“Which Arduino Board Should I choose ?”
Short Answer: Start With Arduino UNO…

Keywords: Selecting an Arduino, Which Arduino Should I Buy? , Which Arduino do you need ?, Comparison of Arduino Boards

Arduino is, a great robotic microcontroller platform for anyone interested in robots and robotics projects. One of the best things about it is that it’s undergoing constant innovation. There lots of different Arduino boardswhich you can use as your robot controller on the market, so you can find the perfect hardware for any kind of project you’re working on.

Unfortunately, that same huge selection of Arduino boards can make it hard for a beginner to get started with the platform.”Which Arduino Board Should I choose ?”  is the main question. On the official site alone, there are almost 20  Arduino boards listed, and there are dozens more unofficial boards for sale on other sites. Picking the one that’s exactly what you need is HARD—especially if you’re not familiar with the terms used to describe the various microcontrollers and boards.

To help make the process a little easier, we are going to look at the most common Arduino boards on the market right now, and we will explain how to distinguish between them.

3 BROAD WAYS to Differentiate the Various Arduino Boards:

A – Processing Capabilities : The first is to look at the board’s processing capabilities — the microcontroller’s memory, clockspeed, and bandwidth. The processing hardware is generally entirely determined by which microcontroller chip the board uses, and constrains what kinds of software can run on that board.

B- Feature Set: The second way to differentiate between the boards is their feature set. This includes all the stuff on the board other than the microcontroller, such as input and output pins, built-in hardware like Buttons and LEDs, and the interfaces available on the board (USB, Ethernet, etc).

C- Form Factor: Finally, because Arduino is meant to be built into physical projects, form factor is very important. Arduino comes a variety of shapes and sizes.

Now Let’s look at the boards you’re most likely to want to use in your project (as of Now 2013).  We’ll examine the distinguishing characteristics and features of each Arduino Board model.

1-ARDUINO UNO

 Best for Beginners 

• Processor: ATmega328 (8-bit CPU, 16MHz clock speed, 2KB SRAM, 32KB flash storage)
• Features: 14 digital I/O pins, 6 analog input pins, removable microcontroller
• Form Factor: 2.7” x 2.1” (6,8 cm x 5,3 cm )rectangle
• Price: Around $30

The Arduino Uno is the most “standard” Arduino board currently on the market, and is probably the best choice for beginners just getting started with the platform. The board is compatible with more shields (add-on boards) than other models. Additionally, the ATmega328 microcontroller can be removed from its socket and replaced for as little as $6, in case you break it somehow.

The Uno’s main limitation is the ATmega328 chip, which doesn’t have a lot of SRAM or flash memory. That limits the kinds of programs you can load on the chip—if your project involves a display or otherwise needs to store and use any form of images or audio data, 2KB of memory probably isn’t going to be enough.

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2-  ARDUINO LEONARDO

Slight Upgrade to the UNO, Built in USB 

• Processor: ATmega32u4 (8-bit CPU, 16MHz clock speed, 2.5KB SRAM, 32KB flash storage)
• Features: 20 digital I/O pins, 12 of which can be used as analog inputs, native USB support
• Form Factor: 2.7” x 2.1” (6,8 cm x 5,3 cm) rectangle
• Price: Around $25

The Leonardo is, essentially, a slight upgrade to the Uno. It looks a lot like the Uno, but it features a soldered-on ATmega32u4 microprocessor with a tiny bit more memory. The main advantage of the AtMega32u4 isn’t the extra SRAM, though, it’s the chip’s built-in USB compatibility. This allows the Leonardo to interface with a PC, which sees it as a generic mouse or keyboard. It also features a few extra analog input pins.

Most impressively? The Leonardo is actually cheaper than the Uno, at $25. Before you start hammering that “add to shopping cart” button, note that the general impression around the web seems to be that the Leonardo still has a few bugs that need ironing out, and isn’t quite as beginner friendly as the Uno. For builders already familiar with Arduino, this is the better deal.

