Microcontrollers & Embedded Systems

🎯 What you’ll learn

• A computer on one chip
• Microcontroller vs computer
• Where they hide in gadgets

🎬 Animated demo

Open a washing machine and find its tiny brain.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Gadget teardown (old toy, with an adult)
• Microcontroller spotting list

🎯 What you’ll learn

• CPU, RAM and flash memory
• Clock speed
• What pins do

🎬 Animated demo

Zoom into the chip to see its CPU, memory and pins.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Label a chip diagram
• Pin map poster

🎯 What you’ll learn

• HIGH and LOW
• Buttons and LEDs
• Pull-up and pull-down

🎬 Animated demo

Press a button and see a pin switch from LOW to HIGH.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Button-controlled LED
• Reaction-time game

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Values between 0 and max
• How ADC converts voltage to numbers
• Reading sensors and knobs

🎬 Animated demo

Turn a knob and watch the ADC number climb.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Knob-controlled bar graph
• Light meter

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Fast on/off switching
• Duty cycle
• Dimming and motor speed

🎬 Animated demo

Slide the duty cycle and watch brightness change.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• LED fader
• Motor speed controller

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Blocking delays
• Timers that run in the background
• Doing two things at once

🎬 Animated demo

Two LEDs blink at different speeds at the same time.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Two-speed blinker
• Stopwatch

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Chips talking to chips
• Wires and addresses
• Serial monitor

🎬 Animated demo

Bits travel along wires between the board and a sensor.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Serial chat with your computer
• I2C sensor reader

🎯 What you’ll learn

• LEDs, 7-segment, LCD and OLED
• Showing text and numbers
• Simple graphics

🎬 Animated demo

Text and numbers appear on an OLED screen.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Digital clock display
• Sensor readout screen

🎯 What you’ll learn

• 3.3 V vs 5 V
• Regulators and batteries
• Protecting pins

🎬 Animated demo

See why a 5 V signal can hurt a 3.3 V pin.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Battery-powered gadget
• Power budget sheet

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Comparing popular boards
• WiFi and Bluetooth on ESP32
• Choosing the right board

🎬 Animated demo

Compare boards side by side — pins, speed and radios.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Board comparison chart
• Pick-a-board quiz

🎯 What you’ll learn

• What firmware is
• Compiling and flashing
• Updates over WiFi

🎬 Animated demo

Code is compiled and flashed onto the chip.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Upload your first firmware
• Version update demo

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Plan a product
• Inputs, brain, outputs and power
• Test and package

🎬 Animated demo

A complete gadget boots up and does its job.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Digital dice
• Smart desk clock (final project)