How to Make an OwlBot: The Bird Intimidator - Part 5: Mechanical Movement

Name: How to Make an OwlBot: The Bird Intimidator - Part 5: Mechanical Movement | Open Video
Uploaded: 2026-01-19T16:29:47+00:00
Duration: 1 h 1 min 32 s

0:03
Okay, welcome to part five of the Albot project where we're going to be adding
0:08
mechanical movement to our prototype circuit.
0:20
So, for the goal of this part of the Albot project, we're going to have the
0:26
Arduino Uno control the solenoids to activate on and off continuously when
0:32
motion is detected by the pier sensor we added in part one of the Albot project
0:38
series. And then we want to have a DC motor spin a propeller when motion is
0:44
detected by the pier sensor. So, by the end of this part of the build, we'll
0:49
want our prototype circuit to play the MP3 player file with the owl sounds on
0:55
it to the dual speakers we added to our prototype in part two of the build. We
1:02
want to flash both the LEDs that we're using as the Albot's flashing red eyes
1:10
that we added to our prototype in part three of the build. and we want to activate the two solenoids and have the
1:16
DC motor spin its propeller that we're adding to our prototype in this part of
1:22
the build. So, as you can see here, we have our prototype circuitry set up.
1:28
This is that pier sensor that we added in part one of the build series. You can
1:34
see the Arduino back here, the two speakers and MP3 player back here that
1:40
we added in part two of the series, and the two, you can kind of see the two
1:46
LEDs that we added in part three. And for this part, here's the two solenoids
1:53
we'll be adding to the prototype circuit, as well as the DC motor with
1:58
the propeller on the shaft of the DC motor. So, by the end of this uh part of
2:06
this of the build, we want to have the LEDs flash, the AL sound to the AL
2:14
sounds to play, and we want both solenoids to
2:20
uh go off and the DC motor to spin the propeller on its shaft once motion is
2:27
detected by the pier sensor that we added in part one. So, let's go ahead and talk about the solenoids. I'm using
2:35
these uh two sixvolt pushpull linear
2:41
solenoids. The technical specs that I was able to get for them claim that they
2:46
have an electromagnetic pushpull force of 50 g or about 1.76 ounces, which is equival
2:56
equivalent to.11 pounds. Uh we need two of them to
3:02
control the uh both the faux wings of the albot we'll design later on in this
3:08
project. So we're going to use the two solenoids to control the movement of those wings. Uh we'll design later. I
3:17
did perform some preliminary uh some rough preliminary tests on how
3:24
much force these particular solenoids uh that I'm using uh were able
3:33
to provide and I was quite uh impressed
3:39
for these little tiny solenoids on what they were able to do especially based on
3:45
what I'm using for here. I'll go ahead and provide that
3:51
short video clip uh showing those tests right here.
4:14
[Music]
4:58
So, I was able to get the solenoid to lift without without any assistance, a 9V battery with its snap connector,
5:06
which as you saw was a combined weight of approximately 1.4 ounces according to
5:11
my measurements. Uh, I think with what I have in mind on how I'll make the wings and from what
5:20
material the wings will be made of for this Albot project, uh, I think these
5:27
solenoids will work just fine. Uh, to be able to move those. Um, the wings will
5:33
be fairly uh, lightweight. They're going to be made I'm thinking of making them
5:39
out of maybe a thin wire and somehow connecting that wire uh to these
5:46
solenoids and that wire providing not only structure for the feathers that I'm
5:53
going to use, but also to help in the in the mechanical movement uh that we'll
5:59
need to make those feathered wings move. And I'll show you those feathers that
6:05
I've already ordered here. This is the package of those feathers. I thought these would do
6:12
pretty well and uh kind of look like they could be owl feathers. I'm not sure
6:18
what kind of feathers these are, but uh I'll use these. I got these off of the
6:26
rainforest store and we'll use these feathers later when we build those wings
6:32
later in the project to add to our owl figure that we're
6:40
using. So hopefully that will all work out
6:46
according to plan. I have not built those wings yet, so I have a kind of a
6:52
rough idea. So, just hoping that that's going to work. I think it'll I think these solenoids will work out fine and
6:59
uh moving those things. The only thing I'm really worried about is uh the type of wire that I'm going to
7:05
use and how I'm going to use the wire to create the structure for these feathers
7:11
and getting them to attach to the shafts of the solenoids. So, I don't really
7:19
know how I'm going to do that yet, but we'll get to that part later on in the project. So, as for the DC motor, uh,
7:28
with the propeller, I'm using this to add, uh, more motion for the Albot. It's
7:34
not necessary if you don't want to add this to your prototype, but I wanted to do so in order to create uh, more
7:43
movement for uh, this Albot figure. And the DC motor that I'm using,
7:52
uh, I managed to scrap it off of some other device in the past long ago, and I
7:58
I don't remember exactly where from. I think I got it from an old printer, maybe, but
8:05
uh, it doesn't really matter. You can use any old DC motor that you can find
8:10
one that's small enough to use for the project obviously, but you can also, if you don't have any DC motors lying
8:17
around, you can you can get uh small DC motors from like uh motor hobby kits or
8:25
hobby motor kits. And uh I'll provide a link down in the description below in this video of the
8:33
exact motor kit that I've actually purchased in the past for my daughter.
