motors workshop page

website/src/pages/workshop/motors.mdx

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+---
+title: Movement with Strudel
+layout: ../../layouts/MainLayout.astro
+---
+
+import { MiniRepl } from '@src/docs/MiniRepl';
+import Box from '@components/Box.astro';
+import QA from '@components/QA';
+
+# Controlling motors with Strudel
+
+Strudel is mainly made for making music, but it's possible to pattern other things with it, including motors.
+
+We're going to use a microcontroller for this, called an "[Inventor 2040W](https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inventor-2040-w)", which is
+a [Pico W](https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inventor-2040-w?variant=40053063155795) with extra ports added including some for controlling motors.
+
+![image](https://shop.pimoroni.com/cdn/shop/products/Inventor2040_1of3_1500x1500_crop_center.jpg?v=1656927927)
+
+## Technical details
+
+Feel free to gloss over these!
+
+- The Inventor 2040W connects to the internet wirelessly, and it can power from a battery or USB. Hopefully the batteries last!
+- It's running [some code](https://github.com/patternclub/alpacalab/blob/main/course/main.py) that listens for messages using an "Internet of Things" network protocol (called MQTT). When it receives a message, it moves a motor.
+- It connects to a small server (running software called 'mosquitto') on Alex's laptop.
+- Strudel can send these messages instead of triggering sounds - that's how we use it to pattern movement.
+
+## First movement
+
+Let's get a motor running!
+
+1. Note the letter drawn on a label on the back of the microcontroller.
+
+2. Plug a battery into your microcontroller.
+
+3. Plug a motor into 'servo' (not motor) plug numbered 1, with the yellow (lightest) cable closest to the '1', and the brown (darkest) cable outward
+
+4. Run the below to set up some values, changing the `x` in 'robot('x')` to the letter on your microcontroller. 
+
+<MiniRepl
+  client:visible
+  tune={`
+   $: move("-60 80").motor("0").robot('x');
+  `}
+/>
+
+<Box>
+
+If you refresh the page, you'll need to change the letter to match your robot again.
+
+If your motor starts moving unexpectedly, someone else might have put your letter in by mistake!
+
+Note that in the above, we start counting motors from '0', so motor 1 on the board is motor 0 in the code.
+
+</Box>
+
+## Patterning movement
+
+Many strudel features for playing with sound patterns will work when
+playing with motor patterns. Try playing with the mininotation in the
+`move` command:
+
+<MiniRepl
+  client:visible
+  tune={`
+$: move("-10 0 10 [20 30]*2").motor("0").slow(2).robot('x')
+  `}
+/>
+
+The move instructions are in the range from -90 to 90.
+
+<box>
+  If your motors stop working at some point, and your code looks right, try pressing the 'reset' button on the
+  microcontroller.
+</box>
+
+It's possible to make smooth movements based on different 'waveforms', for example a smooth sinewave:
+
+<MiniRepl
+  client:visible
+  tune={`
+$: move(sine.range(-30, 30).segment(16)).motor("0").slow(2).robot('x');
+  `}
+/>
+
+The movement is still quite jerky, because the 'segment' command is
+only taking 16 positions from the sinewave. Try increasing it to 32 or 64. It's best not too much higher than that, as the microcontroller
+might get overwhelmed with a backlog of instructions!
+
+<box>
+  Try replacing `sine` with other waveforms: `saw` (sawtooth wave), `tri` (triangular wave) are good, and there is also
+  `rand` (random wave) and `perlin` (a kind of smoothed-out randomness).
+</box>
+
+## Patterning more than one motor
+
+You can pattern the `motor` command separately from the `move` one:
+
+<MiniRepl
+  client:visible
+  tune={`
+$: move("-10 0 10 [20 30]*2").motor("0 1").slow(2).robot('x');
+  `}
+/>
+
+Alternatively, you can pattern two motors in separate patterns. The below sends the same pattern for the first two motors, but with the second one running slower:
+
+<MiniRepl
+  client:visible
+  tune={`
+
+$: move("-10 0 10 [20 30]*2").motor("0").slow(2).robot('x');
+
+$: move("-10 0 10 [20 30]*2").motor("1").slow(3).robot('x');
+
+  `}
+/>
+
+