Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Arduino

The Arduino platform lies somewhere between Technic Lego and the low level geek world of circuit building. It consists of two parts; the hardware and the software, and with these you can build almost anything, from a simple flashing light to a box of tricks that sends you a Twitter message when your houseplants get thirsty.

Our home computers are great at communicating with other computers and (sometimes) with us, but they have no idea what is going on in the world around them. Arduino, on the other hand, is made to be hooked up to sensors which feed it physical information. These can be as simple as pressing a button, or as complex as using ultrasound to detect distance, or in the above example, monitoring the current flowing between two nails in soil: when the soil gets dry, the current drops and the Arduino carries out instructions: In this case it talks to a Zigbee internet-connected radio and posts a Twitter message, but you could just as easily have it talk to a robot which would water the plant for you.

So the Arduino is essentially a simple computer with eyes and ears. Why is it so popular? Because the hardware is cheap, it’s easy to program and there is a huge web community, which means that beginners can find help and download myriad programs for the board.

To start, you need to buy an Arduino. It comes pre-assembled or, for those handy with a soldering iron, in kit form. A fully assembled Diecimila board from the excellent Make costs just $35. The bare-bones, DIY kit is $20 and if you’re feeling fancy, there is a Bluetooth model, which never needs to be hooked up to a computer and can even be controlled by a cellphone.

Now it’s time to have some fun. Download the open-source software from the Arduino site. It runs in Java on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux, and comes pre-loaded with example programs, or “Sketches” . Unless you’re experienced in programming in the Wiring language, on which the Arduino language is based, you’ll want to start with the included examples, which are in the Sketchbook. Then, you simply hook up your Arduino via the USB port. Your code is compiled and sent to the board and it’s ready to go.

Once you get bored of flashing a single, lone LED, you can graduate to the community Playground, where you will find all kinds of advice and code snippets. Here is where you will learn to make the drum machine in the video below, or hook up your new toy to your computer to control it, via Flash or a handful of other software with which the Arduino will happily talk. Off you go! Build a cat feeder or a hack your coffee machine to wake you up with a hot cup of java. Me? I’m off to Ebay to bid on an old DeLorean and a Flux Capacitor.

Source from http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/04/just-what-is-an/

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