Paper Plane Launcher (Student Version)
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Description
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The Paper Plane Launcher is a fully automated self operated device that runs on the Raspberry Pi powered by a 6V battery. It is designed and constructed based on the engineering design process that is followed in the Coder-Maker program.


Materials Needed:
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	- Raspberry Pi with micro SD card and Raspbian 
	- One ultrasonic sensor
	- Two 6V simple DC motors
	- One 6V gear motor 10 rpm
	- 4*1.5V batteries
	- 2 CD’s 
	- 2 rubber wheels
	- IC 293D
	- Jumper wires
	- Resistors 300Ω or similar
	- Breadboard
	- Glue gun and glue sticks
	- Cutter blades or scissors
	- Thin sturdy cardboard (poster or portfolio cardboard)


Setup and Functionality:
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The paper plane launcher is a project that runs on Raspberry Pi and uses DC motors, an ultrasonic sensor, and a paper plane feeder to launch paper planes. 
It consists of two motors with circular compact discs that are installed on the motors axes. The motors rotate in opposite directions in order to ensure launching in a forward direction. The motors are placed on two sides of an inclined double-sided slide with has a clearance of two centimeters in-between. The paper plane is set at the beginning of the slide and is pushed towards the rotating CD’s with the action of the feeder. The feeder is a tiny vehicle with a slow moving gear motor that is activated by the action of an ultrasonic sensor installed on the side. It is activated when a paper plane is positioned in preparation for launching. 
When a paper plane is placed on the launching position, the sensor is triggered which in turn will get the launcher motors started. The feeder will start to push the paper plane after the launcher motors gain full speed. When the paper plane reaches the rotating CD’s, it will be launched.
The angle of inclination of the slide with the horizontal surface can be altered to experiment and calculate the effect of this angle on the projectile motion.

.. image:: _static/AirplaneLauncher/image2.jpg
   :align: center

*Figure 1: Shows diagram of the various components of the Launcher*

Circuitry and Electronics:
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The diagrams below show all the wiring and connections of all the components used in the paper plane launcher: 


.. image:: _static/AirplaneLauncher/image3.png
   :align: center

*Figure 2: shows the wiring and connections of all the components to the Raspberry Pi.*

.. image:: _static/AirplaneLauncher/image4.png
   :align: center

*Figure 2: shows the connections of the external power, the Raspberry Pi, and the components to the IC 293D.*


The function of the IC 293D is to allow the installation of an external power supply and to allow forward and backward movement of the motors. 



.. warning:: Proper attention should be given to the wiring of the IC293D. Make sure to follow the diagram above. In addition, changing the polarity of the battery will cause the current to reverse. This will lead to the overheating and damage of the IC. If this happens, the battery needs to be disconnected. Avoid touching the IC as it might cause skin burn. 



Programming 
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The paper plane launcher has been programmed using Python language. Below are two different scripts that lead to the same result. One uses functions and the other uses simple python language that does not include functions.

**Using Python functions:**

.. literalinclude:: ../examples/AirplaneLauncher/LauncherFunctions.py

**Python language with no functions:**

.. literalinclude:: ../examples/AirplaneLauncher/LauncherNoFunctions.py