Incorporating Lasers & Infrared Sensors

This Class Meets On:

4 hrs - Saturday 1/21/2016 1:30 - 5:30
4 hrs - Sunday 1/22/2016 1:30 - 5:30
4 hrs - Saturday 1/28/2016 1:30 - 5:30

STEM ALERT for PARENTS:

Appropriate for grades 6th -12th

This incredibly fun class provides an introduction to electronics and building a Laser Tag device using an Arduino computer. Students will be able to use the device they building to play Laser Tag throughout the course as they gain skills and add sensors to their device.

If your child is interested in electronics, programming or robotics, this is an important introductory class for beginners not available elsewhere and is being taught by an electronics engineer.

Beginners Intro to Electronics

Who will benefit from this workshop:

Especially important for anyone pursuing an interest which might lead to a career in electronics, robotics, programming, game design, manufacturing, flight controllers, rockets, sensor packages, control systems and more.

Any person interested in controlling robots, devices and doesn’t know where to begin.

This kit uses the Arduino computer and sensors. What are they typically used for?

Arduinos and sensors are used in millions of devices including:

• Cell phones
• 3D printers
• Quadcopters
• RC Cars
• Robots
• Laser tag device
• Navigation systems
• Security systems
• Medical devices

There are thousands of fun and educational projects which are used to teach programming Arduinos, such as:

• Build a Laser tag device (class available in Jan ’17 at PVNet)
• Hats with blinking LED
• An alarm for your room (sorry moms)
• Make a quadcopters
• Build and RC Car
• Build a Robot

No knowledge or experience necessary

Ages: Grades 6 – high-school

Materials -

RETURNING STUDENTS – If you attended Arduino Microcomputer Basics you may reuse your class materials.

However, additional materials are needed which will cost $25

NEW STUDENTS – Material cost is $99 and students take home the materials

The materials needed for this workshop will be provided by PVNet for consistency.

Class fee: $480

Class meets on:

4 hrs - Saturday 1/21/2016 1:30 - 5:30
4 hrs - Sunday 1/22/2016 1:30 - 5:30
4 hrs - Saturday 1/28/2016 1:30 - 5:30

The class will cover:

• Arduino microcontroller basics:
  • o Programming an Arduino. Writing your first sketch and how to make your Arduino do your bidding
  • o Connecting an Arduino to sensors, lights, speakers, etc. to let your Arduino interact with the world
  • o Adding infrared LED’s (“lasers”) and receivers to let your Arduino play a game of laser tag
    • § There are no health risks in this class. We use infrared LEDs that do not pose any risk to the players’ eyes.
• o Prototyping circuits on a breadboard
• Electricity
  • o Explain how electricity works using Ohm’s Law
  • o Turning on a light and controlling the flow of electricity
  • Making the Arduino do stuff
    • o Make an Arduino play a game of laser tag. Send beams of light at your enemies. Heal your friends. Customize your device to tag people near and far
    • o Making the Arduino make noises based on what happens in the laser tag game (or play your favorite songs while it boots up)
    • o Making the Arduino turn on a light and make it change color based on your health in any color of the rainbow
    • o Connect a button to the Arduino to make it respond to inputs
    • o Debugging: Getting the Arduino to tell you what it is doing and why it isn’t doing what you want
    • Programming
    • o Build a complex piece of software that tells your Arduino how to play a game of laser tag.
    • o Learn tools to program your Arduino and get it to do what you want it to do.
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