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3- ARDUINO DUE

For More Complicated Projects

• Processor: Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 (32 bit CPU, 84MHz clock speed, 96KB SRAM, 512KB flash storage)
• Features: 54 digital I/O pins, 12 analog input pins, 2 analog output pins, native USB port
• Form factor: 4” x 2.1” (10 cm x 5,3 cm)  rectangle
• Price: Around $50

One of the newest Arduino boards, the Due is the heavy-hitter of the family, packing a 32-bit ARM processor that handily outclasses any of the processors found in other Arduino boards. The DUE is primarily for more complicated projects that can make use of its muscular processor, or that need more I/O pins than are found on the smaller Arduino boards. That said, the Due is substantially bigger and more expensive than the Uno or Leonardo, so consider whether you really need the extra power before making a purchase.

One drawback to the Due is that it operates at 3.3 volts, which is different than the 5 volts that most other Arduino boards operate at. That limits the add-on hardware that’s compatible with the Arduino Due—if an add-on board tries to send a 5 volt signal to the Due’s I/O pins, it could damage the microcontroller. If you need a powerful Arduino board that still operates at 5 volts, you can look at the $58 Arduino Mega 2560, but for the most purposes that board is outperformed by the cheaper DUE.

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4- ARDUINO MICRO

Small form factor, Leonardo Performance

• Processor: ATmega32u4 (8-bit CPU, 16MHz clock speed, 2.5KB SRAM, 32KB flash storage)
• Features: 20 digital I/O pins, 12 of which can be used as analog inputs, native USB support
• Form Factor: 1.9” x 0.7” (4,8cm x  1,78 cm )rectangle
• Price: $27

For projects where size matters, there are a number of miniaturized boards to consider, including the Micro, Nano and Mini (and that’s just on the official Arduino site!). For most builders, the best choice is going to be the Arduino Micro, a new board that includes all of the power and functionality of a full-sized Arduino Leonardo board in a much smaller form factor.

Due to the small form factor, the Arduino Micro won’t work with many add-on boards, but it is designed to easily slot into a breadboard, for faster prototyping.

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5- LILYPAD ARDUINO

For Flexible Fabric-Based Projects

• Processor: ATmega328 (8-bit CPU, 16MHz clock speed, 2KB SRAM, 32KB flash storage)
• Features: 14 digital I/O pins, 6 analog input pins
• Form Factor: 2” diameter circle
• Price: $22

The LilyPad is an Arduino board specifically designed for wearable devices. Its circular shape and standoff-less I/O pins are designed to make it easy to sew the LilyPad into fabric-based projects.

The hardware on a standard LilyPad board is basically the same as on and Arduino Uno. There are a number of other LilyPad options available as well, including the are a number of LilyPad boards available, including the LilyPad Arduino USB, which feature’s the Leonardo’s ATmega32u4 chip, the LilyPad Arduino Simple, which has fewer I/O connections than the basic model, and the LilyPad Arduino SimpleSnap, which can be snapped into and out of projects, so they can be safely washed.

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6- ARDUINO ESPLORA

for Special Needs

• Processor: ATmega32u4 (8-bit CPU, 16MHz clock speed, 2.5KB SRAM, 32KB flash storage)
• Features: Lots of built-in input and output hardware
• Form Factor: 6.5” x 2.4” oval
• Price: $60

The Esplora is an Arduino board (based on the Leonardo hardware) that comes with a whole bunch of I/O hardware soldered directly to the board. On the input side you get a joystick, four buttons, a linear potentiometer (slider), a microphone, a light sensor, a temperature sensor and a three-axis accelerometer. For outputs, you get a buzzer, an RGB led, and a TFT display connector to attach a LCD screen (not included).

The tradeoff is that you do not get the standard set of digital and analog I/O pins, which allow you to wire up all sorts of hardware to your Arduino board. That sharply limits the kinds of projects you can make. The Arduino Esplora is best for people who want to learn to use the Arduino software to write programs that have access to a basic toolbox of I/O sources, without having to worry about the electronics side of things.

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7- ARDUINO YUN

Linux-based system-on-a chip

• Processor: ATmega32u4 (8-bit CPU, 16MHz clock speed, 2.5KB SRAM, 32KB flash storage), Atheros AR9331 system on a chip
• Features: Wi-fi enabled Linux based system on a chip, 14 digital analog I/O pins, 12 of which can be used as analog inputs. Native USB.
• Form Factor: ~2.7” x 2.1” rectangle
• Price: $65, available at the end of June

The Yun is an attempt to make it easier to connect to cloud-based services from the Arduino platform. Typically, the low-bandwidth, low-memory microcontrollers have a hard time handling the verbose protocols used to access those services—to get around this limitation, the Yun features a separate Linux-based system-on-a chip on the motherboard. The Linux system takes care of the networking tasks, while you can use the ATmega32u4 like a standard Arduino Leonardo.

