Arduino Intro

To introduce the Arduino, we will complete a set of sample circuits which demonstrate how each component works and how to program the Arduino. The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board - it is like a small brain. It links to a computer through a USB cord which provides the board with power, programming code, and data capturing abilities. The board has several input and output pins capable of controlling devices and collecting sensory inputs. The sample circuits we will complete were developed by Oomlout and Spark Fun. The complete, printable booklet of circuits can be found here. The interactive version can be found here.

The Arduino Uno looks like this:

Here is an overview of the Arduino:

Here is an explanation for what a breadboard is, which will be used to build the circuits on top of:

Each group will have the following parts:

Here is a brief description of each part (click to enlarge):

Here is a brief description of the code used in the Arduino (click to enlarge):

We will be performing circuits 1-4 and 6-9 (click on the link to read the complete instructions, click on the image to enlarge):
1. Blinking LED

2. Multiple LED's

3. Transistor and Motor

4. Servo Motor

6. Piezo Element

7. Pushbutton

8. Potentiometer

9. Photo Resistor

 

Here is an explanation of each circuit for additional understanding (click to enlarge):