Arduino to LCD Output, Continued

Captain Barr Demonstrates...


Delicate work...


Carlos shows off his wiring...




The board speaks again.

Current Projects

These are the projects that the cadets are currently working on:

Call -- LM386N Amplifier
Graham -- Fundamentals of LED Timing
Haney -- Robot Box
Keane -- Radio
Lewis -- Animation
Neil -- Radio
Peaden -- Animation
Sanchez -- Level Control
Siabatto -- 555 Oscillator Circuit
Tiller -- Radio
Trejo -- Level Control


LED Timing.


Brander wires a variable resistor to a 386 amplifier circuit.


Disassembly for parts.



We are learning to use three types of meters.

Arduino and Motor Control

Cadet Avila has been working on controlling a small motor with his Ardunio board. He has made a motor pulse rather then run steadily. This kind of device regulation is important; in more advanced applications (and with more highly developed coding) it allows precision control of numerous processes in industry, cybernetics, etc. This type of programming and hardware regulation is critical in an information-based society.

Small DC motor control is a first step to these higher level programming skills.

LM386 Amplifier Chips

Several of the cadets are very interested in building amplifier circuits using the LM386 amplifier chip. We have a lot of creativity going on, and there have been some very clever designs explored.


New Cadet Keane on her first build.


Cadet Haney.

Cadet Graham and his amplifier circuit.


Cadet Siabatto working on a three-channel LED circuit.

The final circuit.

The Projects Begin!

Today, we got most of the class up and running with their Arduinos! We were working on making the board pulse light in various ways. You can see the results...everyone was busy, and we learned a lot. Also, the class was introduced to the ALICE programming language. Their reading for tonight will be "Omnilingual."

Lights On! II

Today, we expanded the projects we were working on yesterday. The Arduino boards were programmed and wired to a circuit that would flash their LED with the command from a push button switch on a circuit board.

Then they were set up to "fade" in and out.

Lights On!

Today in the second period Arduino class we connected the Arduino to the PC for the first time, plugged in an LED (light emitting diode), and made the diode flash! Cadets wrote their own programming code and the light came on! We are getting ready for big things...