Programming a maze door

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robotz
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Programming a maze door

Post by robotz »

I'm doing a project for the fair where I'm testing for jealousy in either hamsters, mice or rats (the school hasn't decided which they'd rather I work with). I did get approval from the districts' IRB and this is okay for the fair. My testing plan is to build a habitat where one group of animals will have access to an area that has exercise wheels, tasty food and a place to hang out. Other animals will be able to see into that area but not enter. The door to get in will be plastic probably, and controlled by a computer. I need help figuring out how to make the door open only for some animals and not all of them. I have the RFID reader from the blocking project. Can I use that somehow? My laptop computer can read the tags but how do I control the door from a laptop? Do I need to write a program, and how do i do that? Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.
robotz
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:48 am
Occupation: Student

Re: Programming a maze door

Post by robotz »

Our fair is in three weeks. Any ideas?
bfinio
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Re: Programming a maze door

Post by bfinio »

Hi Robotz,

I'm sorry that you never got a response on this. I would suggest looking into an "Arduino" It is a small, programmable computer board that you connected to a regular computer with a USB cable, and you can use it to control electrical and mechanical things like motors. We have an introduction on our site:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... uino.shtml

but there are lots of other tutorials online as well. SparkFun and Adafruit are two hobbyist electronics companies that have lots of their own tutorials:

https://www.sparkfun.com/

https://www.adafruit.com/

Unfortunately I will be away for one month starting Wednesday so will not be able to follow up in the forums. This will take some work on your part, googling for resources and maybe finding an adult mentor who is familiar with programming and electronics who can help you set it up.

Good luck!

Ben
robotz
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:48 am
Occupation: Student

Re: Programming a maze door

Post by robotz »

Thanks for answering so quickly Ben. I know an Arduino can control a servo but can it read my RFID reader? Should I let the laptop read the tags and then tell the Arduino to control the servos? I'll take your advice and look outside this forum. I hoped someone here knew something.
bfinio
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Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2013 2:41 pm
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Re: Programming a maze door

Post by bfinio »

Hi Robotz,

Honestly the best advice I have for anything Arduino-related is "google it." Odds are, if you can think of an Arduino project, somebody out there on the internet has already tried it and posted directions. The very first thing that comes up for "Arduino RFID" is this Adafruit product:

https://www.adafruit.com/products/789

So the short answer to "Can an Arduino read RFID tags" is "yes." I don't know the answer to "will it work with the specific RFID reader that I already have" - assuming you have this one from the project you mentioned:

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... 2007177_-1

Another option is to use a Raspberry Pi - a "single board computer" that runs Linux (so it can run a full operating system and run more than one program at once, unlike an Arduino which can only run one program at once); but unlike your laptop, it also has input and output pins like an Arduino, which makes it easier to control servos. If you haven't heard of Raspberry Pi before, let me know and I can provide more resources.
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