Another fantastic Tinkercad PID project is a temperature regulator using a thermistor and a transistor-controlled heating resistor.
Let’s build the classic PID use case: controlling the angular position of a DC motor with a potentiometer as the setpoint.
For engineering students, hobbyists, and even seasoned makers, the phrase "PID control" often conjures images of complex differential equations, oscilloscopes, and expensive microcontroller hardware. However, a quiet revolution in simulation has made this intimidating topic accessible to anyone with a web browser and a free account. That tool is Tinkercad. tinkercad pid control
Tinkercad is widely known for its easy-to-use 3D design and basic circuit building. But beneath its colorful, block-based interface lies a surprisingly robust electronics simulator that can run real-time Arduino code—including fully functional PID control loops.
This article will guide you through the theory of PID, why you need it, and how to build, tune, and debug a PID controller inside Tinkercad Circuits. By the end, you will have a simulation of a temperature regulator or a motor positioner that you can export directly to physical hardware. Another fantastic Tinkercad PID project is a temperature
For a more sophisticated Tinkercad plant (e.g., position-controlled DC motor with inner speed loop), implement:
PID speedPID(1.2, 0.8, 0.05, -100, 100); // output = torque command PID posPID (0.5, 0.0, 0.1, -50, 50); // output = speed setpoint
void loop() float position = readEncoder(); float speedCmd = posPID.compute(position); speedPID.setpoint = speedCmd; float torque = speedPID.compute(readSpeed()); analogWrite(motorPin, constrain(torque + feedforward, 0, 255));Feedforward : Add (targetSpeed * 0
Feedforward: Add (targetSpeed * 0.75) directly to PWM to reduce integral burden.
// PID temperature control for Tinkercad simulation
#include <PID_v1.h>
const int sensorPin = A0;
const int pwmPin = 5;
double setpoint = 50.0; // target temp (°C)
double inputTemp; // measured temp
double outputPWM; // 0..255
// PID tuning
double Kp = 25.0;
double Ki = 0.8;
double Kd = 120.0;
PID myPID(&inputTemp, &outputPWM, &setpoint, Kp, Ki, Kd, DIRECT);
unsigned long lastMillis = 0;
const unsigned long sampleTime = 1000; // ms
// convert ADC to temperature for 10k NTC (simple approximation)
double adcToTemp(int adc)
double V = adc * (5.0 / 1023.0);
double Rfixed = 10000.0;
double Rntc = Rfixed * (5.0 / V - 1.0);
// Steinhart-Hart (approx constants for common 10k NTC)
const double A = 0.001129148;
const double B = 0.000234125;
const double C = 8.76741e-08;
double lnR = log(Rntc);
double invT = A + B*lnR + C*lnR*lnR*lnR;
double Tkelvin = 1.0 / invT;
return Tkelvin - 273.15;
void setup()
pinMode(pwmPin, OUTPUT);
analogWrite(pwmPin, 0);
myPID.SetOutputLimits(0, 255);
myPID.SetMode(AUTOMATIC);
Serial.begin(9600);
void loop()
if (millis() - lastMillis >= sampleTime)
lastMillis = millis();
int raw = analogRead(sensorPin);
inputTemp = adcToTemp(raw);
myPID.Compute();
analogWrite(pwmPin, (int)outputPWM);
Serial.print(millis()); Serial.print(",");
Serial.print(inputTemp); Serial.print(",");
Serial.println(outputPWM);
Problem: The motor is stuck at a limit (e.g., full PWM) but the error persists. The integral term grows huge. When the error changes sign, the integral keeps the output saturated, causing massive overshoot.
Solution in code (as shown above): Clamp the integral accumulation. Or, implement "conditional integration" (only integrate when the output is not saturated).