About this presentation

This presentation is an gentle introduction to the wonderful world of Arduino. It accompanies a (hopefully ever expanding) series of tutorials that can be found over on my website

I will try to assume no prior knowledge of electronics or programming, though both will help a great deal when working with the Arduino.

One last note, this presentation is a multidimensional. The navigation arrows in the bottom right hand corner indicate whether there is a slide below the one you are currently viewing. Make sure to navigate down through these before flicking right to next next section. Have a go now.

See that wasn't so hard!

Now scoot right and get learning

Introduction

The Arduino website says:

Follow the slides down as we deconstruct what all this means.

Open Source

As the saying goes, the best things in life are free. Open source means that all the software we use with our Arduino is free to download, adapt and distribute. More than that, open source encapsulates a culture of sharing and collaboration.

It wouldn't be a stretch to describe these guides and tutorials as "open source learning".

Electronics Prototyping Platform

Arduino is designed for electronics. It provides a quick and easy way to control electronic components and devices with easy to pick up code. This makes it ideal for creating proof of concept products or prototypes.

Secondly, Arduino is a platform of which the Arduino board is just one piece. This platform includes free to use software, expansion boards (called shields), online guides and documentation and a thriving development community. Arduino is much more than a single object.

Intended for Anyone Interested in Creating Interactive Objects

Intended for anyone. ANYONE! Arduino is incredibly accessible. All you need to bring the the equation is a computer and you can start playing almost immediately. You'll also find very quickly that Arduino can make physical objects intelligent and interactive.

Arduinos are...

Open source

Cheap

Accessible

Fast(Rapid Prototyping)

Expandable

Three cool examples

The Inebriator

A bar that makes your drinks for you

The Art-O-Matic

A LASER HARP!

A musical instrument crafted from light (and an Arduino!)

How do you use an Arduino?

To get started you need three things:

The Arduino Language

The Arduino programming language is based on a language called wiring. The syntax is very similar to C. It is an open source, compiled language

If none of that made any sense, don't panic. We'll be starting of with the very basics of the language.

The Arduino Board

The Arduino board compirises of three mains components:

The IDE

The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) handles the mundane task of checking your code for errors and translating it into a format the board's microprocessor can understand. This step is know as compiling.

Breadboards

Breadboards are great for quickly plugging up electronics circuits. They come in all shapes and sizes but follow the same general wiring pattern which is important to grasp to be able to build circuits on the fly.

My First Cicuit

Things to note

• Arduino circuits generally use 5 volts
• LEDs have a polarity - it matters what way round they go
• Resistors don't have a polarity
• If you don't connect up a complete circuit, the current can't flow
• LEDs staying on are boring...

I/Os

Inputs and outputs are what make the Arduino great. We can use code to change the state of pins on the Arduino. That way, when we hook up the pins of our Arduino to things in the physical world, we can programme objects.

Et voila, Physical computing!

Setup your IDE

There are a few steps to run through before you can be let loose with your Arduino. You should only have to do this if you're setting up your board for the first time

Blink & you'll miss it

Coad of Coad Hall

The Arduino expects you to use two functions

void setup() {
    //this code runs once at the beginning
}
						

void loop() {
    //this code runs over and over continuously
    //once setup() has finished
}
						

Ready... GO!

When you think you're ready, hit upload. This will compile your code into a form the board's microcontroller can understand and bung it on the chip for you.

If it finds and error, it will point this out to you in the error console below the code editing window.

Verify will compile and error check your code without uploading it to the board. Where's the fun in that I ask?

Blink

int led = 13;

void setup() {
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  //set the pin of our led to be an output
  digitalWrite(led, HIGH); //turn the LED on
  delay(1000); //wait one second
  digitalWrite(led, LOW); //turn the LED off
  delay(1000); //wait one second
}
						

Inputs

Inputs allow our Arduino to respond to changes in the physical world - inputs necessitate logic - our board must make decisions!

A simple latch

The objective: to latch an LED on or off by pressing a single button

Decisions Decisions Decisions

Computers can only answer the most basic of questions; Yes or No? As programmers, it's our job to phrase the questions so we get an answer we can use

In the case of the latch we have to ask the question: Is the button pressed? If so, do I need to turn the LED on or off?

If YES do this, else do that

If the button is pressed and the LED is off then turn the LED on

							
//if the button is in a LOW state, that means it is being
//pressed, such is the way we have wired our circuit

if(digitalRead(button) == LOW && digitalRead(LED) == LOW) {
	digitalWrite(LED, HIGH);
	delay(200);
}
						

LED Latch

/*
* by Joshua Maxey
* created 26/03/2013
*
* requirements:
*  - 1 x LED (with suitable resistor)
*  - 1 x button (push to make, non latching)
*
**************************************/

int led = 13;
int button = 11;

void setup() {
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(button, INPUT_PULLUP);
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println("setup is complete");
}

void loop() {
  if (digitalRead(button) == LOW && digitalRead(led) == LOW) {
    digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
    Serial.println("LED is on");
    delay(200);
  }
  if (digitalRead(button) == LOW && digitalRead(led) == HIGH) {
    digitalWrite(led, LOW);
    Serial.println("LED is off");
    delay(200);
  }
}