. Revisiting this, I realized the obvious issue. Although it would look realistic, the board would likely mix with water regardless of the CAD around it.

New plan! I still enjoy those, so I could just create the same mechanism with a mini-golf style windmill. I would use a stepper motor, since I do not need precise control.

To consolidate the circuit, I will be using an L293D motor driver. The stepper does not require an encoder, I will only be controlling speed and direction.

KiCAD

Milling

Group Assignment

I was in a group with Kathryn Wu and Amalia Bordoloi.

You can see our documentation on our group site.

Individual Assignment

Reflection

Group Work

Positives

Negatives

Takeaways


Last update: May 21, 2025