Sensors vs. Actuators: The Physical Computing Toolkit

Chapter: 1 — Computational Thinking and Debugging for Physical Computing

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About This Poster

A two-zone reference poster sorting eight components used throughout this book into sensors (input devices) and actuators (output devices) — the same catalog introduced in "The Vocabulary of Physical Computing."

How to Use

• Explore — click either column to see its components and what each one does.
• Quiz Me — test whether you can sort a component into the correct zone.
• Edit mode — open main.html?edit=true to drag the zone corner handles and calibrate boundaries once the poster image is generated.

Zones

1. Sensors (Input) — photoresistor, push button, time-of-flight distance sensor, camera module
2. Actuators (Output) — NeoPixel LED strip, servo motor, OLED display, small speaker