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Uh so you can check that out if you'd like. And just so you know, any any
8:44
links that I provide uh they they may be affiliate links and
8:49
there may be some form of payment that I receive from those links. So, just to
8:56
let you know. So, as for the parts list and tools used for this project, I'm going
9:03
to go ahead and have all of that kind of scroll down on the bottom of the screen
9:09
or show up at the bottom of the screen and kind of a Bob Ross style showing of
9:15
the material that we're going to be using for this part of the the build.
9:21
So, as I'm talking, all that will be showing at the bottom, so you can take
9:26
notes on that. If you want to see the full parts list and the tools used for this project, I'll leave a link down in
9:33
the description to the website that will take you to the full detailed list of
9:39
those parts and tools used for the project. So, in prototyping the circuit for this
9:46
part of the build, looking back on part three of this build series where we made
9:52
all the connections needed for the uh red LEDs we added to our circuit, we
9:59
then needed to create the code to have those LEDs flash when motion was detected by the pier sensor that we
10:07
added in part one of the build series. And then now we need to add this
10:13
prototype uh to this prototype a pair of solenoids and a DC motor that will
10:21
provide uh the mechanical movement for our Albot. Also, we need to update the
10:27
code and add to it the functionality. We need to get the solenoids to activate
10:33
and the motor to uh spin the propeller when motion is detected by the pier
10:39
sensor. If we remember back on part four, uh we upgraded or we actually
10:45
modified the power supply to our Albot prototype circuit to power the new power
10:51
hungry devices. We're adding in this part of the build, we added another 9V
10:59
battery supply made up of six AA batteries to our prototype. I have it
11:05
set back here, so it's kind of hard to see. We'll use this upgrade to power both the solenoids and the DC motor. Our
11:14
original 9volt battery supply we're still using to power the Arduino and the devices we've connected to it thus far
11:21
in the build. So remember in 2D there's a built-in 9volt battery power supply
11:27
controlled by this switch here. And in talking about
11:32
2D I will be using the ultimate DIY 3220 point breadboard that was made from a
11:39
separate project. That's this uh setup right here. I've called it 2D for short
11:46
so that I don't have to keep repeating the full phrase, the ultimate DIY
11:53
3220point breadboard. I just called it 2D for short. So that's what I've been
11:58
using throughout this build series. So, don't worry. Even though I'll be discussing how to make connections on
12:05
TDI throughout the following prototyping steps, I'll provide images on how to
12:10
hook up the items on a generic breadboard so you can still follow
12:15
along. So, if you recall, we've we've been using an Arduino Uno for our
12:23
prototype circuit to help control some of the devices that we've added to our
12:28
circuitry. And uh in before we get started with
12:34
anything for this part of the build, we first need to go over the Arduino Uno's
12:40
ATmega 328P microcontroller. If you give me a moment, and if I can just reach
12:47
over here, you can sort of see that microcontroller
12:52
here. That's the AT Mega 328P
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microcontroller used by the Arduino Uno. And like I said, we want to kind of go
13:03
over its absolute maximum ratings. I
13:08
think I said that. I'm not sure if I did now that I think about it. But what what we want to do is go over its absolute
13:15
maximum ratings to gain an understanding of what we need to do to hook up our
13:20
components properly to prevent damage to the Arduino Uno and its microcontroller.
13:25
So I'm going to put this table up on the screen. And if we have a look at the
13:31
table on the screen, we see that the values within it are the absolute
13:37
maximum ratings for the IO pins or the input output pins or the of the Arduino
13:43
Uno's ATmega 328P microcontroller. This table came directly from
13:52
uh the Arduino website and I'll provide the link to this down in the description
13:59
below and I think this table was on page 302 if I'm not mistaken. I I'll put
14:06
the page number down in the description below as well, so it'll help you find
14:12
where it's at more easily on that uh data sheet from the Arduino website. So,
14:19
looking at the values, uh we can determine what we're limited to based on
14:24
the microcontrollers ratings. What we want to focus on are the following. the
14:30
DC current per IO pin or per input output pin which states that that is 40
14:39
milliamps and the DC current VCC or the input voltage and G&D pins or
14:48
the ground pin and that states that that is 200
14:54
milliamps. The data sheet is telling us that the DC
15:00
current from each of the IO pins, both analog and digital, of the
15:05
Arduino, is limited to 40 milliamps. The DC current to the VCC and
15:12
ground pins are limited to 200 milliamps. The data sheet also states
15:18
that stresses beyond these listed ratings may cause permanent damage to the device.
