The Star Wars Juke Box

Luckily, young students don’t need to understand imaginary numbers, semiconductor physics, and circuit theory to get started with electrical engineering projects! Companies like Arduino offer starter kits and many supporting resources that beginners can use to transform their ideas into physical circuits, even if they aren’t quite adept with the underlying mechanics.

To help express that to k-12 students, I created a presentation that explains the basic differences between hardware and software and how a single Arduino microcontroller can tie the two together. The presentation also shows how I took a basic piezo buzzer circuit to the next level by adding a button-controlled LCD menu that permits a user to select and play one of three famous Star Wars tunes (i.e., Main Theme, Imperial March, and Cantina Band). I hope my presentation will motivate local students to pursue their own creative projects for years to come!