Studyledge

Automated Systems, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence: Question 1

Syllabus 6.1

Multiple choice 1 mark

An arcade in a shopping centre has a claw machine that lets a customer try to grab a prize from a pile of soft toys.

The machine works as follows: when a customer inserts a coin, a sensor detects the coin passing through the coin slot and sends this information onward. The next component checks this signal against the value stored for "one credit", and if it matches, it sends a signal that starts the motor turning the claw's controls and begins a 10-second timer for the customer's turn.

Which component of this automated system checks the signal against the stored value and sends the signal that starts the motor?

Choose an answer to check it, then compare with the worked solution below.
Show worked solution Hide worked solution

Worked solution

Step 1: Recall the roles in an automated system

An automated system is built from three main types of component working together:

  • A sensor detects a condition or change (an input), such as a coin passing through a slot.
  • A microprocessor receives this input, compares it to a value or rule stored in its memory, and decides what should happen.
  • An actuator carries out the physical action once it has been instructed to do so, for example a motor moving a mechanism.

Step 2: Match the description to a component

The question describes a component that “checks this signal against the value stored… and sends a signal that starts the motor”. Detecting the coin was already the sensor’s job (described separately, earlier in the scenario). Checking a signal against a stored value and then deciding to send an instruction onward is the microprocessor’s role. It is the part of the system that compares and decides, sitting between the sensor and the actuator.

Step 3: Why the other options are wrong

  • A (Sensor): the sensor only detects the coin; it does not compare that reading to a stored value or decide what to do next.
  • C (Actuator): the actuator (the motor) only carries out the decision once instructed. It does not do the comparing or deciding itself.
  • D (Output device): this is not one of the three components used to describe an automated system; the correct term for the part that acts on an instruction is the actuator.

Final answer

  • The component described is the microprocessor, option B.