15:25
So these are a few things that we we must keep in mind as we're moving
15:30
forward uh in prototyping our circuitry. So
15:37
there's a number of different ways to power the Arduino and that's all explained on the
15:43
website for part five uh this part of the build series. I'll provide uh the
15:50
link to that uh page on our website down in the description of this video below.
15:58
But I'm using an external power source. And that's the uh six AA battery pack
16:05
that I showed you earlier. That's back here. You can kind of see it. And that's
16:11
what we added uh to our prototype circuit back in part four of this build
16:18
series. So let's talk about adding the solenoids. So each of the solenoids that
16:24
I'm using have two wires coming from the coil or from the solenoids coil. So if I
16:32
pick up one of these, you can see that there are two wires coming from it.
16:39
Uh each one has two wires coming from the coil of the solenoid. And to make
16:46
the temporary connections from the solenoids to the breadboard, I chose to use test hook clips that are spring loed
16:54
to make secure connections to the wire ends of the solenoids. And you can see them here. Let me grab another one so we
17:01
can take a close look at that. Here is a test hook clip. Here you can see that on
17:09
this there's two different ends. And on this end, this is the spring loed hook.
17:15
And you can see if I move the light over here just a
17:22
second. There's a hook at the end right here. And we use it's spring loed. And
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we use this end to hook onto the wire or one of the wires of the solenoids.
17:34
And then the other end has this uh
17:40
DuPont male connector in that allows us to pin this in into one of the points or
17:46
holes into the breadboard. So, let me move the light again and then focus
17:53
more on our setup here. And you can see that if I pick up this solenoid here, it
18:00
has a blue and a yellow uh test hook clips on them. And each end
18:07
or each of the wires have the spring-loaded hooks connected to the end
18:12
of the wires. Sorry, I only have one hand free at the moment. I'm going to put this
18:17
back on the board. And the other ends are
18:23
connected in the points or holes on the breadboard. As you can see here, I'm not
18:29
going to remove them because they're all connected to the circuitry here that we'll discuss later. So, we're going to
18:34
focus now on how to control the solenoids with the Arduino. When using
18:41
devices like solenoids on low power devices like an
18:46
Arduino, we can't just hook up the wires of the solenoids directly to the pins of
18:52
the Arduino and expect everything to work. Solenoids require higher voltages
18:58
and currents than a microcontroller alone can provide. The solenoids that I'm using
19:04
for this Albot project are a generic brand that was ordered from the Rainforest store online.
19:11
There was not a lot of info on the solenoids except for the supposed pushpull force that they had and their
19:19
voltage requirements. Uh these, like I said, are sixvolt pushpull solenoids with a pull
19:27
force of approximately 1.4 ounces as was tested previously. In order to find out how
19:35
much resistance these solenoids have across their terminals, I took my multimeter,
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one like this. This is just a generic multimeter. I took my multimeter and I made a reading across
19:51
each of the wire terminals using the uh
19:56
200 ohm setting on the multimeter. Uh I got to look here. So,
20:03
200 ohm setting right here on this multimeter. If you could see that. There
20:08
we go. Now, I'm focused in. So, I use this on this multimeter, the 200 ohm
20:14
setting to take that measurement. And if I grab a test solenoid real quick, I'll
20:20
show you how I did that. Well, I don't seem to have a test solenoid, so I'll have
20:25
to take this one off of here, and I'll just put it back on in a minute.
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So what I did in order to test the resistance across each of these
20:37
solenoids, I took the two ends, the two
20:42
wire terminals coming from the solenoid or coming from the coil of the
20:49
solenoid. I took a black end or I took my black test wire from
20:56
the multimeter to one of the wires. It doesn't matter which one. And then I took the red one to the other wire
21:05
terminal of the solenoid. So I have my solenoid here with my test terminals from the
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uh multimeter here. I kind of want I'll just hold it,
21:19
I guess. And I turned my setting on to 200 ohms. And
21:27
for this particular solenoid, you can see I'm getting a reading of 6.4
21:33
ohms. So that's all I did to get the uh resistance readings across each of these
21:40
two solenoids that I'm using for my prototype circuit. Okay, now I have that
21:48
solenoid hooked back up and we can continue on. So, like I said, in order to find out how much resistance the
21:53
solenoids have across their terminals, I took the multimeter. I made the readings across each of the solenoids terminals
22:00
using the 200 ohm setting on the multimeter. We'll need this information
22:05
later to measure about how much current draw the solenoids have. And as you can see here, the
22:13
following are the readings I obtained from each solenoid.
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You can see on solenoid number one I have a reading of 6.3 ohms. And
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then you can see on solenoid number two I got a reading of 6.2
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ohms. So with this information, how do we control these solenoids with an Arduino?
