Make: Robotic Arms

8 Make: Robotic Arms

as light or sound waves we see in nature—like the

waveform we see above (Figure

1-8

).

Here, we see that the values we’re measuring have

a range of values. If our signal was a voltage coming

from something like a light sensor and it gave a

range of 0 volts (V) to 5 V, we could measure the

varying levels of light hitting the sensor with much

higher accuracy than with a simple digital signal—

which would, however, tell us only if a light was on or

off, and not exactly how much light the sensor was

absorbing. Then should we use analog signals only

as inputs? Not exactly.

For example, let’s look at a simple push-button,

which is ...