2025 Class Calendar #
Phase 1: Circuit basics #
| Class | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 9/3 | Course overview, introductions, kit contents | Breadboard basics; power an LED with wall power | LEDs; Prototyping; Voltage and current | |
| 02 | 9/8 | Voltage, current, resistors, voltage dividers | Voltage dividers; Project 0 intro | Multimeters; Resistors; Series vs. parallel | |
| 03 | 9/10 | Voltage regulators, capacitors | Project 1 start; labs begin | Capacitors; Voltage regulators; Videos for P1 | Intro post on Canvas |
| 04 | 9/15 | Voltage regulators, Project 1 | Debug your voltage regulator; Soldering demo | Voltage regulators; Videos for P1; Adafruit soldering guide | |
| 05 | 9/17 | KiCad | KiCad demo | PCB design; Kicad resources | P1 proto |
| 06 | 9/22 | PCB design | KiCad Q & A | PCB design; KiCad demo videos |
Phase 2: Motors and transistors #
| Class | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07 | 9/24 | Transistors as switches | Make a switch with a BJT | Low power/high power | P1 PCB due Friday |
| 08 | 9/29 | Intro to P2 (game v1), DC motors, MOSFETs | Run a motor with a MOSFET | Motors | |
| 09 | 10/1 | Microcontrollers, CircuitPython | KB2040 set-up | KB2040 hardware; Microcontrollers; Solder pins to your KB2040 and bring to class | |
| 10 | 10/6 | Digital and analog I/O hardware | De-bugging challenge #1; KB2040 challenges set 1 | KB2040 programming; KB2040 challenges | |
| 11 | 10/8 | H-bridges | Start building an H-bridge | H-bridge motor driver; Intro and video for P3 | P2 (game v1) due Wed. in class |
| 10/13 | NO CLASS | (Indigenous People’s Day) | |||
| 12 | 10/15 | Intro to P3, More H-bridge details | More H-bridge work | ||
| 13 | 10/20 | Motor electrical power, detailed PCB design | Motor measurement; Run your H-bridge with your KB2040 | P3 proto | |
| 14 | 10/22 | Intro to P4, Motor mechanical power | More motor measurement; P1 PCB test | Solder components to your P1 PCB and bring to class | Soldered P1 PCB |
Phase 3: Microcontrollers and sensors #
| Class | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 10/27 | Motor modeling, PWM | P4 planning | P3 PCB | |
| 16 | 10/29 | Sensors, state machines intro | KB2040 challenges, set 2 | KB2040 challenges; KB2040 programming | |
| 17 | 11/3 | State machines, Stepper motors | KB2040 challenges, set 2 | KB2040 challenges; KB2040 programming | |
| 18 | 11/5 | Ethical quandaries, engineering, working in teams? | P4 work | ||
| 19 | 11/10 | Raspberry Pi intro | Booting the Raspberry Pi | Raspberry Pi programming; Raspberry Pi setup | |
| 20 | 11/12 | P4 reflection; Project 5 intro | P4 demo day | P4 |
Phase 4: Driving robots with operating systems #
| Class | Date | Class topics | Hands-on | What to study | What’s due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 11/17 | Raspberry Pi programming | Pi challenges | Raspberry Pi challenges | |
| 22 | 11/19 | Sensor amplification | Amplify a strain gauge | I2C sensors; Sensor amplification | |
| 23 | 11/24 | Oscilloscopes | Oscilloscope sim; P5 Q & A | P5 sensor amp due | |
| 11/26 | NO CLASS | (Thanksgiving) | |||
| 24 | 12/1 | How does the internet work? | P5 work time | Internet; Servers and clients | |
| 25 | 12/3 | P5 reflection | P5 demo day | P5 | |
| 26 | 12/8 | Career trajectories, P6 intro | P6 Q & A | ||
| 12/18 | 1:00pm - P6 demo option 1 | P6 showcase, 1:00pm | |||
| 12/18 | 2:00pm - P6 demo option 2 | P6 showcase, 2:00pm | |||
| 12/18 | 3:30pm - P6 demo option 3 | P6 showcase, 3:00pm |
Lab Calendar #
| Lab # | Lab dates | Lab focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9/10-9/14 | Voltage divider & voltage regulator circuits |
| 2 | 9/17-9/21 | Troubleshoot P1 circuits, start to learn KiCad, and practice soldering |
| 3 | 9/24-9/28 | KiCad tips & tricks, and solder your KB2040 pins |
| 4 | 10/1-10/5 | Control a motor with transistors, P2 help |
| 5 | 10/8-10/12 | KB2040 challenges set 1 |
| 6 | 10/15-10/19 | Solder your P1 PCB (Monday lab students can attend other labs, flex labs, or office hours) |
| 7 | 10/22-10/26 | H-bridges, P3 help |
| 8 | 10/29-11/2 | KB2040 challenges set 2 |
| 9 | 11/5-11/9 | P4 help |
| 10 | 11/12-11/16 | Sensor amplifier |
| 11 | 11/19-11/23 | Raspberry Pi set-up and challenges |
| 11/26-11/30 | No labs (Thanksgiving week) | |
| 12/3-12/7 | Labs shift to drop-in help sessions open to all |