22:39
We need a way to control the onoff switching of the solenoids. And we want
22:45
to control it with the use of the Arduino we're using for our project. But
22:50
we can't just connect the solenoids to the pins of the Arduino
22:56
because solenoids require higher voltages and currents than a microcontroller alone can provide. So to
23:04
control the solenoids using the Arduino, we need to incorporate some extra components to our circuitry to allow us
23:11
to perform the task we ask the Arduino to do, like switching on and off the two
23:16
solenoids we're using for the Albot project. But what do we need to do to make all this work?
23:24
This looks like a job for some MOSFETs that you can see here on the uh
23:31
prototype circuit on the on TUDTI on our breadboard. And I'll show you a closeup
23:37
of all of this circuitry in a little bit in the video. But for right now, we're just kind of going over of what it is
23:44
that we're trying to do, what we need to do. And then also later, I'll provide
23:49
some images of the some schematics and other things and closeups of the
23:56
components that we're using for this part of the project so that you can get a closer view of it. And also you can go
24:04
over to uh part five of the build of this Albot project uh on our website.
24:11
I'll provide the link to part five of the build that we're currently doing
24:17
right now down in the description of this video below. But like I said, we're
24:22
using MOSFETs to control the solenoids. To give the Arduino the capability
24:28
control to control the solenoids with its IO pins, we will use the help of an
24:35
RFP 30 N06 MOSFET as you can see one
24:40
right here on the screen. Now, next I'm going to show the
24:46
schematic in details. And you can see that it's shown here, and it explains how we're going to
24:54
make our connections to the Arduino and the solenoids using that
25:02
RFP30N06 logic level in channel enhancement mode power MOSFET. The
25:08
schematic shows both solenoids used for this Albbot project. Solenoid one
25:14
labeled as X1 and solenoid 2 labeled as X2. Each solenoid is connected across a
25:22
diode D1 and D2 that acts as a flyback diode. Each of those dodes are placed in
25:29
reverse bias through from the plus 9V battery supply to the drain or D pin of
25:37
the RFP30 N06 MOSFETs. That's Q1 and Q2. The
25:43
flyback diodes are essential for protecting the circuit from voltage spikes generated when the solenoids are
25:50
turned off. For the source or the S pin of the RFP 30 N06 MOSFET, we're just
25:57
going to tie it straight to the negative supply or common ground of the circuit.
26:03
The gates or Gpin of Q1 and Q2 are tied
26:08
to the digital pins of the Arduino Uno, pin seven and pin 8,
26:15
respectively. Digital pins seven and eight of the Arduino will provide the voltage we need to turn the gate of each
26:22
MOSFET on. When motion is detected by the pier sensor we added in part one of the Albot
26:29
project will tell the Arduino in code later to activate the solenoids, pulsing
26:36
them on and off continuously for an amount of time. Resistors R1 and R2 are
26:43
both valued at 10 kiloohms. Both are tied from the gate to ground and both
26:49
act as pull down resistors to discharge the gate of each MOSFET when no voltage
26:55
is applied to the gate. The gate of a MOSFET acts as a capacitor. If we don't
27:01
have a path to ground to discharge the gates, then the MOSFETs Q1 and Q2 may
27:07
not turn off completely. So having a pull down resistor at the gate of the MOSFET ensures that the MOSFETs Q1 and
27:14
Q2 turn off. You can learn more about how MOSFETs work and their applications
27:20
on our website at the link provided in the description of this video
27:26
below. Okay, now that we have this information, we want to calculate
27:32
solenoid current draw. So we're going to be calculating the solenoid current draw. Earlier, I mentioned that I took
27:40
some resistance readings across the terminals of each solenoid that I'm using for this Albbot project. I also
27:46
took a voltage reading of the 9volt battery pack made up of six AA batteries we added to our prototype circuit in
27:53
part four of the build series using the multimeter and obtained a reading of
27:59
9.48 volts. Taking the average of the two resistance
28:05
readings earlier from the solenoids and using Ohm's law to calculate the current, we should be seeing through the
28:12
solenoids and through the drain and source of the MOSFETs, we get a value of 1.5 amps. With a current this large,
28:20
there's no way we could have controlled the solenoids by just hooking them up directly to the Arduino. We must use the
28:27
MOSFETs. So, now we need to discuss about adding the DC motor with the propeller. The reason why I'm including
28:34
a DC motor with a propeller on its shaft to the Albot project is solely to add more movement to the finished product.
28:42
Once we have everything in place on the Albot body, this guy right here, the
28:48
only thing that moves other than the propeller on the motor shaft is the owl's wings via the solenoids.
