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What is Arduino?
Arduino. Chances are that you’ve heard this name before or
maybe if you have an interest in electronics you even own one. But if you have
no idea what Arduino is or if it’s the first time you’ve stumbled across this
name then read on! This article is especially for you!
Well, it all began in 2005 when a group of Italian researchers
were trying to figure out a way to teach electronics to students within a short
span of time. They decided that this device will have all the basics of a
microcontroller. A processor, a memory, input and output pins and also a power
supply but they wanted this to be faster than a microcontroller, easier to use
and understand and also cost less. This
is how the Arduino family took birth with the first prototype being released in
2005. As of today, atleast 3,00,000 Arduino Boards have been sold worldwide by
AdaFruit (the company that makes them)
This is how a basic Arduino board looks like
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH IT?
To be honest there are at least ten thousand different things
which Arduino is capable of doing. From blinking LEDs to designing Automated
Robots, with the right programming, an Arduino can do anything you want it to.
The sky is your limit. All thanks to the
huge variety of sensors it has onboard a wide range of applications are made
possible with the Arduino. From temperature controlled circuits to circuits
that react to gestures, anything is possible.
For example, this 8x8x8 LED cube
Or this tree
climbing robot
Or this Automated car-robot
What
makes Arduino so popular?
As stated earlier Arduino has a processor, a memory and all
the other things a basic low-level computer has. In addition to all this, it
has a set of input/output pins and a USB port. The reason for Arduino’s
popularity is due to the fact that unlike microcontrollers which work on
assembly level and BASIC like languages they can be programmed with languages
like C, C++ and JAVA. Unarguably, the three most well-known programming
languages in the world today.
The IDE required for programming Arduino is based on the Processing and Wiring projects developed at MIT. These are open-source projects
which means that anybody can contribute to them and they are free to download. And
also, they are very easy to understand.
Programming in Arduino can give you a rough idea of how Embedded
technology works and also introduce you to a little bit of Robotics. But ultimately, it is the ease with which
anyone can learn to use it which makes Arduino so popular.
How long
will it take for me to learn how to use an Arduino?
The answer depends on how much of programming you know and how
good your basics of electronics are. If you are good enough with C/C++ and
basic elements of programming like loops, conditional statements (if, if-else
etc) and a few basic syntax rules then programming an Arduino will be a breeze.
However, one also needs to have good basics in electronic as often Arduino will
have to be connected to other devices. Like motors, sensors, light-bulbs etc
and this ‘how to connect’ part requires you to know a few basics of electrical
circuits and properties of elements like transistors, driver-ICs etc. But don’t
worry, with the right amount of interest you can start blinking LEDs from
day-1. There are many tutorials on Youtube which teach you everything about the
Arduino.
Btw, this is how an LED blinking program looks like
#define LED_PIN 13
void setup() {
pinMode(LED_PIN,
OUTPUT); // Enable pin 13 for digital output
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(LED_PIN,
HIGH); // Turn on the LED
delay(1000); // Wait one second (1000
milliseconds)
digitalWrite(LED_PIN,
LOW); // Turn off the LED
delay(1000); // Wait one second
}
Hope this article gives you a fair idea of what an Arduino
board is and what it does!
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