2024 Class Calendar #
Phase 1: Circuit Basics #
| Week | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9/4 | Course overview, introductions, kit contents | Breadboard basics; Power an LED with “wall” power | Prototyping; Voltage and current; LEDs | |
| 2 | 9/9 | Voltage, current, resistors, voltage dividers | Voltage dividers (Also: labs begin); Project 0 intro | Series vs. parallel; Resistors; Multimeters | |
| 9/11 | Voltage regulators, capacitors | Project 1 start | Capacitors; Voltage regulators; Videos for P1 | Intro post on Canvas | |
| 3 | 9/16 | Voltage regulators; Project 1 | Debug your voltage regulator; Soldering demo | Voltage regulators; Videos for P1; Adafruit soldering guide | |
| 9/18 | KiCad | KiCad demo | PCB design; Kicad resources | P1 proto | |
| 4 | 9/23 | PCB design | KiCad Q & A | PCB design; KiCad demo videos |
Phase 2: Motors and Transistors #
| Week | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/25 | Transistors as switches | Make a switch with a BJT | Low power/high power | P1 PCB due Friday | |
| 5 | 9/30 | Intro to P2 (game v1), DC motors, MOSFETs | Run a motor with a MOSFET | Motors | |
| 10/2 | Microcontrollers, CircuitPython | KB2040 set-up | Microcontrollers; KB2040 hardware; Solder pins to your KB2040 and bring to class | ||
| 6 | 10/7 | Digital and analog I/O hardware | De-bugging challenge #1; KB2040 challenges set 1 | KB2040 programming; KB2040 challenges | |
| 10/9 | H-bridges | Start building an H-bridge | H-bridge motor driver; Intro and video for P3 | P2 (game v1) due Wed. in class | |
| 7 | 10/14 | NO CLASS | (Indigenous People’s Day) | ||
| 10/16 | Intro to P3, More H-bridge details | More H-bridge work | |||
| 8 | 10/21 | Motor electrical power, detailed PCB design | Motor measurement; Run your H-bridge with your KB2040 | P3 proto | |
| 10/23 | Intro to P4, Motor mechanical power | More motor measurement; P1 PCB test | Solder components to your P1 PCB and bring to class | Soldered P1 PCB |
Phase 3: Sensors and Microcontrollers #
| Week | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 10/28 | Motor modeling, PWM | P4 planning | P3 PCB | |
| 10/30 | Sensors, state machines intro | KB2040 challenges, set 2 | KB2040 programming; KB2040 challenges | ||
| 10 | 11/4 | State machines, Stepper motors | KB2040 challenges, set 2 | KB2040 programming; KB2040 challenges | |
| 11/6 | Microcontrollers in greater depth | P4 work | I2C sensors | ||
| 11 | 11/11 | NO CLASS | (Veteran’s Day) | ||
| 11/12 | Raspberry Pi intro | Booting the Raspberry Pi | Raspberry Pi setup; Raspberry Pi programming | ||
| 11/13 | Raspberry Pi programming | Pi challenges | Raspberry Pi challenges |
Phase 4: Driving Robots with Operating Systems #
| Week | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 11/18 | P4 reflection; Project 5 intro | P4 demo day | P4 | |
| 11/20 | How does the internet work? | P5 planning | Internet | ||
| 13 | 11/25 | Oscilloscopes | Oscilloscope sim; P5 Q & A | Servers and clients | |
| 11/27 | NO CLASS | (Thanksgiving) | |||
| 14 | 12/2 | Pi challenges | P5 work time | ||
| 12/4 | P5 reflection | P5 demo day | P5 | ||
| 15 | 12/11 | Career trajectories, P6 intro | P6 Q & A | ||
| (16) | 12/17 | 3:30pm - P6 demo option 1* | P6 showcase, 3:30pm | ||
| (16) | 12/18 | 2:00pm - P6 demo option 2* | P6 showcase, 2:00pm | ||
| (16) | 12/18 | 3:30pm - P6 demo option 3* | P6 showcase, 3:30pm |
- All teams are welcome to demo their Project 6 at any of the demo sessions on 12/17 or 12/18. If you finish earlier, and you can find another team to demo with you, you can come to Nolop for an early demo on 12/13, 3pm or 12/16, 3pm.
Lab Calendar #
| Lab # | Lab dates | Lab focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9/19-9/22 | Voltage divider & voltage regulator circuits |
| 2 | 9/16-9/19 | Troubleshoot P1 circuits, start to learn KiCad, and practice soldering |
| 3 | 9/23-9/26 | KiCad tips & tricks, and solder your KB2040 pins |
| 4 | 9/30-10/3 | Control a motor with transistors, P2 help |
| 5 | 10/7-10/10 | KB2040 challenges set 1 |
| 6 | 10/15-10/17 | Solder your P1 PCB (Monday lab students can attend other labs or Friday help) |
| 10/21-10/24 | H-bridges, P3 help | |
| 7 | 10/28-10/31 | KB2040 challenges set 2 |
| 8 | 11/4-11/7 | P4 help |
| 9 | 11/11-11/14 | P4 help (Both Mon. and Tues. labs meet on Tues. 11/12) |
| 10 | 11/18-11/21 | Raspberry Pi set-up and challenges |
| 11/25-11/26 | No labs (Thanksgiving week) | |
| 12/2-12/10 | Labs shift to drop-in help sessions open to all |