A Brief Introduction to the Arduino
:http://www.flickr.com/photos/remkovandokkum/2667608562/in/set-72157606159601535/
For Christmas, I got an Arduino. Well, really I got two coffee pots. Identical ones. So I returned one of them to Amazon, and used the refund to buy an Arduino starter kit. It’s a neat device, with a ton of potential. Here’s why.
Ok, so what is it?
The Arduino is an open, hackable microcontroller, designed to be easy to program and easy to build things with. Simply put: the ultimate hacker toy.
For about $40 (or less, if you want to buy all the parts and build it yourself), you can have a device that you can program from any computer with a USB port, and that is capable of interfacing with the outside world. It doesn’t require any special training in electronics, and is ideal for experimentation. You can add an amazing array of sensors and add-on boards to allow you to do just about anything you can imagine, from reading the temperature to getting GPS coordinates.
Did I mention you can program it in Ruby?
What can you do with it?
Pretty much anything you want. You can start by making an LED blink - this is the hardware equivalent to “Hello, world”. Beyond that, the basic board comes with an array of inputs and outputs that you can connect up to all sorts of things: temperature and light sensors, motors, GPS modules. You name it, you can build it.
Here’s a quick rundown of a few things people have used these for.
This is only a fraction of what’s out there. An impressive community has sprung up around these little guys, and there is no shortage of cool projects documented on the web.
If you want to see the Arduino in action, check out Greg Borenstein’s presentation from RubyConf on programming the Arduino with Ruby, in which he demos an Arduino-based drum machine (literally, a machine that plays a drum with chopstics) as well as a board that uses windshield washer fluid pumps to mix screwdrivers. It’s one of the most entertaining talks I’ve seen.
Summary
In summary, if you’ve ever wanted to play with hardware, the Arduino is the place to start. It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and endlessly customizable. I’ve had mine a week and it’s been great fun so far.
Links
- liquidware open source electronics A provider of Arduino boards and addon boards
- Tutorials A collection of tutorials from the official Arduino site
- RAD - Ruby Arduino Development A tool to let you build Arduino apps uusing Ruby
- Adafruit Industries Another provider of Arduino boards as well as other electronic paraphernalia.
- LadyAda This site is run by Limor, proprieter of Adafruit Industries and contains a lot of tutorials on the Arduino and electronics in general.
- SparkFun Provider of Arduino boards plus an array of other kits and projects.
- Arduino Starter Kit This is the kit I bought. It includes everything you need to get started - even a USB cable.
Do you have an Arduino? Built anything cool with it? If so, share in the comments.
Photo by Remko Van Dokkum - Some Rights Reserved