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8- ARDUINO ROBOT

 To  build your own, custom Robot

• Processor: 2 x ATmega32u4 (8-bit CPU, 16MHz clock speed, 2.5KB SRAM, 32KB flash storage)
• Features: Wheels, 8 analogue input pins,6 digital I/O pins, LCD screen
• Form Factor: Two 7.5” diameter circles
• Price: $275, on sale online at the end of July.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the Arduino Robot is an Arduino board that’s also a little robot. It’s actually composed of two separate boards (a control board and a motor board) that each feature the Leonardo’s ATmega32u4 processor. The bottom board has a pair of wheels, space for 4 batteries, and infrared sensors. The top board has an LCD screen, 4 buttons, a speaker, a compass chip and some LEDs.

Though it’s designed with room to add your own custom hardware, the Arduino Robot is still more preconfigured than most Arduino boards. If you want to build your own, custom robot, you’ll have a lot more flexibility using an Uno or a Leonardo, along with a motor control shield and whatever motors, servos and actuators you want to use.

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TECHNICAL DATA TABLE of Arduino Boards 

 ARDUINO BOARDS COMPARE

Glossary of Arduino and Microcontroller Terms:

uC (Microcontroller): The microcontroller is the heart (or, more appropriately, the brain) of the Arduino board. The Arduino development board is based on AVR microcontrollers of different types, each of which have different functions and features.

Input Voltage: This is the suggested input voltage range for the board. The board may be rated for a slightly higher maximum voltage but this is the safe operating range. A handy thing to keep in mind is that many of the Li-Po batteries that we carry are 3.7V meaning that any board with an input voltage including 3.7V can be powered directly from one of our Li-Po battery packs.

System Voltage: This is the system voltage of the board, i.e. the voltage that the microcontroller is actually running at. This is an important factor for shield-compatibility since the logic level is now 3.3V instead of 5V. You always want to be sure that whatever outside system with which you’re trying to communicate is able to match the logic level of your controller.

Clock Speed: This is the operating frequency of the microcontroller and is related to the speed at which it can execute commands. Although there are rare exceptions, most ATMega microcontrollers running at 3V will be clocked at 8MHz whereas most running at 5V will be clocked at 16MHz. The clock speed of the Arduino can be divided down for power savings with a few tricks if you know what you’re doing.

Digital I/O: This is the number of digital input/output pins that are broken out on the Arduino board. Each of these can be configured as either an input or an output, some are capable of PWM and some double as serial communication pins.

Analog Inputs: This is the number of analog input pins that are available on the Arduino board. Analog pins are labeled “A” followed by their number, they allow you to read analog values using the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in the ATMega chip. Analog inputs can also be configured as more digital I/O if you need it!

PWM: This is the number of digital I/O pins that are capable of producing a PWM signal. A PWM signal is like an analog output, it allows your Arduino to “fake” an analog voltage between zero and the system voltage.

UART: This is the number of separate serial communication lines your Arduino board can support. On most Arduino boards, digital I/O pins 0&1 double as your serial send and receive pins and are shared with the serial programming port. Some Arduino boards have multiple UARTs and can support multiple serial ports at once. All Arduino boards have at least one UART for programming, but some aren’t broken out to pins that are accessible.

Flash Space: This is the amount of program memory that the chip has available for your to store your sketch. Not all of this memory is available as a very small portion is taken up by the bootloader (usually between 0.5 and 2KB).

Bootloader: If the microcontroller is the brain of the Arduino board, then the bootloader is its personality. Without the bootloader, it just wouldn’t be an Arduino. The bootloader lives on the ATMega chip and allows you to load programs through the serial port instead of having to use a hardware programmer. Because different Arduino board use different microcontrollers and programming interfaces, there are different bootloader programs on each. The source code for the bootloaders can be found in your Arduino distribution. All Arduino bootloaders will allow you to load code from the Arduino IDE.

