Area 07
Automation
Machines that follow rules on their own
Automation lets machines work by themselves: a sensor notices something, a rule decides, a motor or a lamp acts. Visual programming blocks make these rules easy to build.
What you will learn
- How sensors measure light, distance, temperature or touch
- How to write rules with visual blocks: if, then, repeat
- What feedback is, and why it keeps systems steady
- How to test a program and find bugs
Example experiments
-
Make a lamp switch on automatically when it gets dark.
-
Program a conveyor belt that stops when a box arrives.
-
Keep a virtual greenhouse at the right temperature.
Things you can build
-
An automatic night light
-
A sorting conveyor
-
A plant-watering controller
These examples show the kind of work in this area. The published lessons may differ.
Try a small model
These small models run right here in your browser and keep working offline once the page has loaded. They are simplified teaching models, not the MEKALUMI simulation engine.
Logic gate
Switch the inputs on and off, then choose a gate. The lamp shows the output.
- Output
- Lamp off (0)
AND: the lamp lights only when A and B are both 1.
| A | B | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
Logic gates follow exact rules, so this model behaves like real digital logic.
What the simulation simplifies
- Virtual sensors give clean readings; real sensors are noisy and sometimes fail.
- Timing in a simulation can differ from timing on real hardware.
Every simulation simplifies reality. Knowing how it does so is part of learning engineering.
Links to school subjects
Computer science, mathematics (logic), physics, agriculture and industry
Connections to other areas
Automation brings digital logic and circuits together and leads to robotics.
Good to know
A simple thermostat is an automatic controller: it switches heating on and off to keep the temperature steady.