ECE110 Introduction to Electronics, a professional course in Electrical Engineering of ZJUI, is co-taught by Professor Gehan Amaratunga, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and Assistant Professor Lin Yu of ZJUI. This course focuses on explaining measurement, modeling, and analytical methods for circuits and electronic devices, while broadly covering numerous related application areas and encompassing multiple sub-disciplinary topics in electrical and computer engineering.
With embedded lab sessions, the course ignites students' curiosity by enabling early exposure to electrical components and their real-world system applications. Through analytical and design exercises, students develop practical problem-solving skills. The capstone project challenges them to design and build DIY smart cars, encouraging creativity as they integrate theoretical knowledge with iterative experimentation.
Today, we are thrilled to welcome Liu Jiayang and Liu Ruimeng from the Class of 2024 in Computer Engineering of ZJUI, who will showcase their jaw-dropping smart car creation!
Equipped with advanced sensors and AI-driven navigation, their smart car autonomously tracks pre-programmed routes with pinpoint accuracy, effortlessly handling curves and intersections. Its light-sensitive system enables it to instinctively detect and speed toward light sources, demonstrating both technical sophistication and creative ingenuity.
01 An explosion of creativity
At the end of the semester, students from ECE110 tackled their final project–building a smart car. After intensive brainstorming, Liu Jiayang's team decided to create a fully autonomous vehicle. But how to design such a system? Questions flooded in: "How will it navigate?" "What path should it follow?" "How to determine direction?"
The inspiration-seeking journey was fraught with challenges. The team immersed themselves in real-world observations, discarding countless wild ideas before finally taking their first tentative steps. Their breakthrough came with the decision to integrate path-tracking and light-seeking capabilities, enabling the car to operate autonomously in complex environments.
To realize this vision, they applied professional knowledge to create a modular system:
Path-Tracking Navigation
Light-Sensitive Detection
H-bridge Motor Control
Buzzer Alarm System
Each module was meticulously designed to ensure seamless integration and reliable performance.
Among them, as the core guidance system, the Path-Tracking Navigation Module utilized specialized sensors to precisely identify pre-programmed tracks, ensuring stable movement along designated routes. The Light-Sensitive Detection Module served as the car’s visual system, and this module detected minute changes in ambient light intensity. It could trigger instantaneous responses to light variations, providing critical data for autonomous decision-making. The H-bridge Motor Control Module was responsible for power transmission, and this module integrated circuit design and energy management to regulate motor speed and direction with precision, ensuring reliable propulsion. The Buzzer Alarm System functioned as an early-warning guardian, and this module emitted audible alerts when anomalies were detected-such as deviation from the pre-set path or extreme light intensity fluctuations-prompting immediate operator intervention.
02 Circuit Construction: The 'Neural Network' of a Smart Car
With the overall plan finalized, Liu Jiayang’s team immediately dedicated themselves fully to circuit construction. To implement the path-tracking function, they selected infrared sensors, mounting them on the car’s underside. This configuration allowed the sensors to detect black-and-white lines on the ground, thereby guiding the vehicle along the pre-set path.
To achieve precise light intensity detection, the smart car employed high-sensitivity photoresistors-critical components that endowed it with exceptional light perception capabilities. Even the slightest environmental darkening trend triggered an immediate response from the fast-acting photoresistors, activating a meticulously designed simple circuit. This circuit collaborated seamlessly with the high-efficiency H-bridge to precisely control the car’s instantaneous smooth reversal. Concurrently, a high-decibel buzzer emitted a clear alert, delivering a powerful warning of abnormal light conditions.
The entire Light Perception and Response System operated in perfect harmony, enabling the car to operate reliably in complex lighting environments and demonstrating robust environmental adaptability.
▲ Circuit construction process
However, with infrared sensors and photoresistors generating two concurrent input signals, how does the smart car integrate and process these distinct inputs to ensure smooth operation and seamless navigation?
