Invention Stimulator ® minimum teaching – maximum learning inventionstimulator ® isn’t rocket science… …but it may inspire a rocket scientist

What is inventionstimulator ® ? science that’s fun and challenging – a seven stage learning programme – designed to develop computer skills… – … and to nurture individual creativity seven purpose-built kits – special micro control unit circuit boards – intuitive ‘drag and drop’ programming – accessories that measure and interact each kit gives thousands of options – finding solutions to everyday problems – defining the process and logic on a computer – …before building your very own invention fire protection by Jack, age 9. His invention detects the heat from a burning spill, raises the alarm and extinguishes the flame with a fan ignition sequence started !

Fun to learn, simple to teach a classroom in a box – a Quick Start guide and an instant lesson – worked examples on the page and in film – share ideas through our on-line forum & FAQs programming made easy – pick and mix routines (e.g. ‘beep’, ‘flash light’) – students set their own runtime parameters – quick and easy prototyping using USB relevant for the real world – many household appliances have MCUs – they are programmed in just the same way – advanced students can create viable inventions the discovery moment when “it works!” helps to cement the learning … we have lift-off !

What are Micro Control Units? They are small computers with their own memory and processor - the ‘brain’ inside many household gadgets. By writing computer programs you can tell the special InventionStimulator ® MCU what to do.

Here’s the science bit..... On-off switch Battery input USB cable input General output Run program switch Sound outputGeneral input Output 0 Output 1 On-board LED The actual MCU

So what can I do with it? just add imagination ! A world of possibilities – write simple instructions on a PC – choose the accessories you need – … and you can invent all kinds of things! The MCU interacts with the real world – sensors to monitor outside events – you design controls to respond to them… – … to activate lights, fans, sounds and more Real sensors are provided – to measure changes in temperature – to respond to light – to detect movement an MCU can control anything, from a light to a jumbo jet!

The level one kit includes all of these different sensors, which you attach to either the ‘Sensor input’ or the ‘Motor’ or ‘Output’ sockets of the MCU card Interacting with the environment LightOrientation (which way up) Heat InfraredBi-directional LEDFanFan

Let’s invent! The problem – an elderly lady sometimes forgets to turn the oven off after cooking – this wastes fuel – … and could be dangerous Our solution – place a sensor by the oven door – after meal time check the temperature – if it’s OK do nothing, but if it’s too high – … sound an alarm and flash a light! what will you invent ?

Let’s tell the MCU to do something A red light flashes in a smoke alarm to show it’s working. It’s an MCU that’s telling it to flash! Here’s how.....

Here’s the way to talk to the MCU It’s very easy to use Here’s where the MCU starts to work And here’s where it stops And you just drag instructions from here And drop them here

Let’s make the light come on Not hard – was it?

Let’s learn about LOOPS A loop is like a big circle which you run around as many times as you want LOOP Start here And run this way Pick up a sweet And keep running Pick up another sweet End here Keep running If you want more than 2 sweets just run around the loop again This is how we tell the MCU to do things more than once

MCU - LOOP Some more about LOOPS And run this way Start here Turn on the light And keep running Turn off the light End here Keep running Run around once and the light flashes once Run around ten times and the light flashes 10 times!

And here’s how we tell the MCU to loop Set how many times the loop should run It’s so easy!

Back to the flashing light…. Start Loop - ten times Turn light on (LED=Light emitting diode) Wait for half a second with the light on Turn light off Wait for half a second with the light off End the loop and go back to the beginning Stop altogether when the loop has run ten times Change the timings here

Finally, we have to tell the MCU where the loop starts and ends We do this with the ‘Draw Line’ instruction Click ‘Draw Line’ and then click on the start and end of the loop Looping the loop

Send the instructions to the MCU Attach USB cable (supplied) between the computer and MCU card And click ‘Download’

Send the instructions to the MCU The computer translates your instructions into MCU language Can you believe that you wrote this?! Click ‘Download’ to send the instructions

Let’s see if it works Disconnect the USB cable and connect a 9 volt battery Now you’re ready! You’ve done it!

