Have you ever wondered how the traffic lights at the end of your street actually work? They aren’t just on timers; they are controlled by small computers. Today, we’re going to build and code our own traffic light system using a free online tool called Tinkercad . The best part? You don’t need to buy any expensive equipment. You can build the whole thing virtually on your computer. What is Tinkercad? Tinkercad is a free, web-based tool from Autodesk. While many people use it for 3D design, it also has a "Circuits" section where you can drag and drop electronic components—like batteries, LEDs, and micro-computers—to see if they work before building them in real life. The Project: The Micro:bit Traffic Light In this project, we use a BBC micro:bit (a pocket-sized computer) to control three lights: Red, Orange, and Green. To make this work, we connect the micro:bit to a "breadboard" (a plug-and-play board for electronics) or can get away with just wiring them togther ...
Robots and getting computers to work with the physical world is fun; this blog looks at my own personal experimenting and building in this area.