Detector Building

Detector Building is a Division C event for the 2020 season. It was a featured trial event at the 2019 National Tournament, and was also run at various 2019 state tournaments including North Carolina, Texas, and Florida. In this event, students are required to build a sensor or detector that fits the parameters outlined in the rules.

The Event
In the 2019 season, participants are required to build a temperature sensing device that accurately measures and displays temperatures from 0 C to 100 C using a microcontroller board such as an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi. Teams are also required to submit a Design Log including a picture or schematic, a practice log with a minimum of 10 trials, an equation modeling the data, and an explanation of the device's programming. All items must be impounded, with the exception of tools. The sensing device is tested at four different stations, where it must measure the temperature of the water and display the temperature zone using colored LED indicators. The device may be connected to a laptop, but it must withstand the temperatures it could possibly be subjected to.

A test is also given at the event over the theories behind it. The test has 10-15 questions, and is used as a tiebreaker. Questions can be about electricity (voltage, resistance, etc.), how an LED works, calibration, or construction parameters. The test questions can be answered at any time during the event.

Microcontrollers
Microcontrollers are small computers that run a specified program on an integrated circuit. Manufacturers have the option of mounting microcontrollers onto a circuit board connecting to an ordinary computer, which can read data from the microcontroller and write a program to the microcontroller. This lets users control the microcontroller from their laptop or desktop computer, allowing ease of coding. Some examples of microcontroller boards are TI Innovator, Raspberry Pi, and Arduino.

Arduino

 * See also: Amazing Mechatronics § Arduino

Arduino is a family of microcontroller boards that run open source Arduino software and are approved by the Arduino S.r.l. company. Arduino code is written in syntax based on the C language.

The Arduino can transmit data to an output on your computer known as the serial monitor. You'll be able to use the serial monitor to read data from the Arduino, and this may help at debugging code in the early stages of the process.

The Arduino has both digital pins and analog pins, as well as pins that are neither. Analog and digital pins may be input (to read data) or output (acting as a source of current). Digital pins are all-or-nothing pins: they may be, where they have an output of 5 volts (3.3 volts on some Arduino models), or  , where they serve as ground (0 volts). However, they cannot be set to intermediate voltage values between  and. Analog pins too can also be used to source current, but unlike digital pins, analog pins can acquire a range of voltage values between 0 V and 5 V.



Pins that are neither digital nor analog include the 5 V and ground pins. The Arduino references its voltage measurements relative to the ground pin, which acts as 0 V.

Electricity can break an Arduino. If more than 40 milliamps of current travel through a pin, the Arduino may reboot or the pin may "burnt out," leaving it permanently disabled.

Useful commands
- initializes the serial monitor, with data transferred from the Arduino to your laptop at a rate of 9600 bits per second

- prints  onto the serial monitor

Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is a microcomputer that runs the Raspbian operating system, which is derived from Linux. In this way, it is more versatile than many other microcontroller systems. For instance, Raspberry Pi can link directly to an HDMI-enabled monitor as well as keyboard and mouse. However, the Raspberry Pi must be fed large amounts of electricity to sustain its powerful processing, and it is therefore susceptible to overheating. A fan may be installed to cool the Pi down. (Because the Pi processors overheat rather than the wires, overheating and fanning have negligible impact on temperature sensing.)

Raspberry Pi requires socket-type wires in order for you to connect it to other electrical components.

Scoring
The team with the highest Total Score wins. A team's score is based off of how accurate their device is and whether or not they have a complete design log, as well as a test about a team's knowledge of electricity and detector construction. A complete Design Log gives 28 points. 60 points total are possible based on how accurate the sensor is when displaying the temperature at all four stations (15 points per station). If the detector turns on LEDs of the correct color at a station, 5 more points are awarded, or at most 20 points for all four stations. A 10-15 question test is worth 30 points. Prior to the 2019-20 season, the written test was only used to break ties.