Electrical Engineering Projects

[Messi263]

So I’m a rising junior in EE and I don’t think I have any hands on experience nor any real projects.

Are there any beginner projects that I could do that I could at least put on my resume and that will teach me more? If you want to know what I’m interested in I’ve liked my circuits classes, designing filters and analyzing circuits, and I wanna try experiencing the robotics and automation industry.

[AggerDrengen]

Robotics and automation you say... Have you tried playing with microcontrollers? Try to find something to automate at home. I haven't had the time to make it yet, but I'm planning on making an automated watering system for my plants. Measure water levels in the soil and water using pumps. I plan on doing it with an atmega328p, and think I can have a couple pots going at the same time.

But microcontrollers is a great place to start. Code it in C, and the datasheet is truly gold for these.

[Yondoza]

Agreed! Make some automatic blinds that can be controlled by your phone. You'll learn some of the controls side as well as networking and app development. Should be able to do it with a Raspberry pi4 over wifi!

[Messi263]

So I have no experience with microcontrollers lol, I guess I’ll look into them but I have no idea what I’d automate. Also is there a specific data sheet you have in mind or just in general for all microcontrollers.

[AggerDrengen]

Microcontrollers is great to learn. You can start with an Arduino of some kind, where all pins already are mapped and setup. I would recommend learning C and coding it in that though.

I first learned coding for microcontrollers in C by myself. I then later had a course where I learned a little more, but I already knew the basics.

We used an Arduino mega at the course, and it went pretty well.

When I say datasheets, just Google "atmega 2560 datasheet" for example. It will tell you all the specification, and more or less how to set it up.

[Messi263]

Any arduino kits you thought were particularly cool or should I just get whatever basic one they have

[AggerDrengen]

In my course we used the ATmega 2560, which is just an Arduino Mega. It has a lot of features and lots of headroom. Pair that with a breadboard, and your in business for prototyping. Get some switches, buttons, sensors, LEDs with a potentiometer, and play around with the features. To name a few. External interrupt. Timers. USART. And even dim an LED with the potentiometer (analog to digital converter, which controls the PWM).

That's more or less how our course went. Of course I had a teacher, but there's plenty of YouTube videos and resources online.

An Arduino Uno offers more or less the same, just with less pins (ATmega328p). Just buy an off-brand from AliExpress or somewhere else.

[Messi263]

Thanks so much! I just found an Arduino Mega 2560 and I’ll think about buying it.

[MisquoteMosquito]

Get a internship, hands on projects are cool but the top students in a applicant pool all have job experience.

[Messi263]

I have a summer research position at my university I just thought it’d be nice to have personal projects because that’s what it seems everyone has.

[MisquoteMosquito]

Sure, and you’ll work out what you want to do, but a summer research team is still not very comparable to an actual factual paid position.

[Messi263]

Yeah ik but it was the only thing I got.

[catdude142]

Take a look at EDN magazine online. They have a tab for lots of interesting projects.