How S.M.A.R.T. Motoka/Cars Started; For Beginners (Version 1).
Background
Let’s face it; initially there were no cars/ motoka (motoka is a term used to mean car/ automobile). Manual cars were introduced and then later, automatic cars. Rewinding back to manual cars, these are kind of cars that basically have gears changed “manually”. As for automatic cars, the control was made easier. The driver has to only shift from parking to either “reverse (R)” or “drive (D)” and sometimes to “normal (N)”.
This idea however seems complex to the beginners who would love to make their own cars that have the Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.). This blog simplifies the concept by taking the beginners back to the drawing board. It starts on the basic methods that integrate into a S.M.A.R.T. car.
Let’s dive in. Shall we?!
Problem statement
There are so many traffic delays and traffic collisions caused by driver errors. Therefore, there is need to develop a Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) motoka/ car for pre-collision warnings, steering assistance, automatic braking.
Method: Design, construction, and simulation of an accelerator.
Schematic view:
A potentiometer is an electrical three-wire resistive device that acts as a voltage divider producing a continuously variable voltage output signal. In Figure 1, one terminal is connected to the positive terminal of the battery, second terminal connected to the positive terminal of the motor, third terminal connected to the negative terminal of the battery.
The potentiometer in this circuit connection is able to control the voltage output signal that powers on the motor. This then varies the speed of the motor. If you were wondering about the essence of this concept, a tire connected to the motor can therefore move with respect to the speed at which the motors are spinning. This is how an accelerator works. The breadboard view is shown in Figure 2.
Breadboard view:
Result: Design, construction, and simulation of an accelerator.
Figure 3 shows the results. The robotic car was assembled from Fundi Bots organization. Fundi Bots provides hands-on, practical Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM)) education to children and youth in classrooms, communities and universities.
For demonstration purposes, let us have a look at the video below.
Conclusion
This post focused on basically tire speed control using voltage divider concept in a potentiometer. This is still a manual concept which however is still important in the journey we are going to take in building ourselves a S.M.A.R.T. car/ motoka. The next blog (version 2 of the S.M.A.R.T. cars/ motoka) will look at a different concept used in cars; and later, we shall integrate the concepts to form an AI based S.M.A.R.T. car/ motoka.
More about Fundi Bots: We can check out the link below
In brief, Fundi Bots students learn how to build robots, which radically improves school curriculum knowledge, classroom performance, provides hands-on vocational skills and career development and empowers students to be forces of change in their communities.
The Fundi Bots learning model is practical, fun, engaging and puts students in a collaborative and exploratory learning environment that inspires them to think beyond simply passing classroom examinations.
