ADM Activity 2.2.3

Sensor Monitoring & Automated Response

Use external sensor data to monitor conditions, detect abnormal states, and trigger warnings or automatic responses.

Your lesson guide

Objective

Work toward the lesson goal: Sensor Monitoring & Automated Response. Use the directions and success criteria in the activity below.

Materials

For the online work: a browser and your engineering notebook. Follow the activity’s materials list for any physical build, and get teacher approval before using equipment.

Plan your time

Suggested work block: 45–60 minutes. Physical builds and projects may span several classes; follow your teacher’s schedule.

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Learning Targets

By the end of this lesson

  • Use sensor data to establish normal and abnormal conditions.
  • Program automated responses to threshold or state changes.
  • Use the Signal Tower to communicate machine status.
  • Verify physical actuator position with an independent sensor.
Equipment & Systems

What you will use

  • VEX CTE Workcell
  • Sound sensor
  • Tilt sensor
  • Flex sensor
  • Signal Tower
  • Pneumatic cylinder
Student Workflow

What You Will Do

  1. Monitor sound while the conveyors run and establish a high-sound threshold.
  2. Program the workcell to stop and communicate an alarm when the threshold is exceeded.
  3. Complete an assigned secondary application such as tilt monitoring or flex-sensor piston verification.
  4. Test both normal and abnormal conditions and document the system response.
Programming Focus

How coding supports the lesson

Continuously sample sensor values, evaluate them with conditionals, and trigger a clearly defined response such as stopping motors, flashing the Signal Tower, or reporting an alert.

What You Will Submit

What You Submit

  • Sensor threshold / state data
  • Final commented monitoring program
  • Normal and abnormal test evidence
  • Brief sensor-data report

Build your lesson report

Checkpoint: is your evidence ready?
  • Check calculations, units, labels, and measurements against the activity requirements.
  • Record what actually happened, including unexpected results.
  • Explain what you changed and why; attach required drawings, photos, CAD, or code in your classroom assignment.

Sensor threshold / state data Final commented monitoring program Normal and abnormal test evidence

A PDF download is not a submission. Review it, then upload it and any required attachments through your classroom assignment system.