Inputs and outputs An ‘Input’ is an event that a sensor tells the MCU about. For example, the heat sensor tells the MCU that it has detected heat. An ‘Output’ is how the MCU instructs a device to do something. For example, turn on the fan. We instruct the MCU to look for Inputs through the Sensor command And we instruct the MCU to control devices using the Moto Forward, Moto Backward and Output commands

Let’s invent! We’ll tell the MCU to use a light sensor to see if it’s light or dark. If it’s dark, the MCU will turn on a light. First, push a light into ‘MOTOR0’ And then the Light Sensor into ‘SENSOR 0’ at the negative (‘-’) end

Let’s Invent! This time, we want the loop to run for ever, so, it’s an ‘Unlimited Loop’ Next, tell the MCU to check the sensor with the ‘Sensor0’ command If the sensor is Off (not sensing darkness) then Stop the Motor (if it’s on) and Jump back to the start of the Loop If the sensor is on (is sensing that it’s dark), then turn on the Motor End the loop and go back to the beginning

Moto Forward and Backward This light is called a ‘Bi-directional LED’ It sounds complicated, but it’s easy to understand It just means that if the electric current goes into the light from one direction, it lights up Green and from the other direction it lights up Red If you use the ‘Moto Forward’ command it will light up Red and the ‘Moto Backward’ command will light up Green

Send the instructions to the MCU Make sure that you’ve used the Draw Line command to join the loops Note that the Jump command can be used instead of Loop End And Download the instructions to the MCU Here’s the MCU language!

Let’s see if it works Hold your hand over the light sensor And the Green Light Comes On! You’ve done it!

SUBs (sub-routines) When you want to send the MCU lots of instructions, the computer screen gets a bit full and looks complicated A ‘Sub’ is a programme within a programme, which can be added to the command line using a single instruction We use the New Sub command from the top menu

SUBs Click on ‘New Sub’ And give the Sub a name A red programme line appears And you drag and drop commands here as normal Click ‘OK’

SUBs Drag and drop commands to tell the onboard LED to flash 10 times Note that you can drag the command Icons anywhere on the screen Draw the line to connect the loop Double click the Sub command And it will shrink the Sub to a single command icon

SUBs Drag and drop the Sub icon Choose the Sub from the drop down list And that’s it! If you download this to the MCU, the LED will flash 10 times, with a single ‘Sub’ command You can have as many ‘Subs’ as you want

Standard commands All Commands are simple to understand ‘Delay 1 Second’ is a pre-determined delay ‘Delay’ is user definable ‘Output on’ and ‘Output off’ control the Output 1 connector ‘Music 1’, ‘Music 2’ and ‘Music 3’ play pre-determined music Tone is user definable and can play any music that the user requires

Tones and music The tone command tells the MCU to play single tones, or a string of tones Tones are chosen in Bass, Mediant or Alto, with 7 notes available for each and 6 tone lengths Think ‘Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti’ for each of the 7 notes DO REMI SO FA LA TI This will play a musical scale, with each note lasting one second

Let’s invent! In schools, the ringing of the lesson bell is often automatic But although the bell might be automatic, the classroom lights and ventilation systems are not We can tell the MCU to: Ring the bell for the beginning and end of class Turn on the lights and air conditioning at the start of class Turn off the lights and air-conditioning at the end of class This will save money and help the environment

Let’s invent! This sub will: Ring the bell Turn on the light (Motor 0) Turn on the fan (Motor 1) Wait for the lesson (3 seconds) Ring the bell Turn off the light Turn off the fan We can significantly simplify our Command Line, by creating a Sub

Let’s invent! Start at midnight Let’s say 1 hour = 2 seconds therefore 9 hours = 18 seconds Start the lesson at 9am, for 1.5 hours (3 seconds for this example) Break time. 1 second = 30 minutes Start next lesson Lunch Break Start next lesson End of day

7 Invention Stimulator Kits The kits are available in 7 levels, which you will progress through as you learn new techniques Kit 2, with 5 sensor inputs, 9 outputs and lots more sensors

Inventions change the way we live for the better What will YOU invent?

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