Programming Interface: This is how you hook up the Arduino board to your computer for programming. Some boards have a USB jack on-board so that all you need to do is plug them into a USB cable, others have a header available so that you can plug in an FTDI Basic breakout or FTDI Cable. Other boards, like the Mini, break out the serial pins for programming but aren’t pin-compatible with the FTDI header. Any Arduino board that has a USB jack on-board also has some other hardware that enables the serial to USB conversion. Some boards, however, don’t need additional hardware because their microncontrollers have built-in support for USB.

Resources:

http://www.tested.com/tech/robots/456466-know-your-arduino-guide-most-common-boards/

http://arduino.cc/en/Products.Compare

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You can Download the Source Codes of Tutorials Here : 51062 -Arduino Tutorials.zip

Arduino Tutorial 1: Uno Hardware 

(Basic Level)

In this video we will look at the hardware for the Arduino Uno.

Download Arduino IDE: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

Arduino Tutorial #2: Getting Started

(Basic Level)

In our second Arduino tutorial, we take a look at what is essentially the “hello world” of the microcontroller world.  We go through the setup of the Arduino IDE and drivers, along with the programming. Connection with the usb port.

Arduino Tutorial #3: Digital Inputs and Pull-Up Resitors 

(Basic Level)

In this tutorial we go over using digital inputs with the arduino to turn on an LED whenever a button is pressed. We also discuss the evil that is the floating pin and how to solve it.

Arduino Tutorial #4: Serial Communication 

(Intermediate Level)

In this Arduino tutorial, we go over the Uno’s built in serial communication. We look at talking to the Arduino from the computer and vice versa, the difference between print and write, and my trick to getting the Arduino to accept strings of data, rather than just characters. Sending Commands to computer,

Arduino Tutorial #5: PWM and Servos 

(Intermediate Level)

Inthis Arduino Tutorial, we look at the pulse width modulation, PWM, pins on the Arduino and their various applications, including producing a pseudo-analog signal and controlling a servo. You can control a servo of a robot or a robotic project with arduino code.

Arduino Tutorial #6: Analog Input 

(Intermediate Level)

In this Arduino tutorial, we examine the use of the analog input pins, how they work, and how they are configured and used. As mentioned in the video, I have really come to the end of the basics of the Arduino.

Arduino Tutorial #7: External Pin Interrupt 

(Advanced Level)

In this Arduino Tutorial we discuss the basics of interrupts, their applications, and, more specifically, external pin interrupts.

Arduino Tutorial #8: I2C Communication

(Advanced Level)

This Arduino tutorial covers using I2C to communicate with an EEPROM chip. This is only part one of the I2C videos, there will be another covering Arduino to Arduino communication as well.

Arduino Tutorial #9: Leonardo vs. Uno 

(Basic Level)

Differences between Uno and Leonardo

Arduino Tutorial #10: Arduino to Arduino I2C

(Advanced Level)

In this tutorial, we continue with the second part of the Arduino I2C communication tutorial, using I2C to communicate between two Arduinos.

Arduino Tutorial #11: Leonardo as Keyboard

(Basic Level)

In this Arduino tutorial, we look at the Arduino Leonardo’s built in USB emulation capabilities. Specifically, generating keyboard output. Remember that it is a good idea to add a switch to your code to ensure that the board stops acting like a keyboard, so that it can be reprogrammed.

Arduino Tutorial #12: Wireless Communication

(Intermediate Level)

In today’s Arduino Tutorial, we explore using “5 dollar” transmitters and receivers to send data between two Arduinos without wires.
You can find the VirtualWire library here: http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduino/VirtualWire/

Arduino Tutorial #13: Internal EEPROM

(Intermediate Level)

In this Arduino Tutorial, we look at using the internal EEPROM included on the ATmega328p

Arduino Tutorial #14: Leonardo as Mouse

(Basic Level)

In this Arduino tutorial, we examine a more mischievous use for the Arduino Leonardo’s mouse emulation ability.

Arduino Tutorial #15: Controlling Motors

(Basic Level)

In this Arduino Tutorial, we use the ULN2003a IC to control a motor.

Arduino Tutorial #16: Simple SPI Communication

In this Arduino Tutorial, we look at using a shift register to demonstrate the Arduino’s simpler SPI communication.

