Writing back out to the physical world — motors, light and sound driven by code
22 March 2027
Last week the microcontroller read the world; this week it acts on it. Motors, servos, LEDs and small speakers turn a computed decision back into physical motion, light or sound — the second half of a round trip that starts with a sensor and ends with an effect.
Outline#
- driving a motor or servo from code, and why power supply is its own problem
- combining a sensor from last week with an actuator this week: a minimal input-to-output loop
- what happens when the loop runs continuously rather than once — a preview of the bridging week
- studio time: get a sensor-to-actuator loop running on your own board
Teaching team
- Idris Fenn — tutor