Circuit Playground Sunflower Looking for Light @MSMakeCode #CircuitPlaygroundExpress
Via Hackster.io, this flower reads light brightness levels. When the level dips below a threshold, a servo moves the flower in search of a bright spot.
The heart of this electronic sunflower is an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express board. It has a built in light sensor. When the flower is in darkness, it uses a servo motor to pivot until it finds a position with a high enough brightness value.
I thought this would be a fun activity to do with a class, library group, or at home. First, you construct a sunflower out of popsicle sticks and construction paper. During the steps you are waiting for the glue to dry, you can work on the code in Microsoft MakeCode.
Read more here and see the video below. Are you using Circuit Playground Express? Post in the comments below & let us know!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
