Arduino Adventure Course: Unveiling Our Electronic Journey!

At the beginning of the course, Chaihuo Maker Space’s technical mentor Yang Wanli analyzed the history of the maker movement at home and abroad with rich cases, and Yang Yong, deputy director of the Dushu Lake Entrepreneurship Development Center, introduced the Sino-US Youth Maker Competition, starting the learning journey. Yang Wanli then delved into the field of open-source hardware applications, explaining its industry applications, Arduino patching functions, hardware knowledge, open-source software literacy, and resource utilization methods. The students learned programming theory while debugging hardware through practical operations such as LED blinking and buzzer playing, laying a solid foundation. The course also focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and shared relevant innovative cases to inspire thinking.

Subsequently, the students, in groups, carried out graduation project creation, exploring the intersection of Arduino and technology for good based on real-life pain points related to SDG, creating multiple innovative and practical small hardware projects.

Traditional video games often focus on visual and auditory design, leading to significant barriers for visually impaired and hearing-impaired individuals when experiencing these games. With technological advancements, creating a more inclusive gaming experience through tactile and auditory feedback has become a viable and promising direction. This project aims to create a set of game interaction methods optimized for infants, visually impaired, and hearing-impaired individuals by combining tactile and auditory feedback to overcome the limitations of traditional video games in visual and auditory design. Inspired by the Braille system and vibration controllers, we plan to use Arduino development boards and controller modules to design interactive learning games that combine touch and sound feedback, helping users recognize letters, numbers, and basic knowledge through touch and sound in the game. These games not only provide an inclusive experience for visually impaired and hearing-impaired individuals but also promote early education for infants, encouraging them to explore and learn in a safe environment. The project will align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of “Quality Education” and “Reducing Inequality,” ensuring that people with different abilities and physical conditions can enjoy equal learning opportunities and gaming fun.

In real life, we often face time management issues for self-study and work. For example, we can easily be distracted by external information such as mobile phones, leading to attention dispersion and procrastination; or due to stress and anxiety, we cannot balance work and rest. Therefore, we need a simpler alarm clock to avoid distractions from smart devices, allowing people to focus more on their tasks. Existing products on the market are expensive and overly complicated, so we hope to develop an open-source program written in Arduino that allows people to easily DIY their own alarm clock. The Pomodoro Timer is suitable for various scenarios. In the learning context, students can set the Pomodoro Timer for 25 minutes of focused vocabulary memorization while blocking mobile distractions, and take a short break when the countdown ends. In the work scenario, copywriters can start the Pomodoro Timer to focus on writing paragraphs during each period, relaxing after the alarm rings. During simulated use, users can set the focus duration and rest duration, click start, and the interface will display a countdown. Tasks can be marked as completed or interrupted, and after use, users can view time utilization data to optimize their plans.

Traditional fire alarms (such as smoke detectors and temperature sensors) can issue alerts in the early stages of a fire, but they often rely on a single sensing method and may have issues such as false alarms and missed alarms. Additionally, traditional devices lack remote monitoring and real-time response capabilities, making it impossible to inform users of the specific situation or location of the fire promptly. With the rapid development of smart home and IoT technologies, more and more families and commercial environments are beginning to focus on integrating smart devices. The Smart Fire Alarm project is based on this trend, attempting to combine fire monitoring systems with IoT to provide real-time remote monitoring, alarming, and automated control functions. By linking with other smart home devices (such as smart lighting and temperature control systems), the speed and accuracy of fire prevention responses can be improved. The project is also inspired by the urgent need to enhance fire safety and reduce fire losses. The smart fire alarm can conduct comprehensive monitoring through various sensors (such as infrared, temperature, brightness, gas concentration, etc.) to accurately identify the specific conditions of a fire, avoiding false alarms and missed alarms. At the same time, the alarm can remind people to escape and provide more effective response measures.

In daily life, the lack of attention to garbage classification leads to unsatisfactory hygiene conditions of trash bins and significant losses. This trash bin is beneficial for perceiving and managing the garbage inside. When a user approaches the trash bin, the ultrasonic sensor detects the proximity and automatically lights up to indicate opening. When the user throws away garbage, the bin automatically closes. When the water sensor detects accumulated water at the bottom of the bin, it lights up to prompt the user to clean it. When the flame sensor detects abnormal temperature, it lights up to alarm the user to check and handle it.

When people are on business trips or traveling for extended periods, their houseplants are often left unattended. Over time, once-vibrant plants will gradually lose vitality, leaves will turn yellow and shrivel, and they may even wither before their owner returns, which is quite regrettable. A semi-automatic device assists in the healthy growth of plants and can also purify the air and improve the environment. The device includes a highly sensitive fire warning system that immediately alerts users upon detecting abnormalities, ensuring home safety and enhancing people’s quality of life. The device monitors environmental temperature and humidity in real-time, reminding users to water when humidity falls below the set value. It continuously detects light frequencies, and once a flame is detected, it immediately issues an alarm.

Many people in urban life want to try growing flowers, grass, and vegetables on their balconies, but often fail, and there are even cases where successfully grown fruits are stolen by neighbors. Inspired by this, we created a balcony gardening assistant that can collect soil data in real-time, provide additional light, and prevent theft, assisting more people who want to experience planting. The soil moisture sensor monitors soil moisture in real-time, the temperature and humidity sensor perceives the air environment, and when light is insufficient, the supplementary light automatically turns on to provide red, blue, and purple light. The buzzer alarms in cases of abnormal environmental noise or when crops experience unusual movements or fire. Users can manage their home farms conveniently based on sensor data, such as manually watering when soil moisture is low or taking temperature control measures when temperatures are abnormal, ensuring a good growth environment for crops.

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