The Picaxe Microprocessor

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The Picaxe Microprocessor

• What is it???

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• Well, first a large company called Microchip
  Technology inc. created a Programmable Interface
  Controller (PIC). A pic is essentially a computer
  built into a single chip.
• This PIC was designed to be used in thousands of
  products such as televisions, calculators,
  microwaves, computers, watches, dish washers,
  washing machines, telephones, and so on
• Millions of pics were and are being made.

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• But the limitation of the blank pic was that it
  had to be programmed by skilled engineers in a
  difficult to understand language. Also, an
  expensive programmer was required to program each
  chip.
• For a company designing consumer electronics,
  this was not too much of a hindrance as only one
  complex program had to be written per batch of
  electronic goods, and only one programmer could
  program thousands of chips on a production line.

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• Then along came Revolution Education, a UK
  company, funded by gas and oil giants.
• Revolution Education wrote a program that could
  be called an operating system, just like Windows
  on your PC.
• This made the pic much easier to program.
  Revolution Education also created an easy to use
  programming editor, which used the programming
  language known as Basic to program the pic.

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• Now students can program the Picaxe processor
  very easily, and use it for many applications
  such as

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• Controlling hobby servos to make things move/walk

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• Controlling single digits

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• Controlling multiple digits

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• Controlling motors

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• Sensing light levels

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• Displaying info on LCD screens

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• Model washing machines

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• Range sensors (distance)

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• Temperature sensors

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• Speech modules

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• Robot arms

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• Even colour sensors

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• And the internet

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• Micro-switches and motors

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• Data logging boards

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• Infra-Red remote controls

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• See excel for product comparison

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• We have been working on an ASISTM grant with 5
  secondary schools.
• La Trobe Secondary, Diamond Valley College, Lalor
  North Secondary, Peter Lalor Secondary, and
  Essendon Keilor College.
• As part of the grant, students start out with a
  universal project board The UniBoard
• After building and programming the UniBoard,
  students are then open to build and design their
  own unique projects.
• These projects can be ANYTHING to do with
  electronics, mechatronics, Picaxe chips and
  science!!

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• One such project could be
• Releasing a Picaxe powered weather balloon to the
  stratosphere

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• The onboard picaxe could log the temperature,
  light level, atmospheric pressure, humidity.
• It could also control a camera to take photos of
  Melbourne

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• Other projects could be
• A giant LED clock/thermometer just like the Nylex
  clock in the city
• An external weather monitor
• An alarm system
• The list goes on

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• Now it is your turn to program the picaxe
  processor
• We will start off by blinking a few LEDs.
• You will see the UniBoard in front of you. There
  are three onboard LEDS. Red, Yellow and Green.
• Each LED is connected to an output pin.
• Red pin 0
• Yellow pin 1
• Green pin 2

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• We can use the high and low commands to turn
  the LEDs on and off.
• See what this program does
• Main
• High 1
• Pause 1000
• Low 1
• Pause 1000
• Goto main

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• Now lets use the play command to play a tune
• Main
• Play 0,1
• Pause 1000
• Goto main

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• Now lets write a program for a stop light
• Remember
• red 0
• Yellow 1
• Green 2

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• Main
• High 0
• Wait 30
• Low 0
• High 2
• Wait 30
• Low 2
• High 1
• Wait 3
• low 1
• Goto main

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• Thank you!
• More info is at
• www.apmp.com.au