28:56
So, the finished Albot will end up making sounds by the MP3 player and the
29:03
two speakers that we added in part two of the build series. It'll have its flashing red red LED eyes that we added
29:10
in part three of the build series. And then it'll have the uh moving wings and
29:17
the spinning propeller on the DC motor to help scare off unwanted critters uh
29:23
that we're doing in this part of the build series or that we're adding to our prototype circuit in this part of the
29:29
build series. So, if you don't want to include
29:34
the DC motor with the propeller on your Albot, then by all means, uh you don't
29:40
have to feel like you have to. You can just omit this part of the project if you'd like and just stick with the two
29:47
solenoids that will control the wings that we'll design later on in the build
29:52
series. And uh you could just do that. Otherwise, let's just continue uh with
29:59
how to control a DC motor with an Arduino. So, how are we going to control
30:06
a DC motor with an Arduino? like the solenoids we're using on our
30:11
Albot prototype circuit. To add a motor to the circuit and connect it to the Arduino, we're going to have to
30:18
incorporate some extra components to our circuitry to allow us to perform the task we ask the Arduino to do, like
30:25
switching on and off the DC motor. Again, this looks like another job for a
30:31
MOSFET. So, what we're going to do is use a MOSFET to control the DC
30:37
motor. When using a device like a DC motor on a low power device like an
30:43
Arduino, we can't just hook up the wires to the DC motor directly to the pins of the Arduino and expect it to work. DC
30:50
motors require higher voltages and currents than a microcontroller alone can provide. The DC motor that I'm using
30:58
for the Albot project was hacked off some other device that I can't recall
31:03
off of what from anymore. But the only thing that I know about the DC motor is
31:09
that it's a Mabuchi motor and that it's made from China. I'm guessing that it's
31:14
a 12volt motor. Uh I'm not absolutely sure about that. Um running it off a 9V
31:22
aoublea battery pack supply for seconds at a time is probably totally doable for
31:27
this uh project. So everything should work out just fine. The type of MOSFET
31:34
that I'll be using to control the motor is an IRF840 power MOSFET. As you can see
31:41
right here on the screen, the schematic and details shown here explains how
31:46
we're going to make our connections to the Arduino Uno and DC motor using the
31:52
IRF 840 in channel enhancement mode MOSFET. The schematic shows the DC motor
31:59
M1 used for this Albot project. One terminal of the DC motor is tied to the
32:05
positive 9V aoublea battery pack supply and the other terminal of the DC motor
32:11
is tied to the drain or D terminal of the IRF 840 MOSFET or Q3. The DC motor
32:20
being used for this Albbot project is a brush DC motor. So I've placed a 100
32:25
nanofarad or 0.1 microfarad shunt capacitor or C1 across the terminals of
32:33
the DC motor for a few important reasons of which you can read about from the
32:38
link to our website for part five of the Albot project found in the description of this video below. Also, adding a
32:46
capacitor across the terminals of a brush DC motor is good practice. For the
32:52
source or S terminal of the IRF840 MOSFET, we're going to tie it
32:58
straight to the negative supply or common ground of the circuit. The gate
33:04
of Q3 is tied to pin 9 of the Arduino Uno. Digital pin 9 of the Arduino will
33:11
provide the voltage we need to turn the gate of the MOSFET on. When motion is detected by the pier
33:18
sensor we added in part one of the Albot project, we'll tell the Arduino encode
33:24
later to activate the DC motor, pulsing it on and off continuously and
33:30
simultaneously with the solenoids for an amount of time. Resistor R3 is valued at
33:37
10 kiloohms and is tied from the gate to ground. This resistor acts as a pull
33:44
down resistor to discharge the gate of the MOSFET when no voltage is applied to
33:50
the gate. The gate of a MOSFET acts as a capacitor. If we don't have a path to
33:57
ground to discharge the gate, then the MOSFET Q3 may not turn off completely.
34:04
So having a pull down resistor at the gate of the MOSFET ensures that it turns
34:09
off. You can learn more about how MOSFETs work and their applications at
34:14
the link in the description of this video below. So, if you're not using the ultimate DIY
34:23
3220point breadboard or aka2 for this project and you're using
34:30
some generic breadboard, here I'll provide uh the solenoids and DC motor
34:37
connections schematic so that you could see how to make all those connections to
34:43
any old generic breadboard. I'll also provide the link to this image
34:50
of this schematic shown as well as all the other images and the schematics that
34:58
have been shown in this video down in the link in the description of this video below. So, now that we have
35:05
everything hooked up to our prototype circuit uh on our breadboard, the only
35:12
thing that we need to do now is to program the Arduino to activate the solenoids and to spin the propeller on
35:19
the motor. But before we do that, I'll just take a quick video shot of
35:26
everything up close without any talking. That way you can kind of see everything up a little closer and we can kind of
35:33
take a detailed up close and personal view of everything so that you can kind
35:38
of just kind of gander around uh before we get into talking about uh the
35:44
programming of the Arduino.
