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Adventures in Android ADK Development: Hardware
I had a lot of fun playing around with the DemoKit app, mixing light colors, blinding myself, flipping the relays, and checking out the input data on the Nexus One’s lovely screen. I’m sure there are many, many possibilities for writing Android apps that will utilize the ADK hardware in mind-blowing ways, but for now, I’m pretty excited just having such a nice touchscreen interface to an Arduino.
Circuit Skills: Pulse Width Modulation
Another clever trick from the world of electronics — Pulse Width Modulation is a simple method for controlling analog devices via a digital signal. It’s also a very efficient way to drive motors, lamps, LEDs, and more. If you’ve ever faded an LED with an Arduino — you’ve used PWM. But you don’t need a microcontroller to generate a PWM signal.
Additional Features: Make: Arduino Bots and Gadgets (the Interview) | Onyx Ashanti’s TED Performance Demo | GGHC Finalist Profile — Build Brighton | Tool Review: Video Experimenter Shield | Arduino Snail Mail Notifier | Why Google Choosing Arduino Matters… | Build a Twitter-Enabled Geiger Counter With Netduino | Pyrotechnical Painting
Getting Started
If you’re new to the world of microcontrollers and the Arduino board, here are a few resources that can help set the stage for further exploration:
“Chapter 4: Getting Started with Arduino”
Our Getting Started with Arduino book is a concise, engaging guide to Arduino. It covers the basics of the system, setting up hardware and software, and beginner programming. This PDF excerpt, “Chapter 4: Getting Started with Arduino,” explains how to create your first “interactive device,” hardware and software that can sense the world and respond.
“Getting Started with Microcontrollers”
This PDF excerpt from MAKE Volume 25, written by Arduino co-developer Tom Igoe, outlines a number of different popular microcontrollers, including Arduino, and compares their features and uses.
MAKE Volume 25: The Arduino Revolution
Volume 25 of MAKE has tons of material on “making stuff smart” using Arduino, from how to get going, to major step-by-step projects driven by Arduino, to the latest news and developments in the world of Arduino.
Anatomy of an Arduino
An Arduino board contains the ATmega chip, support electronics, and input output connectors/pins. Click on the image above to see the anatomy of the Uno Arduino. (Take a guided tour of an Arduino board here.)
Tutorials
Additional video tutorials: Blink an LED | Add a Button to Your Project | Arduinos, Potentiometers, and Servos
Build a Wirebot
Check out the nifty “wirebot” Riley Porter built using little more than three steppers, some fishing line, an Arduino, and the grblShield that Riley developed himself. If you’ve ever seen those cameras on a wire at sporting events and wished you could build the same sort of a rig (for animating holiday decorations, making the models hanging from your kid’s bedroom come to life, etc., here’s your chance to do it with precious little outlay pf cash. Let’s get started!
This project was sponsored by element14, the tech portal and online community for design engineers.
Arduino News & Projects
Latest posts from makezine.com:
Pull-Quote
“This is the type of stuff kids want to make — you can even trick them into learning some things along the way. These are the projects science fiction stories are made of, the things gadget sites blog about. What do all of these have in common? They’re ideas that usually wouldn’t actually happen, things we normally just dream about. But now these fantastic ideas are brought to life, and it’s very likely a non-engineer made them.” — Phil Torrone
Community
How do you pronounce “Arduino?” Find out here
- Official Arduino “Playground” Wiki
- Official Arduino Forum
- Imagining the dream electronics lab
- Thoughts on setting up an Arduino lending library
- Protracted discussion of LeafLabs’ Maple microcontroller board
- Quelling concerns about “closing” the Arduino Uno
- Why do you like Arduino?
- MAKE Forums
- SparkFun Arduino forum
- Adafruit Arduino forum
Resources
- Official Arduino Site
- Arduino [Wikipedia]
- The World Famous Index of Arduino & Freeduino Knowledge
- MAKE Arduino Playlist on YouTube
- Make: Projects Arduino section
- Make: Online Arduino Archives
- Arduino page at Maker Shed
- O’Reilly Arduino
- Instructables Arduino
- Hack ‘n Mod top list
- Arduino Playground
- Arduino forums
- Arduino tutorials
- Shield List
- Free Print-and-Stick Pinout Label
Buyer’s Guide
Here are a few suggested products to get you well on your way to controlling your world with Arduino. Check back here periodically for additional product recommendations.
Arduino Uno
The is a great to place to start with Arduino. Built on the Atmega328 chip, it has plenty of input/output pins (14 digital, 6 analog) for hooking up sensors and actuators. Unlike other boards, it has a USB-to-serial converter chip onboard, so a standard USB cable is all you need to hook it up to your PC.
Getting Started with Arduino Kit V2.0
This revised kit includes the recent Arduino Uno and everything you need to build the examples in Getting Started with Arduino by Massimo Bansi (which is included in the kit). This is a great way to get rolling with Arduino with a single purchase.
LoL Shield for Arduino
The LoL (Lots of LEDs) Shield, which plugs into your Arduino board, is a 9 x 14 grid of individually addressable LEDs. You can use this LED display to scroll messages, make art, display games you’ve programmed, all sorts of fun stuff. The LoL Shields are available in four different LED colors: Red, Green, White, and Blue
Projects Pack for Arduino V2.0
The Arduino Projects Pack contains the Arduino Uno, the MakerShield, sensors, actuators, breadboards (one mini, one half-size), and plenty of support components that you’ll need in building projects — over 100 components in all.
MakerShield kit
Our open source MakerShield allows you to do prototyping and design circuits for Arduino and Netduino microcontrollers. This versatile and well-designed shield supports both 3.3v and 5v signals, and allows you to stack another shield above it.
Maker Shed
Find oodles of other Arduino boards, shields, accessories, electronics components and resources, kits, educational materials, and more in the Maker Shed.
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