Invention Stimulator

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Invention Stimulator minimum teaching maximum
learning
inventionstimulator isnt rocket science
but it may inspire a rocket scientist
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What is inventionstimulator?

• science thats 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 !
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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 !
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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.
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Heres the science bit.....
Sound output
General input
On-off switch
Output 0
The actual MCU
Battery input
Output 1
On-board LED
USB cable input
General output
Run program switch
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So what can I do with it?

• 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!
just add imagination !
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Interacting with the environment
The level one kit includes all of these different
sensors, which you attach to eitherthe Sensor
input or the Motor or Output sockets of the
MCU card
Light
Orientation (which way up)
Heat
Infrared
Bi-directional LED
Fan
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Lets 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 its OK do nothing, but if its too high
• sound an alarm and flash a light!

what will you invent ?
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Lets tell the MCU to do something
A red light flashes in a smoke alarm to show its
working. Its an MCU thats telling it to flash!
Heres how.....
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Heres the way to talk to the MCU
Its very easy to use
Heres where the MCU starts to work
And heres where it stops
And you just drag instructions from here
And drop them here
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Lets make the light come on
Not hard was it?
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Lets learn about LOOPS
A loop is like a big circle which you run around
as many times as you want
LOOP
And run this way
Pick up a sweet
Start here
End here
If you want more than 2 sweets just run around
the loop again
And keep running
Keep running
This is how we tell the MCU to do things more
than once
Pick up another sweet
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Some more about LOOPS
MCU - LOOP
And run this way
Turn on the light
Start here
End here
Run around once and the light flashes once
Keep running
And keep running
Run around ten times and the light flashes 10
times!
Turn off the light
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And heres how we tell the MCU to loop
Its so easy!
Set how many times the loop should run
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Back to the flashing light.
Start Loop - ten times
Turn light on (LEDLight 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
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Looping the loop
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
And thats it!
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Send the instructions to the MCU
Attach USB cable (supplied) between the computer
and MCU card
And click Download
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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
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Lets see if it works
Disconnect the USB cable and connect a 9 volt
battery
Now youre ready!
Push the start button
Youve done it!
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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
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Lets invent!
Well tell the MCU to use a light sensor to see
if its light or dark. If its 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
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Lets Invent!
This time, we want the loop to run for ever, so,
its 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 its on) and Jump back to the
start of the Loop
If the sensor is on (is sensing that its
dark), then turn on the Motor
End the loop and go back to the beginning
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Moto Forward and Backward
This light is called a Bi-directional LED
It sounds complicated, but its 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
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Send the instructions to the MCU
Make sure that youve 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
Heres the MCU language!
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Lets see if it works
Hold your hand over the light sensor
And the Green Light Comes On!
Youve done it!
What will you invent next?
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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
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SUBs
Click on New Sub
And give the Sub a name
Click OK
A red programme line appears
And you drag and drop commands here as normal
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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
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SUBs
Drag and drop the Sub icon
Choose the Sub from the drop down list
And thats 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
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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
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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
RE
MI
FA
SO
LA
TI
This will play a musical scale, with each note
lasting one second
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Lets 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
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Lets 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
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Lets invent!
Start at midnight
Lets 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
And thats it!
End of day
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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
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Inventions change the way we live for the better
What will YOU invent?
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Contact Us
You can find us on the Internet
www.inventionstimulator.com
You can email us
info_at_inventionstimulator.com
You can call us
UK 44 (0)208 123 9806 CANADA
1 (0)403 668 9911 UAE 971 (0) 56
102 6710 CHINA 86 (0) 756 860 3529
We look forward to hearing from you!