Arduino

An Arduino is a small programmable board that reads sensors and controls lights, motors and sound. It is the usual starting point for anything in the lab that senses or moves. Code is written in the Arduino Cloud Editor, in the browser.

New to electronics? Start with Circuits first.

Get set up

• Editor: app.arduino.cc, free. Ask in room 3106 which account to use.
• Runs: in the Chrome browser. Chrome asks permission to talk to the board over USB.
• No board handy? Try circuits and code in a simulator first:
  • Wokwi simulates Arduino and other boards in the browser. Free for personal use. Try the Arduino Uno “Hello World”.
  • Tinkercad Circuits is Autodesk’s browser simulator.

Suggested progression

1. Know what a circuit is. Interactive · Circuits - batteries, switches, voltage and current, before any code.
2. First sketches. Lab guide · Arduino Lab Guide - setup, then M1 Blink through M5 Data Logger: blink an LED, read a button, read a sensor, log data to a chart.
3. Try variations in a simulator. Interactive · Wokwi or Tinkercad Circuits, from above.
4. Look things up. Read · Arduino documentation and its built-in examples - short, tested sketches for most basic jobs.
5. Go deeper on a specific part. Read · Adafruit Learning System and SparkFun tutorials - detailed guides for individual sensors and boards.

[no interactive beginner Arduino course has been chosen yet; the lab guide stands in until one is]

Connections to other tools

The log from M5 can be analyzed in Data Science (DS1) and played as sound with the sound tools (PD5 in Pure Data). A box for an Arduino can be designed in Design (D3).