Learn Arduino Using Maker UNO - Lesson 7

The biggest problem I faced when I wanted to learn Arduino was there are too many documents, learning guides, tutorials flooding around the internet and I had no idea which one to refer to.

Most of the learning guides that claim they were crafted for the beginners are just too surface while most of the time they only show you the schematics, give you the sample codes and tell you what to expect but they do not explain how it works. It is very frustrating for people like me who do not have C-programming background. Although I can achieve the expected results by following the schematic and codes given but I am pretty sure I can’t create my own project after I completed the lessons.

Another problem that I observed was most of the learning guides are created by the techies where things are assumed to be understood.

There is nothing special with the projects that I covered in this learning guide, I just added some notes and reminders on things that I did not understand. I try to simplify the technical part and I hope that at least the beginners benefit from this and enjoy learning with Arduino.

This beginner guide covers 7 lessons. Each lesson comes with several projects and one open-ended challenge.

Lesson 0 - Setting Up The Hardware & Software

Lesson 1 - Digital Output

Lesson 2 - Digital Input

Lesson 3 - Analog Output

Lesson 4 - Melody Tone

Lesson 5 - Analog Input

Lesson 6 - DC Motor

Lesson 7 - Ultrasonic Sensor

****************************************************************************************************

Lesson 7 > Project 16: Setting Up Ultrasonic Sensor

Step 1. Get ready these components

Step 2. Construct the circuit as shown below.

Step 3. Write these codes then upload to your board.

Step 4. Once done uploading, click the serial monitor icon to view the result. You can place an object in front of the sensor. Try to adjust the distance between the object and the sensor to see the difference.

Step 5. Check your result.

Step 6. We are going to group these codes into a self-declare function call “ultrasonic” because these are the same codes you need to write every time you want to use the ultrasonic sensor. So that we can just call the function every time we want to use it.

Step 7. Check your result again, you should be able to get the same result.

*********************************** End of Project 16 ************************************

Lesson 7 > Project 17: Build A Car’s Rear Bumper Sensor

We are going to make the piezo buzzer to beep according to the distance sensed by the sensor. The buzzer beeps slower when the object is far from the sensor and it beeps faster when the object get closer just like our car’s bumper sensor.

Step 1. Write these codes then upload to your board.

Step 2. Check your result.

Q: Build a Theremin using your Maker UNO and the ultrasonic sensor. Theremin is an electronic musical instrument that can be controlled without physical contact by the thereminist (the performer). With the ultrasonic sensor, we are able to divide the ultrasonic sensor’s sensing range into a few zones that playing different tones.