[Robotgroup] MOTORtHrEAD

[Robert Carter]

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The nice thing about electronics is that physics is the final judge of
your choices.

You can get people to "vote" for various approaches, but even if all of
us voted for item "A" (placing a fuse in parallel with the motor
controller) that wouldn't make one whit of difference to the circuit.
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Hell yeah, that's my way of learning: forge ahead with crazy ideas,  
and learn from the consequences. If nothing else, you'll get some  
good stories. Like when my brother and his best friends discovered  
the formula for gunpowder and started a fireworks shop in the attic  
over our garage. But, when it comes to electronics, I have to admit,  
it gets expensive and time-consuming to have to keep running back to  
the store or to the internet for replacement parts when something  
explodes/melts/starts to smoke.

I keep hoping that someone will invent an interactive website for  
designing circuits, aimed for grade school students and/or middle- 
aged project addicts with more enthusiasm than sense (like yours  
truly). You could drag and drop motors of various amperage, LEDs,  
transistors, capacitors, etc. onto a virtual breadboard to create a  
circuit. If it works, you get the results in animation form: the  
motor spins, the lights blink, etc. Or conversely, if you design it  
badly, you can show the sparks and smoke as your components burn to a  
crisp. Fun, inexpensive, and no one gets hurt.

Usually when I think of something and it seems like a really good  
idea, something like it already exists. Does anyone know?



Robert Carter
Visual Resources Collection
School of Architecture
The University of Texas at Austin
rcarter at ischool.utexas.edu