36:09
Well, heat
36:38
[Music]
36:50
[Music]
37:38
Okay, now we're on to programming the Arduino to activate the solenoids and
37:43
spin. in the motor. Now that we've properly made our connections for the solenoids and DC motor on the
37:49
breadboard, we can now update our code from part three of the Albot project
37:54
build series to get the Arduino Uno to activate them when motion is detected by
38:00
the pier sensor. So, as you can see here, I'm on the Mottbbots website on
38:08
the how to make an Albbot the bird intimidator part five mechanical
38:13
movement page. Again, I will leave the link uh to this page on our website down
38:23
in the description of this video below. But if we continue to scroll down uh
38:28
into the table of contents here, sort of at the top of this page, and we click on
38:35
the section titled programming the Arduino to activate the solenoids and
38:40
spin the motor, it'll take us straight down to this part
38:45
uh of the blog post that shows the full
38:51
code or the full Arduino code listed here. And if you'd like, you could uh
38:57
directly copy this code by clicking this icon here. And the check mark confirms
39:03
that you've copied it to your clipboard and you can paste it into your to your
39:09
Arduino IDE on your computer and have everything right there at the click of a
39:15
button for you. Or you can scroll down a little bit farther and you can click
39:20
this little uh ad banner here. That's our ad banner for the website and it's
39:26
to our uh GitHub account. And if you'd like, you can click here and it'll take
39:32
you straight to our uh GitHub page here where you can find the Albot part five
39:39
code here. Just click on that and click on Albotpart
39:45
5.ino and you can see this is the code right here. So if you'd like, you can go to the GitHub account and and then uh
39:54
you can copy the raw file here and uh that is all there at your
40:01
disposal or again you can copy it from here. So let's move down a little bit
40:06
further here where the code is actually ex explaining the parts of the code that
40:12
is new or that has been updated since uh the last that we updated the code which
40:18
was back in part three of the Albot build series. You can see here that the
40:24
first thing uh that we discuss is on lines 69 and 70 we've added two new
40:33
variables called leftwing and rightwing. If I go back up into the full code here
40:40
and we look at uh lines 69 and 70, we
40:46
see those two new variables here in the code called leftwing and right wing. So
40:51
going back down to our explanation of this part of the code, uh we can see here that uh these two variables
40:59
arbitrarily represent the left and right wings of the albot or the two solenoids
41:04
used to control the wing movement. So that's all that we've added uh a new to
41:11
uh our code since uh we updated it last in part three or at least that's what's
41:17
new so far and reviewing what's new in the code or updated in the code and it
41:23
just literally means that we're naming these variables the left wing of the
41:29
Albot and the right wing of the Albot. And we've assigned the left wing to
41:34
uh pin seven of the Arduino and the right wing to pin 8 of the
41:42
Arduino. Uh so there's no political innuendos here. They're literally used
41:48
for the owl's wing orientation. So come on, just chill. I mean, can we all just
41:55
chill out and be excellent to each other, dude? So just uh moving on, we see here uh
42:04
that for lines 71 through 73 that we've updated the code uh or added to our
42:12
code, these new lines and uh 71 being an unsigned long for two different
42:20
variables called pre time one and pre time two, meaning
42:26
previous time one and previous time two and we've set that equal to millies and
42:32
we're going to use these variables later uh for uh for some
42:40
multitasking. Uh we have these other two uh long variables named time interval
42:46
one and time interval two. We've set time interval one to be equal to 250 and
42:52
time interval 2 to be 750. And these values will represent
42:58
uh the times in milliseconds that we'll use later on in the code. And uh if we
43:04
look down here, we can see that it explains that pre time one and pre time two variables will be used in the code
43:11
later to mark two previous times that we'll need for multitasking later. And
43:18
it says here that we need multitasking in our code to be able to run multiple devices or components on our prototype
43:24
circuit simultaneously. Such as when the P when the pier sensor detects motion,
43:30
the MP3 player plays AL sounds, the two red LEDs flash, the two solenoids
43:35
activate, and the DC motor activates all simultaneously. So, in order to get all
43:42
that to occur at approximately the same time and
43:47
all activate around the same time, we're going to be using what's called something that's called multitasking in
43:55
Arduino. And uh you can click this link here that'll discuss more about what multitasking is. And if you look up into
44:03
the references here that's on the page, I actually I actually referenced this
44:10
Imm Are y'all on his YouTube page uh or on his YouTube
44:16
uh channel where he had a video titled how to do multi- uh multiple task in
44:25
Arduino and he made an excellent video on that that explained how to do do
44:31
that. And I basically just borrowed what he explained on that video that he
44:37
created on multitasking to be able to perform uh multiple tasks uh on the
44:44
updated prototype circuit that we created here for the Albot project. So
44:50
that was very helpful to be able to get these items to occur and fire off and
44:59
work all at the same time. So, we've initialized the two time intervals, time interval one and time interval two to
45:05
use in our code later. We want to use these for their specific predetermined
45:11
times that we created as time intervals for how long the solenoids will activate on and off. So, these values can be
45:19
adjusted and changed to your preference. And I just happen to choose 250
45:25
milliseconds and 750 milliseconds. Moving on to the next part of the code
45:31
that's new since the last time we've updated it is this new variable called
45:36
propeller on line 76. It is initialized to be uh equal to 9. And the propeller
45:46
variable represents the digital pin 9 on the Arduino that we've hooked one of the
45:52
leads of the DC motor to. And we'll use this variable in code later to control
45:58
when to turn the DC motor on and off. So looking further in the code,
46:05
we've added a few new pin modes for these new variables that we created for
46:10
the left wing, rightwing, and propeller variables. We've initialized them to
46:16
each be an output. So both the left wing and rightwing variables represent the
46:22
solenoids. as we've mentioned before and uh they will be receiving output signals
46:29
from the Arduino to activate or to turn on when needed at pins seven and eight.
