Storm chasers

Students are tasked with the project of completing a natural disaster monitoring project.

Creating an alert system

In the workshop students create a disaster alert system that tracks temperature, humidity, volume and light levels.

Circuit building

Students build a circuit that will trigger a specific LED sequence based on the type of natural disaster.

Workshop overview

Year level 10
Prior knowledgeStudents must have prior coding experience in Arduino or C/C++, and ideally have completed the Arduino: Blink Challenge or Arduino Cars of the Future. Experience of wiring a breadboard would be beneficial but is not essential.
Capacity 16-32 students. If you want to bring more students, email accelerators@qut.edu.au
When School days: Monday-Friday
Duration Full day
Where QUT Gardens Point, Science and Engineering Centre
Cost

Free (Late cancellation fees apply. Please refer to Terms and Conditions.)

Workshop details

In the face of an imminent natural disaster, Brisbane needs an early warning system. Students are challenged to build, program and troubleshoot a multi-sensor Arduino system to warn of impending disasters such as bush fires, storms or earthquakes.

Students are given a brief refresher on Arduino coding basics to create a blinking LED. They then construct and program their weather monitoring station using an Arduino microprocessor, breadboard and sensor shield, and program the sensors to display readings on an LCD screen, incorporating a potentiometer, with additional outputs for visual and auditory alarms.

This workshop will extend students who have completed the Blink challenge or Arduino Cars of the Future workshops, or have experience coding in C or C++

Topics covered in this workshop:

  • coding
  • electrical engineering
  • environmental science
  • technology.

Book this workshop

You can request a booking for this full-day workshop. You can also add a 30-minute interactive experience at The Cube to your visit.

All bookings are subject to availability of university spaces and presenters

Book workshops

Curriculum links

Digital Technologies

  • Develop techniques for acquiring, storing and validating quantitative and qualitative data from a range of sources, considering privacy and security requirements (ACTDIP036)
  • Design algorithms represented diagrammatically and in structured English and validate algorithms and programs through tracing and test cases (ACTDIP040)

Science

  • Select and use appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to collect and record data systematically and accurately (ACSIS200)
  • Analyse patterns and trends in data, including describing relationships between variables and identifying inconsistencies (ACSIS203)
  • Global systems, including the carbon cycle, rely on interactions involving the biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere (ACSSU189)