DOWNLOAD:

You can Download the Source Codes of Tutorials Here : 51062 -Arduino Tutorials.zip

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GETTING STARTED AND CONNECTED!

The first Arduino tutorial on getting started and connecting it to your PC. In this video I cover the following:

-What is Arduino?
-What is a sketch?
-What is the Arduino (software) IDE (interactive development environment) arduino-1.0.1
-Arduino philosophy
-We take a look at the Arduno hardware.
-I cover how to download the Arduino Software and drivers and then how to install them.
-What happens when the Arduino USB device driver fails and how to solve it.
-I upload a sketch to the Arduino UNO R3 to test it and blink an LED.
-I discuss the project for tutorial #2, a voltmeter with Min Max Ave.
-I talk about the Sparkfun serial enabled 16 x 2 LCD and the challenges it poses.

Arduino Uno R3 features:  ATmega328 micro controller, Input voltage – 7-12V, 14 Digital I/O Pins (6 PWM outputs), 6 Analogue Inputs, 32k Flash Memory , 16Mhz Clock Speed

Video Link - http://youtu.be/kLd_JyvKV4Y

Arduino Tutorial #2

SKETCH STRUCTURE, Variables, Procedures

In this Arduino tutorial we look at Sketch structure, variables and procedures.

* What is the sketch structure?
* What are variables and what types of variables – int, integer, float, floating point, byte, string array.
* The build of the voltage divider for the voltmeter can be found in the Ohms law tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLJAD…
* What is the Arduino (software) IDE (interactive development environment) arduino-1.0.1
* What is an Arduino library / libraries
* Arduino philosophy
* We take a look at the Arduno hardware.
* I discuss the project for the tutorial, a voltmeter with Min Max Ave.
* I talk about the Sparkfun serial enabled 16 x 2 LCD and the challenges it poses.
* I talk about the Sparkfun serial enabled 20 x 4 LCD.
* Arduino for beginners / dummies / newbies

Arduino Site: http://www.arduino.cc/
Arduino software / IDE: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
Arduino forum: http://arduino.cc/forum/

Video Link - http://youtu.be/Ub_oYlCo3i0

Arduino Tutorial #3

Functions, Return Values, Variables

A tutorial on sketch structure, functions, return values and variables.

Items and topics covered in this video:

* Local and global variables
* Functions / procedures
* Return values from functions
* Sample sketch code that does Math / arithmetic and write to the terminal
* Some commands used: Serial.print; Serial.println, if, else, void setup, void loop, return

Video Link: http://youtu.be/kV7FKL9FtwM

Arduino Tutorial #4

LCD Displays, Libraries 

A tutorial on interfacing LCDs (liquid crystal displays) with Arduino. We take a look at libraries and the role they play…and the potential issues, errors and troubleshooting involved. We look at several types of displays but concentrate on the 4×20 Sparkfun serial enabled LCD display.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/X1BCvjxIDHM

Arduino Tutorial #5

Digital Voltmeter, Analog to Digital Converter

In this tutorial we look at a digital voltmeter project and how it used the Arduino analog input. This involves understanding ADC or analog to digital converters and how they work.

The Arduino Due is a microcontroller board based on the Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU (datasheet). It is the first Arduino board based on a 32-bit ARM core microcontroller. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 12 can be used as PWM outputs), 12 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 84 MHz clock, an USB OTG capable connection, 2 DAC (digital to analog), 2 TWI, a power jack, an SPI header, a JTAG header, a reset button and an erase button.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/y-_Pkw_GQ-c

Resources

We also gave a quick peek at the Arduino DUE: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoar…
Thanks to Clarence of “Clarence’s Wicked Mind” for the original code that I used and updated for this project: http://www.clarenceho.net:8123/blog/a…
The sketch / project code for the digital voltmeter:: http://mjlorton.com/forum/index.php?t…
Also read Measuring Stuff – The Arduino DAQ Chronicles: https://sites.google.com/site/measuri…

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Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer. It’s an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board.

Arduino can be used to develop interactive objects, taking inputs from a variety of switches or sensors, and controlling a variety of lights, motors, and other physical outputs.