46:36
And the propeller variable that represents the DC motors propeller on its shaft will also be receiving output
46:42
signals from the Arduino to turn on when needed at pin 9. Looking further down in
46:50
the code on lines 94 through 96, we've created these new digital rights uh for
46:59
the left wing, rightwing, and propeller variables that we've created in this part of the build series. We've
47:06
initialized them all to be low because when we first run the code, we want we
47:12
don't want the wings or the solenoids to automatically be activated and start
47:18
moving soon as we turn on our circuit. And we also don't want the propeller on the DC motor to start spinning once we
47:26
turn the circuitry on. We only want this, we only want the solenoids and the
47:31
propeller to be on when motion is detected by the pier sensor. So that's
47:37
what this uh is for. So if we look inside the playal function farther down
47:44
into our code, we've updated that play al function that we created in one of
47:50
the previous coding sessions that we had for the Albot series. And here it says
47:57
that if you look inside the play al function, we can see the call to the
48:02
blink eyes function is made. We created this function ourselves back in part
48:08
three of the Albbot project in order to get the two red LEDs we installed on our
48:13
prototype circuit to blink when motion is detected by the pier sensor. So now let's go ahead and look inside those
48:20
blink the blink eyes function next. So the only reason why we're looking at
48:26
this uh play al function is because we see that in that function we created a
48:35
call to the blink eyes. So really I mentioned earlier that we made an update to this function play owl function but
48:43
we didn't we all we're doing right here is looking that previously we were
48:49
making a call to blink eyes function and we want to look at that specifically for this part of the build because we've
48:57
updated something in the blink eyes function. So we just want to remind you here that in the playal function when
49:05
it's called inside that function the blink eyes function is called and when
49:12
we go in code to the blink eyes function there's something new happening on in
49:18
here and this function contains a pair of four loops as we can see
49:25
here this whole section here this we have two for loops loops
49:31
here, one inside another that allows us to create the illusion of the Albbot
49:37
having blinking eyes. We can see that we've modified the second loop and that it now
49:45
has a local variable called current time initialized within the loop. We use this
49:52
to return the number of milliseconds passed since the Arduino board began
49:58
running the program. So you can see this variable
50:05
called current time here. It's initialized to millies. And
50:10
again, we're using this to return the number of milliseconds passed since the Arduino began running the current time.
50:19
Looking farther down into uh the explanation here, uh we see that
50:27
next we use the digital right function to turn both the left and right eye, the
50:34
two LEDs of the Elbot, then wait for an eighth of a second.
50:40
Whoops. So, if we look here, we see that there's a digital
50:45
right to left to the left eye and to the right eye. We're doing a digital right for them to
50:52
be high or turn them on and then there's a delay or we wait for an eighth of a
50:58
second. 125 milliseconds is equivalent equivalent to an eighth of a second.
51:05
Next, we see that two statements follow. The first if statement looks to see if
51:12
the difference of the current time and previous time two or pre time two is
51:18
greater than time interval 2. And if it is, then it's to call the spin propeller
51:24
function, which we'll see later is a function created to tell the Arduino to
51:30
turn the DC motor on to spin the propeller on the shaft of the DC motor.
51:35
So that's this part here, this if statement. If current time minus the
51:41
previous time two is greater than the time interval, then we want to call the spin
51:46
propeller function. These are all new uh variables that we've created here in the
51:52
in part five of the build series that we just discussed about. And we then set
51:57
the previous time equal to the current time to use again later when the blink
52:02
eyes function is called again. So that's this part here. We set the previous time
52:08
equal to the current time. Once we call the spin propeller function and that and
52:15
we exit that function, we set the previous time two to the current time. And then it goes on to say that the
52:22
second if statement looks to see if the difference of the current time and the previous
52:28
time one is greater than the time interval. And if it is, then it's to call the flap wings function, which
52:35
we'll see later is a function created to tell the Arduino to turn the solenoids on that will act as our mechanical
52:43
motion to flap the faux wings or fake wings we'll create for the plastic alig
52:48
we're using in a later part of the Albot project series. And we can see that if
52:55
statement here. And if this statement is true, then we call the flap wings
53:05
function. And then it says just as the previous if statement, we then set the
53:13
previous time one equal to the current time to use again later when the blink
53:18
eyes function is called again. So that's this part here. And then we see lastly
53:24
in the blink eyes function, we call the digital write function for each eye LED right here of the albot to turn off.
