New Year Countdown

Saiansha Chavari, an eighth grader passionate about electronics, proudly presented her project "Fast Forward," designed to simulate how acceleration and braking work in a motor system. Using an Arduino board, Saiansha assembled a circuit with real components: a spinning motor, an LCD screen to display speeds, LEDs to show the motor’s status, push buttons for acceleration and braking, a potentiometer to adjust max speed, and a battery for power.

The heart of her setup was the intuitive control method. By turning the potentiometer’s knob, Saiansha could set the maximum speed limit for the motor. Holding down the acceleration button gently increased the motor’s speed up to this limit, visualized by the spinning motor’s increasing speed and real-time numbers on the LCD. Releasing the button let the motor gradually slow down, mimicking natural deceleration. Pressing the brake button immediately brought the motor to a halt, and the red LED came on to show it had stopped, while the green LED glowed whenever the motor was running.

Saiansha’s code cleverly mapped the analog input from the potentiometer to define the speed range and used PWM signals to control the motor speed smoothly. She included functions that handled speeding up, slowing down, and stopping, each with small delays to prevent sudden jerks. The LCD display showed current speed and set max speed clearly, helping users see the effects of their inputs in real-time.

To demonstrate, Saiansha ran the circuit on Tinkercad and live simulation. Slowly adjusting the potentiometer changed the max speed, while pressing buttons controlled the motor accordingly. The LEDs illuminated accurately, and the LCD updated seamlessly.

This project beautifully combined coding skills with hardware control, providing an engaging interactive experience that brought the concept of acceleration and braking to life. Saiansha’s clear explanation and thorough demo impressed everyone, showcasing her growing expertise and creativity in electronics and programming.