If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve probably seen us refer to the Arduino microcontroller on a number of occasions. This little circuit board is at the heart of many DIY projects, from robotics to art projects and just about everything in between.
But what on Earth is Arduino, anyway? What makes it so versatile? And what can you do with it?
Limor Fried built her business on DIY tools and technologies. Limor, better known to the Internet as Ladyada, is a cofounder of Adafruit Industries, a site that sells kits, tools, and accessories geared toward the DIY set. Ladyada was gracious enough to take a few minutes to explain a little about what makes Arduino boards so cool–and useful–to anyone who’s ever wanted to build or hack their own devices.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
But it’s not just the controller alone – I think you do not give yourself enough credit for being a huge part of this. Your tutorials and friendly forums are among the best I’ve ever seen – and all of my friends have become more Arduino savvy because of them.
Absolutely true and Very nicely said. 🙂
But it’s not just the controller alone – I think you do not give yourself enough credit for being a huge part of this. Your tutorials and friendly forums are among the best I’ve ever seen – and all of my friends have become more Arduino savvy because of them.
Arduino is changing my life!
Kris