53:34
So that's these low signals here. We're wanting to turn both the left eye and
53:39
the right eye off. And then we want to wait or have a delay of an eighth of a
53:45
second or 125 milliseconds before the program leaves the second for loop.
53:53
as we can see here. So moving along now we want to look at the spin propeller
54:00
function and again the spin propeller function is called within this second
54:05
for loop in the blink eyes function and it's called if current time minus
54:11
previous time 2 is greater than time interval 2 then the spin propeller function is
54:18
called and the spin propeller function is called like I just said when the
54:24
blink eye in within the blink eyes function. And when it's called, its only job is to turn the DC motor high or on
54:32
followed by a quarter of a second delay. Then it turns the DC motor off or low
54:38
followed by another quarter second delay. As you can see in here, it turns
54:44
it on high or on. We wait 250 milliseconds or a quarter of a second.
54:50
Then we turn the propeller off or low. And then we wait another 250
54:56
milliseconds or a quarter of a second. And you can change these uh to whatever
55:01
you want. I just happen to choose 250 milliseconds. And then we want to take a
55:07
look at the the uh new flap wings function. And again that is called from
55:12
this second for loop within the blink eyes uh function. and it's called
55:18
if that current time minus the previous time one is greater than the time interval one then it's uh if that's true
55:26
if that statement is true then it calls the flap wings function and the flap wings function uh when it's called its
55:35
only job is to turn each solenoid on or high followed by 150 millisecond delay
55:43
then it turns each solenoid off or low followed by another 150 millisecond
55:49
delay. And you could see that here within the flat wings function. We turn the left and right wing on or high. We
55:57
wait 150 milliseconds. And then we turn the left and right wing off or low. And wait
56:04
another 150 milliseconds. So, that's pretty much all that we've
56:10
added or updated to the code since the last time we updated the code back in
56:15
part three of the Albot project build series. And again you can see uh the
56:22
entire uh code here from the the website or you can go
56:30
to our GitHub page by clicking here. And I'll I'll leave the links to uh our
56:36
website page for the code and to our GitHub page and in the links in the
56:43
description in this video below. So next, once we've got uh our code all
56:49
updated, we need to compile it and upload the code to our to our Arduino,
56:55
which means that we need to connect our our Arduino to our computer, compile it,
57:01
upload it, and then disconnect our Arduino. And then we're just want to
57:06
test and see what we've done. So we end up we ended up adding the solenoids to
57:12
our prototype of the Albot project. uh we add a DC motor to our propel with the
57:17
propeller to our prototype of the Albot project and we created the code, we
57:23
verified the code and we fixed any errors, we compiled and upload the code to Arduino and then we disconnect the
57:31
Arduino from our computer. And then once we've compiled it and uploaded the code
57:36
to the Arduino, uh then we can test and see if everything works. And next I'll
57:44
show you the working circuit that we have thus far,
57:49
this part five of the Albot project series. So let's take a look at our
57:54
prototype circuit working once we've already uh compiled and uploaded this
58:00
updated code here in part five. So let's look at that next.
58:50
That's pretty cool, huh? I mean, we've gotten pretty far uh so far in this
58:55
Albot project build series, and we're that much closer to getting our Albot
59:01
completely finished. I mean, we've only got a few more steps left and uh we're
59:07
we're getting pretty close to the finish line. So, I'm getting pretty excited
59:12
about that and I hope that you are, too. So, what's next for the Albot project
59:19
build series? So far, we've implemented motion sensing, sound, flashing LEDs,
59:27
and now we have mechanical motion with the use of a couple of solenoids and a DC motor. Now, we need to have a way to
59:34
control turning everything on and off, a master switch, if you will, for the
59:40
entire circuit. So, next, we'll need to add a switch for each power supply being
59:45
used for our circuit to be able to control the power to our circuitry. So, this is what we'll be doing in part six
59:53
of the Albot project. I don't know about you, but I'm having a whole lot of fun building this Albot. I mean, it's taking
1:00:00
a pretty good while. It's been several months in this project, but you know,
1:00:06
with the patience and and determination and the grit that we have performing
1:00:11
this project together, I know that we can finish it and it'll end up working. And uh hopefully we can get it working
1:00:18
pretty flawlessly. It's pretty exciting at this point. We've got all the stuff that we've wanted so far to work in our
1:00:26
project. So hopefully the rest of it will go pretty smooth for us. So I want
1:00:31
to thank you for participating in this project. I hope that you've enjoyed the build thus far and uh let us know what
1:00:39
you think. Just uh leave a comment and I'd like to hear from you. I' I'd really
1:00:44
like to hear from you if you're uh been building this project and been following along this whole build series. That'd be
1:00:52
really neat. So again, I want to thank you. I hope that you've enjoyed the
1:00:59
builds thus far and hope that you stick around for more. Remember to keep at it
1:01:04
and stay motivated. And until next time,
1:01:10
let's watch our accomplishments so
1:01:19
far. I'll see you next time. Take care.

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