Case study 5.0 ICT

Group: Panda

5.0 Case study

Q1.) How many different things did you count? What were they? In what ways might computers be used to control things in the supermarket?

A1.) Alarm clock, microwave, car, satellite navigation system, car park barrier, parking sensor, robots in the car making company, automatic door, freezer, conveyer belt, cash register. In the supermarket, computers can control various things from the doors until cash registers (security camera, freezers, conveyer belt, etc); this made things easier to control and less work for the staff there.

Q2.) Why is it useful to use computers rather than people to control things? What problems might there be if any of the computer systems fail in the supermarket?

A2.) Because computer can work better, faster, non-stop, and way more accurate than ourselves. If it fails then the ones controlled by the computer won’t work properly or won’t work at all. The situation might get out of control and this means extra work for cleaning and repairing for the staff. Although, computers are good at making things done in a short term but when it fails we have to cope with the consequences.

Q3.) Describe the inputs and outputs for the other devices that we have talked about so far. How do the supermarket doors and car park barriers know when to open? Identify other control systems that work automatically in this way.

A3.)  

Alarm Clock

Input- set-up the time

Output- the alarm ringing

Microwave

Input- set-up the time, for how long it should cook.

Output- the cooked food, ready to eat!

The supermarket doors know when to open when the sensor (ray of light) sense movement coming. Another example of this kind of control system is automatic hand dryer.

The car park barriers know when to open when you press the button or you swipe the entrance/exit card. Another example of this kind of control system is the vending machine.

Q4.) What would happen if the instructions were wrong? These instructions assume that the car is in the right place. What would happen if the car were not there? How could they stop this happening?

A4.)The robots will just follow the instructions without knowing it’s wrong or not. The windscreens will probably drop and break because the car isn’t there to place the windscreen. To stop this from happening it need the right instructions, like instructed to stop or put down where it was if there’s no car there so that no windscreen will be wasted.