Sensors, Actuators & PWM
Robots and IoT devices sense and move. This subject is wiring and driving a sensor and an actuator in your project: reading a distance or analog value, commanding a servo, DC motor, or LED with PWM, and dealing with bounce, noise, and stall current. Concepts are in Knowledge; here you integrate them on the bench.
Starting Points
- Sampling, PWM & conversion
- Electronics & circuit prototyping
- Vendor datasheets and application circuits for the parts you selected.
Key Points
- You connect a sensor and read a usable value in firmware (with units, not only a raw ADC count).
- You drive an actuator with an appropriate interface (GPIO, PWM, driver/H-bridge) within current and voltage limits.
- You debounce or filter inputs so a button or noisy sensor does not chatter your state machine.
- You protect the MCU from inductive loads (flyback diode, driver chip) rather than wiring a motor to a GPIO.
- You demonstrate the sensor–firmware–actuator loop and say how you would detect a stuck or disconnected part.