Applications and appliances in everyday lives have a lot of intricate and basic science and technology uses, that we hardly even realise on a daily basis. From the attendance ID card detector at your workplace or college to the touch screens on your smartphone, everything has some amount of sensors equipped with it, requiring a proper circuit on a breadboard.

Here are some sensor-based projects that beginners can do:

1.Car parking sensor:

The parking sensors that we have in cars today are programmed on a simple breadboard and a sensor. Some sensors also calculate the distances between the obstacle and the car to tell you how close you are to hitting the object and show by means of a sound. There can also be another way to indicate the obstacle. For example, the sensors measure the distance the sensor is from an object or obstacle and it will emit an LED from blue to red as the object is within range and closer to the target area. The sensor is an ultrasonic sensor which can be used to measure the distance of an object from a certain position. The sensor emits ultrasonic waves which are reflected back by the object. The time taken by the waves to travel back and forth is calculated and multiplied with a velocity of sound to get the distance measurement.

Things you need: Breadboard, an ultrasonic ranger, two LEDs, buzzer and RGB LCD Display.

2.Maze solving robot:

Maze solver robot involves developing the program and logic that will make the robot solve the maze by itself. It portrays one of the important ways in which we can train the machines to achieve a complicated task on their own.

Things you need: Arduino UNO, motor driver, geared DC motors, IR sensor modules.

3.Temperature sensor:

The digital temperature sensor interfaced to the 8051 microcontrollers is used for sensing the temperature conditions. By using four push buttons of this circuit we can adjust the temperature settings. If the temperature exceeds a preset value then the load is turned off automatically and if the temperature falls below a set value, then the load, which is the lamp, is turned on automatically.

Things you need: Microcontroller, breadboard, temperature sensor, lamp.

4.Metal Detector Robotic Vehicle:

A metal detector robotic vehicle is designed to detect metals. They can also be used to detect land mines. Land mines are unstable devices that are placed under the ground and it is very dangerous to detect those manually using metal detectors. Here, a metal detector is embedded in the robotic circuit and it is controlled by using radio frequency communication.

At the transmitter end, to provide required motion to the robot, the number of push buttons is interfaced to the microcontroller. When any button is pressed, then the command is sent to the microcontroller which sends a binary data to the button. The encoder converts parallel data to serial data and this command is transmitted using RF module. At the receiver end, this command is decoded by the decoder and the microcontroller gives relevant signals to the motor driver to drive the motors so that the robot moves in the desired motion. A metal detector is embedded in the circuit that detects any metal and using buzzer it gives an indication.

Things you need: Transmitter, receiver, microcontroller.

5.Automatic Door Opening System:

This can be implemented for opening the door automatically by detecting the human body temperature. But, the simple projects can be used to operate these doors automatically using a PIR sensor as shown in the figure below. The infrared radiation emitted from a human body is detected by a passive infrared sensor or the PIR sensor of an automatic door opening system project. This PIR sensor generates a sensing signal after detecting infrared energy emitted from the human body. This signal is fed to the 8051 microcontrollers which are interfaced to the door motor through motor driver IC. Thus, if any, human body comes near to the sensing area of the PIR sensor, automatic door system, then the door gets opened and closes automatically after a fixed time delay.

Things you need: Temperature sensor, PIR, sensor, microcontroller.

6.Bluetooth controlled robot using Android mobile:

For this project, it required for the Android mobile user has to install an application on her/his mobile. Then the user needs to turn on the Bluetooth in the mobile.   can use various commands like move forward, reverse, stop move left, move right. These commands are sent from the android mobile to the Bluetooth receiver. The Android-based robot has a Bluetooth receiver unit which receives the commands and gives it to the microcontroller circuit to control the motors. The microcontroller then transmits the signal to the motor driver IC’s to operate the motors. Robots can also be made so that they can be controlled by Bluetooth. They would be small in size and can also be deployed to spying and surveillance, by attaching a camera to it. With few additions and modifications, this robot can be used in the borders for detecting and disposing of hidden land mines.

Things you need: Android mobile, Bluetooth receiver unit, 8051 microcontrollers, LCD Display, motor driver, DC motors.

7.Home security system:

Home security system project consists of an IR transmitter and receiver module which works for the safety of doors at night or in case we are out of the home. When the IR sensors are interrupted, a buzzer is turned on indicating someone is entered into the house. It has an LPG gas sensor. It is provided to detect LPG gas leakage. A buzzer is turned on when gas is detected by the sensor. It also serves the functionality of a door-latch opening using a password entered through the keypad. A serial port is used to send the data from all modules to a computer. This project can be used to implement other related modules like fire sensor and wind sensor.

Things you need: Transmitter, receiver, gas sensor, computer.

8.Moisture sensor:

Most soil moisture sensors are designed to estimate soil volumetric water content based on the dielectric constant of the soil. The dielectric constant can be thought of as the soil’s ability to transmit electricity. The dielectric constant of soil increases as the water content of the soil increases. This response is due to the fact that the dielectric constant of water is much larger than the other soil components, including air. Thus, the measurement of the dielectric constant gives a predictable estimation of water content.

Things you need: Breadboard, Arduino UNO, soil moisturiser sensor.