Book Image

DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists

By : Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz, Pedro Cesar Santana Mancilla
Book Image

DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists

By: Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz, Pedro Cesar Santana Mancilla

Overview of this book

We live in a world surrounded by electronic devices, and microcontrollers are the brains of these devices. Microcontroller programming is an essential skill in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), and this book helps you to get up to speed with it by working through projects for designing and developing embedded apps with microcontroller boards. DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists are filled with microcontroller programming C and C++ language constructs. You'll discover how to use the Blue Pill (containing a type of STM32 microcontroller) and Curiosity Nano (containing a type of PIC microcontroller) boards for executing your projects as PIC is a beginner-level board and STM-32 is an ARM Cortex-based board. Later, you'll explore the fundamentals of digital electronics and microcontroller board programming. The book uses examples such as measuring humidity and temperature in an environment to help you gain hands-on project experience. You'll build on your knowledge as you create IoT projects by applying more complex sensors. Finally, you'll find out how to plan for a microcontroller-based project and troubleshoot it. By the end of this book, you'll have developed a firm foundation in electronics and practical PIC and STM32 microcontroller programming and interfacing, adding valuable skills to your professional portfolio.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Chapter 14: COVID-19 20-Second Hand Washing Timer

This chapter describes a useful project where you will make a touchless timer by waving at an ultrasonic sensor. This timer will count the minimum time of 20 seconds recommended by health authorities for properly washing our hands for preventing contamination from viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 that produces COVID-19 symptoms. The project involves an inexpensive ultrasonic sensor that detects when a user waves at the sensor by measuring the distance between the user and the circuit, triggering the counting. This application must be enclosed in a waterproof container to avoid soaking the circuit while the user washes their hands and damaging it. We explain at the end of the chapter how to do this.

In this chapter, we will cover the following main topics:

  • Programming the counter (timer)
  • Showing the timer on an LCD
  • Connecting an ultrasonic sensor to the microcontroller board
  • Putting everything together – think...