After extensive brainstorming and iterative trials, Liu Jiayang’s team ultimately designed a logic circuit using a microcontroller. By carefully programming its logical rules, they enabled the chip to intelligently identify and integrate signals from both infrared sensors and photoresistors, overcoming this technical challenge. However, since these components output only analog signals, the car required analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) capabilities to accurately interpret commands like light-blocking and path-tracking. To address this critical need, the team installed an Arduino development board and wrote custom firmware to implement ADC functionality. Through this combination of software programming and hardware integration, the team successfully created a sophisticated signal processing and decision-making system-akin to a "neural network"–that empowered the smart car with autonomous operational intelligence.
03 Mechanical Assembly: Bringing the Smart Car to Life
After successfully completing the critical phase of circuit construction, the project moved forward to the mechanical assembly stage. Liu Jiayang's team was well aware that the quality of mechanical assembly and material selection would be crucial to the car's overall performance and operational stability. After careful consideration and material screening, they chose a lightweight plastic with sufficient strength for the car's shell. This material not only reduced the car's overall load effectively—helping improve its running speed—but also offered excellent plasticity, allowing them to carefully shape the shell according to aerodynamic principles and minimize air resistance. Additionally, they selected wheels with excellent wear resistance and strong grip to ensure the car could drive smoothly on different ground conditions, whether on a smooth tabletop or a slightly rough laboratory floor.
However, the team’s first post-assembly test didn’t go as smoothly as anticipated. The car frequently deviated from its pre-programmed path during the path-tracking process, with performance falling short of expectations. Liu Jiayang’s team realized that in engineering, details could make or break the project-even minor issues could significantly impact the final outcome.
Under the patient guidance of their lab instructor, the team first adjusted the position of the photosensitive sensors, then optimized the connections in the H-bridge circuit, and even redesigned parts of the mechanical structure. After intensive efforts, the smart car finally operated as expected. As it smoothly navigated the track and triggered a clear alert sound when encountering light-blocking conditions, the team members were filled with a profound sense of accomplishment.
Team’s Sharing
Reflecting on the entire journey of building the smart car, we are filled with a flood of emotions. It all began with a simple spark of an idea, igniting a journey intertwined with challenges and joy. Initially, we were rookies with no prior experience, approaching the complex task of circuit construction with nervousness and excitement. Like meticulous artisans, we carefully placed every wire and component, painstakingly constructing the car’s 'neural network' to endow it with acute sensitivity and precise signal transmission capabilities.
During mechanical assembly, we focused intently on aligning each part with surgical precision, aiming to create a sturdy 'skeleton' that would ensure operational stability. The subsequent debugging phase proved to be an arduous and protracted battle. We endured round after round of trials and repeated failures, yet never entertained the thought of giving up. Instead, we continuously refined our approach through iterative learning. Gradually, the car began to exhibit 'signs of life,' responding to our commands with increasing reliability.
Finally, through the unwavering collaborative efforts of the team members, the smart car successfully "came to life." At that moment, all the sweat and toil invested earlier transformed into overwhelming feelings of accomplishment and joy.
This invaluable experience not only significantly enhanced our hands-on practical skills but also deepened our appreciation for the transformative power of teamwork. Throughout the process, team members leveraged their unique strengths and took on specialized roles while maintaining seamless collaboration. Every suggestion and effort converged into a collective driving force that propelled the project forward, empowering us to overcome challenges fearlessly and ultimately celebrate the joy of success.
At ZJUI, every course and experiment serve as opportunities for honing students’ capabilities to tackle engineering challenges and solve real-world problems. Through the ECE110, students skillfully applied interdisciplinary theoretical knowledge to practical projects, building smart cars on their own. From constructing the framework to installing components, every step felt like solving complex puzzles fraught with difficulties and constant challenges. Yet, through iterative experimentation and refinement, students deepened their understanding and mastery of the knowledge. This invaluable experience has laid a solid foundation for their future engineering careers, empowering them to take confident and resolute strides forward!
