Programmable Electronics with Arduino
- Pre-workshop activities: 20 min
- Introductory presentation: 10 min
- Hands-on activities: 50 - 100 min
Why Program with Arduino?
The Arduino world is an accessible introduction to microcontrollers for anyone from casual hobbyists to professionals. Arduino offers affordable open-source hardware and software that enables users to design their own interactive technology.
Programming with Arduino will mean different things to different people. Some may want to automate a part of their daily lives, such as this autonomous indoor greenhouse. Others may want to gather and analyze data in some way, such as this GPS datalogger. Still others may wish to study or prove some scientific phenomenon, such as this test regarding the spread of COVID-19 via particulate matter.
While Arduino may be a good introduction to microcontrollers, it is not the only way to work with them. According to Arduino’s introduction page, “There are many other microcontrollers and microcontroller platforms available for physical computing. Parallax Basic Stamp, Netmedia’s BX-24, Phidgets, MIT’s Handyboard, and many others offer similar functionality. All of these tools take the messy details of microcontroller programming and wrap it up in an easy-to-use package.” - Arduino Project
Learning objectives
At the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
- Be able to discuss a range of problems Arduino can help solve including digital humanities problems (Arduino possibilities and limitations).
- Know basic electronic principles including sensors and switches.
- Cut and paste programming, with minor modifications to existing code.
- Be able to wire up projects using a solderless breadboard.
- Build the “Hello World” project for Arduino: Blink project.
- Be able to form a simple circuit of their choice with a switch and output.
- Know where to find other projects and tutorials for learning how to program Arduino.