Arduino projects can be stand-alone, or they can be communicate with software running on your computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP.) The boards can be assembled by hand or purchased preassembled; the open-source IDE can be downloaded for free.

Arduino is a single-board microcontroller to make using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible. The hardware consists of an open-source hardware board designed around an 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller, or a 32-bit Atmel ARM. The software consists of a standard programming language compiler and a boot loader that executes on the microcontroller.

Arduino boards can be purchased pre-assembled or as do-it-yourself kits. Hardware design information is available for those who would like to assemble an Arduino by hand.

Why Arduino?

There are many other microcontrollers and microcontroller platforms available for physical computing.
-Parallax Basic Stamp,
-Netmedia’s BX-24,
-Phidgets,
-MIT’s Handyboard, and many others offer similar functionality.

All of these tools take the messy details of microcontroller programming and wrap it up in an easy-to-use package. Arduino also simplifies the process of working with microcontrollers, but it offers some advantage for teachers, students, and interested amateurs over other systems:

Inexpensive - Arduino boards are relatively inexpensive compared to other microcontroller platforms. The least expensive version of the Arduino module can be assembled by hand, and even the pre-assembled Arduino modules cost less than $50

Cross-platform - The Arduino software runs on Windows, Macintosh OSX, and Linux operating systems. Most microcontroller systems are limited to Windows.

Simple, clear programming environment - The Arduino programming environment is easy-to-use for beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to take advantage of as well. For teachers, it’s conveniently based on the Processing programming environment, so students learning to program in that environment will be familiar with the look and feel of Arduino

Open source and extensible software- The Arduino software is published as open source tools, available for extension by experienced programmers. The language can be expanded through C++ libraries, and people wanting to understand the technical details can make the leap from Arduino to the AVR C programming language on which it’s based. Similarly, you can add AVR-C code directly into your Arduino programs if you want to.

Open source and extensible hardware - The Arduino is based on Atmel’s ATMEGA8 and ATMEGA168 microcontrollers. The plans for the modules are published under a Creative Commons license, so experienced circuit designers can make their own version of the module, extending it and improving it. Even relatively inexperienced users can build the breadboard version of the module in order to understand how it works and save money.

The Arduino Idea…

Arduino started in 2005 as a project for students at the Design Institute of Ivrea, Italy. At that time program students used a “BASIC Stamp” at a cost of $100, considered expensive for students. Casey Reas, one of the founders, taught at Ivrea.

A hardware thesis was contributed for a wiring design by Colombian student Hernando Barragan. After the wiring platform was complete, researchers worked to make it cheaper, lighter, less expensive, and available to the open source community. The school eventually closed down, so these researchers, one of them David Cuartielles promoted the idea.

Hardware

An Arduino board consists of an Atmel 8-bit AVR microcontroller with complementary components to facilitate programming and incorporation into other circuits. An important aspect of the Arduino is the standard way that connectors are exposed, allowing the CPU board to be connected to a variety of interchangeable add-on modules known as shields. Some shields communicate with the Arduino board directly over various pins, but many shields are individually addressable via an I²C serial bus, allowing many shields to be stacked and used in parallel.

Software

The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) is a cross-platform application written in Java, and is derived from the IDE for the Processing programming language and the Wiring projects. It is designed to introduce programming to artists and other newcomers unfamiliar with software development. It includes a code editor with features such as syntax highlighting, brace matching, and automatic indentation, and is also capable of compiling and uploading programs to the board with a single click. A program or code written for Arduino is called a “sketch”.

Arduino programs are written in C or C++. The Arduino IDE comes with a software library called “Wiring” from the original Wiring project, which makes many common input/output operations much easier. Users only need define two functions to make a runnable cyclic executive program:

 - setup(): a function run once at the start of a program that can initialize settings
– loop(): a function called repeatedly until the board powers off

A typical first program: for a microcontroller simply blinks an LED on and off. In the Arduino environment, the user might write a program like this:

#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
}

 What is an Arduino Board ? 

In this MicroNugget, CBT Nuggets trainer Eli the Computer Guy discusses Arduino boards, a small, inexpensive computer board that allows you to create robotics and automated devices.

Resources

http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Windows

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This is a very simple tutorial video by MIT to learn Arduino Basics.

More information at: http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-conditions

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