What are Capacitors?

In electronic circuits, capacitors are used to quickly store and discharge energy into other components. Capacitors store energy by using two foil plates separated by an insulating material like paper or plastic. Lesson B-17 in the Intro to Robotics program teaches you how capacitors work and how to use them safely in electronics circuits.

Ohm's Law

The voltage, current, and resistance in a circuit are mathematically related. Ohm’s Law can be used to determine the voltage, resistance, or current of any component in a circuit and comes in handy when designing your own circuits. We walk you through the math behind Ohm's Law in Lesson A-3 of the Intro to Robotics Program.

Using RFID in Your Projects

RFID stands for radio-frequency identification and they operate using readers and tags. The reader contains a radio transmitter and receiver, commonly referred to as a transceiver, as well as other circuitry to decode signals received from scanned tags. The reader is always broadcasting radio signals and waiting to hear back from a tag.

Learning to Troubleshoot

When working with electronics and code, effective troubleshooting skill are important. There's a running joke that 95% of coding is troubleshooting why the code you wrote isn't working. While funny, it's also essentially true. In Level A of our Intro to Robotics program, we teach you how to systematically troubleshoot.

Adding Audio to Your Raspberry Pi Projects

Audio can add another level to a project, whether it's playing audio through the speaker of a Halloween decoration, or playing your own recorded voice through a mobile robot. Lesson C-6 of our Intro to Robotics program will teach you how to use the audio capabilities of the Raspberry Pi.

Switch Bounce

When designing electrical circuits containing switches, it is important to account for and correct for switch bounce. Switch bounce is the microscopic movement which can result in the switch being open and closed very quickly, typically less than one millisecond, until the switch settles into the desired state.

How Do Resistors Work?

A resistor provides electrical resistance, limiting the flow of the electrons through the circuit. This can not only prevent a short circuit, but also slowing the current keeps electrical components like LEDs, fans, light bulbs, etc. in the circuit safe from too much or too little current.

Adding a Raspberry Pi Camera to Your Robot

In Levels C and D our Intro to Robotics program you will learn to work with a Raspberry Pi camera, connect it to the Raspberry Pi, mount the camera to your robot, and build a VNC server so you can view the live video feed on a web page. This remote view of the area in front of your robot allows you to guide your robot as it goes on adventures.

Using a Multimeter

A multimeter is a tool used throughout electronics for measuring voltage, current, and resistance. Some multimeters may also have additional specialized functions like testing diodes, transistors, or other electronic components. In Lesson D-2 of our Intro to Robotics program we teach you to work with a multimeter.

What is a Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi is a small, single-board computer developed in the United Kingdom for the purpose of providing an affordable computer so people all over the world could learn to create computer programs. The Raspberry Pi is a great option for home based electronics and robotics projects.

Using an External Data Feed in Your Projects

In Lesson C-15 you learn about a few of the different web page formats that are used to display data on the internet as well as how to pull a specific value from these types of pages. This data can then be used to trigger behavior in your Python program based on the content you pulled from the web page.

Adding Movement to Projects with Servos

Servos are used in electronic projects and toys to create motion. A servo contains a small motor, some drive circuitry, and multiple gears that increase the amount of work that can be done with the servo. Working with servos is covered in detail in Lesson C-7 of our Intro to Robotics program.
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