81678 - Laboratory of Making

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course students will be able to design and create digitally enabled "things" consisting of single board computers, sensors and actuators. They will be also able to study and implements all the software components needed by their "things" to interface peripherals, to process data and to communicate/interoperate. Tools to create physical objects will be studied in this course as well, both additive and subtractive manifacturing methods. The students will learn how to implement innovative software for CNC-like machines (3D printers, CNC mills, laser cutters, etc). In this way a student can design physical and digitally enabled objects and tools from blueprint to prototype. Such "digital craft working" professionals can provide original solutions for both practical and artistic challenges. Subjects of the course will also be the design and development of teaching methods for computer Science based on Making, and Making as a problem solving paradigm.

Course contents

Module 1

• Introduction: Digital Artisans

• Electronics with passive components: electric current, intensity, potential, power, energy, Kirchhoff's laws, resistors, Ohm's laws, capacitors, inductors, transformers.

• Semiconductors: diodes, transistors

• Use of laboratory instruments: multimeter, oscilloscope, logic analyzer

• Digital Electronics

• Radio Waves

• FPGA and HDL: verilog, workbench/simulation

Module 2

The course contents include the following topics, ranging from electronics to computer science:

• Arduinos and microcontrollers

• Raspberry Pi e Systems-on-Chip

• Serial communication protocols (OneWire, I2C, SPI, UART)

• Engines and H-bridges

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

• VoIP telephone exchanges (Asterisk)

• Principles of 3D Printing

Readings/Bibliography

Lecture slides, teacher handouts.
“Electronics for Makers - Second Edition” by Paolo Aliverti, LSWR Editions

Teaching methods

Lectures in the classroom and/or in the lab, with the use of design materials. Depending on the number of students enrolled/attending, the use of simulators will be considered.

Given the type of activity and teaching methods adopted, attendance at this training activity requires all students to first participate in Modules 1 and 2 of the e-learning course on workplace safety [https://elearning-sicurezza.unibo.it/].

Assessment methods

Final Exam: Demo and discussion of an original making project created by the candidate or by groups of up to three people. The project requires submission of the code and all documentation necessary to reproduce the project in its entirety. Half of the evaluation will be based on the quality of the submitted material, the other half on its presentation and demonstration.

The evaluation parameters include, in addition to functionality, the originality of the project, the replicability of the prototype, the configurability,

Teaching tools

The teaching material will be accessible via Virtuale, starting from the professor's page.

Office hours

See the website of Renzo Davoli

See the website of