Choosing a Control System
to Design and Make

 

In this section we will begin by looking at two situations where school control projects have been designed and made so they can automatically monitor and care for something or someone.

After completing the activities further down the page, you should be able to think of your own ideas for useful projects to design and make.

Example 1

Automatic Desktop
Cooling Fan

Who Benefits?

Grown ups (and younger people) by keeping them cool and therefore more comfortable when working.

Example 2

Soil Dryness Indicator


What
Benefits?

Plants and flowers
that could die if left
in soil that was too dry.


Activities

1, To help you choose a useful control project to design and make, copy and paste all of the items from the left hand side of the table below into a Word document.

Category

Control System Aims

People

Keep them comfortable

Toddlers or young children

Assist with their special needs

Teenagers

Keep healthy

Grown-ups

Keep them operating or working

Things

Prevent damage/spoiling

Products that are moved about

Prevent losing/misplacing

Products that remain fixed

Avoid accidents

Environment

Make tasks easier

Man made world - urban/towns

Keep/make them safer

Natural world rural/countryside

Keep them cleaner

Plant life

Keep in the correct conditions

Resources

Keep fed and/or watered

Pollution

Assist with their learning

Animals

Develop a skill

Birds

Record an event

Wildlife

Save energy

Pets

Protect them

Protected species

Entertain them

2, Next to each of the items you have copied, pick statements from the column on the right that suggest how a control system could help them. You should try to add some of your own too.

An Example:

Category: People (Grown-ups)

Control System Aims: Keep them comfortable, assist those with special needs, keep healthy, avoid accidents, make tasks easier, protect, entertain, inform, assist learning/ develop a skill.

3, For the two control systems shown in examples 1 and 2 above, write down:-

a, Who/what would gain from using them?

b. Why these control systems would be useful?

c, Where and when they might be useful?

Choosing your own Project to
Design and Make

4, Try to think of three different control systems of your own. They should be useful and appeal to other people. Use the table above to help you do this along with your answers to questions 1 and 2.

Remember to ask yourself:

Who/What would gain from using them?

Why, Where and When would they be used?

 

-Words/Hints which may help you-

Off/On/Up/Down/In/Out/Bright/Dim/Visible/
Dry/Wet/Moving/Still/Illuminated/Hot/Warm/Cool/
Informed/Turning/Quiet/Noisy/Hidden/Clean/Wiped/
Open/
Closed/Noticed/Warned/Accessible/Available/
Rigid/
Locked/Touched/Unlocked/Sliding/Indicate/
Amused/Happy/Found