Arduino Uno

By Paul Scanlon

Arduino Uno is a small microcomputer board that is taking hardware development by storm. Developed in Italy, it is now an Open Source hardware project that is being used in education, development and by hobbyists worldwide. If you have ever been interested in electronics and / or robotics (or if you have a child that is showing interest), then you should really have a close look at the Arduino Uno micro-controller.

The Arduino Uno board can be connected to various senors, enabling it to measure it's environment, and then interact by controlling electric motors, switching lights or by controlling many other devices – think robots, toys, coffee machines, ...

Perhaps the biggest hurdle to building electronic devices is getting your head around electronic engineering. Take apart a radio, computer or any thing electronic, and you are faced with very small components that have no obvious purpose. Pick up an electronics textbook and it can be even worse. Electronics is not easy and can take years to learn. This is where the Arduino Uno comes in.

Arduino Uno was designed to be accessible for non engineers, artists and hobbyists. It takes a lot (but not all) of the electronic engineering out of the process of making interactive devices, or art, or anything else.

Arduino Uno Micro Controller

Source: arduino.cc

What is the Arduino Uno?

The Arduino Uno is a small micro controller board, about the size of your hand. It can be bought as a kit, or pre-built and tested (about £25 or $30). As it is Open Source, or you can even download the circuit diagrams and make one yourself – but you would need a lot of experience to do this. There are a number of introductory kits available as well, which contain many of the additional parts, resistors, LEDs etc, that you will want to play with. If you have no experience with this sort of thing, then one of these kits is perhaps the best place to start.

The board itself, contains a small micro computer. Believe it or not, the single chip contains a CPU processor, memory and inputs and outputs – all in one. There is also a USB connecter and a battery plug point. Around the edges are the pins for connecting senors to. By itself, the board cannot do too much, but additional parts are relatively cheep and easy to get.

The Arduino Uno is an Open Source project, designed to make using electronics more intuitive. It does away with a lot of the barriers in using other types of micro controllers by producing a design for an easy all in one 'starting' point. To use an old term – it's plug and play.

How do you use the Arduino Uno?

To use the Arduino Uno, you need a pc (running Windows or Linux) or an Apple Mac, and download the free software environment. This is perhaps where it can get difficult. You do need to be able to write a program to control the board, but with a bit of practice, it's not too difficult. The language is called the Arduino Programming Language (based on Wired) – which has a similar feel to c++. Don't let that put you off! It will take a while to learn, but will open up new areas of fun and learning when you do. If you already know how to program, even in a different language, then you will be able to pick it up quickly.

Simple Arduino program to flash an LED on and off

#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
}

Once you have an LED flashing on and off, you will want to do more. Thanks to the Open Source community, there are plenty of projects you can have a go at. But you will need additional parts, and some experimentation. It's best to stick to simple things first, but you will soon find yourself moving onto bigger things.

There are add-on boards – call Sheilds – that can do almost anything. Some examples are:

LoL (Lots of LEDs) (Red) Shield for Arduino. If you want to have lots of flashing LEDs on your robot, then this is ideal. A bank of 9x14 red LEDs that can be used to display simple scrolling letters, or to indicate current conditions, or just to flash on and off.

Motor Shield for Arduino. You can't have a robot without motors moving it about. This shield contains all you need to connect small DC motors, servos and stepper motors. These can then be controlled with a programmed Arduino, to do whatever you want. There is a free program library to help you with this.

Sound Shield for Arduino. If you want to build a project that interacts by sound, then this shield of parts will help. It can play audio files that can be buzzers, alarms, police sirens, or even speech. Again, there is a down-loadable program library to help you.

But it doesn't stop there. As you get more experience, you can use some of the 'professional' electronic parts as well. This can include anything from GPS modules, accelerometers, temperature sensors, and infra-red distance sensors

Arduino Uno - Check it out.

The Arduino Uno is an amazing new development, that is easy and fun to use. If you have children who are inquisitive, then this might be an ideal present for them. It will challenge and grow as they gain experience and ability. For adults, it is a great way into the hobby of robotics and automating things. If your stuck for ideas, then have a look at these videos of what people are using it for.