Real Life Applications of Microcontroller

Microcontroller is a integrated circuit embedded within electronic devices which acts like small computer and are design for particular task. They are usually cheap, power-efficient, and can be used for various operations, from automation of home appliances to providing various features in vehicles. Today, microcontrollers are part of everyone’s life, as they are widely used for home appliances, vehicles, and various other electronics. In this article, we will learn about the various applications of microcontrollers.

What are Applications of Microcontroller in Daily Life

Microcontrollers are like cheap, small computers installed inside an electronics device. Some examples are Arduino and Raspberry Pi, which are single-board computers with simple designs and good input and output support. Some of the real life applications of microcontrollers are discussed below:

Consumer Electronics

There are huge amount of microcontrollers that are present in consumer electronics devices. Smartphones, tablets, TVs, gaming consoles and many more are running using microcontrollers. These microcontrollers handle various tasks, such as input handling, display output, power management, etc.

Home Appliances

All modern home appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, runs using microcontrollers to automate tasks and improve efficiency. For example, the refrigerator’s microcontroller monitors the temperature and adjust it to save energy. Microcontroller is also used in checking if the water tank is full and ring an alarm to switch off the motor and thus saves water.

Automobiles

Vehicles heavily depend on microcontrollers for engine control, safety systems, and various other information. The engine control unit (ECU) is an example of microcontroller which runs constantly and monitors and adjusts the engine for better performance and reduce fuel consumption.

Industrial Automation

Microcontrollers are widely used in industrial automation to control robots, assembly lines, and other machinery. They guarantees precise operation which may not be possible for humans. They required less handling and less maintenance thus having good production speed and quality.

Medical Devices

Medical devices such as pacemakers, insulin pumps and diagnostic equipment use microcontrollers for them to function perfectly as in medical uses there is a risk of life so, these microcontrollers are design to last longer and does it work efficiently. These microcontrollers precisely regulate the device’s function to make sure of the patient safety.

Safety Devices

Microcontrollers can be used to make safety devices such as fire alarms, gas leakage alarms, smoke alarms and security breaching alarms. Microcontrollers can continuously monitor various parameters such as temperature, pressure, humidity, gas levels, and voltage. If any parameter exceeds safe limits, the microcontroller can trigger an alarm or shutdown process to prevent accidents or damage.

Real Life Experiments using Microcontroller

As microcontroller functionality are increasing and the cost is less, you can use it for your personal projects or institutional projects. You can perform some of possible experiments which are mentioned below:

Custom LED

This can be a beginner project that helps to get hold of the basics of microcontroller tech and programming in microcontroller. Control an LED (light-emitting diode) using a microcontroller such as Arduino and write simple code to make it blink or change colors.

Temperature Sensor

You can use a microcontroller and a temperature sensor to build a device that measures and displays the surrounding temperature. This project requires interfacing the microcontroller with the sensor and writing code to read and process the sensor data.

Basic Robot

This will a more advanced project that any other but you get to learn about robotics and how interacting various sensors and actuators with microcontroller. You can start with a simple robot that moves around the house. You can uses sensors to detect objects in front of it and use the microcontroller to move the robot away from the object.

FAQs on Real Life Applications of Microcontroller

What are the advantages of using microcontrollers?

The advantage of Microcontrollers include low cost, less power consumption, compact size, and ability to do variety of tasks.

What tools are needed to work with microcontrollers?

To work with microcontrollers we need a microcontroller board, programing software, electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, sensors, actuators etc.

What are the limitations of microcontrollers?

Some of the limitations of microcontrollers are: complex programming, less no. of input and output support, and limited power, storage and memory.

What are the common uses of microcontrollers?

Microcontrollers are commonly used in ovens, fridge, TV, remotes etc.

What are some common examples of microcontrollers?

Some common examples of microcontrollers are Arduino, Raspberry Pi, PIC microcontroller etc.