What is Arduino: Definition and 140 Discussions

Arduino () is an open-source hardware and software company, project and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardware products are licensed under a CC-BY-SA license, while software is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) or the GNU General Public License (GPL), permitting the manufacture of Arduino boards and software distribution by anyone. Arduino boards are available commercially from the official website or through authorized distributors.
Arduino board designs use a variety of microprocessors and controllers. The boards are equipped with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be interfaced to various expansion boards ('shields') or breadboards (for prototyping) and other circuits. The boards feature serial communications interfaces, including Universal Serial Bus (USB) on some models, which are also used for loading programs. The microcontrollers can be programmed using the C and C++ programming languages, using a standard API which is also known as the "Arduino language". In addition to using traditional compiler toolchains, the Arduino project provides an integrated development environment (IDE) and a command line tool (arduino-cli) developed in Go.
The Arduino project began in 2005 as a tool for students at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Ivrea, Italy, aiming to provide a low-cost and easy way for novices and professionals to create devices that interact with their environment using sensors and actuators. Common examples of such devices intended for beginner hobbyists include simple robots, thermostats and motion detectors.
The name Arduino comes from a bar in Ivrea, Italy, where some of the founders of the project used to meet. The bar was named after Arduin of Ivrea, who was the margrave of the March of Ivrea and King of Italy from 1002 to 1014.

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  1. D

    Help in trying to build microcontroller powered Chess Board

    Hello all, as the title states I'm trying to build an arduino powered chess board. The chess pieces will have magnets on the bottom and each square of the board will be equipped with a reed switch for detecting the presence of the magnetic field produced by the magnet. I recently tried this out...
  2. Z

    Arduino & LCD Capacitor Voltage Project | Zig

    Hey guys so I'm working on a project with an Arduino. I need the Arduino to read from a LCD to tell it what the voltage of a capacitor is. If the voltage is to low I would like it I switch the circuit on to charge the capacitors back up. Anyone know where a good starting point would be? Thank...
  3. T

    EEPROM Save Data Arduino Programming Help

    hi guys, so I'm trying to save data onto my EEPROM, the problem is it works for a while of data, but not all of it. I'm not sure if its a problem with reading though, or the writing part. Essentially I'm writing an integer value into the EEPROM to obtain later, although I expect to have quite a...
  4. Y

    How to Create a Cheap Piston with Arduino and Control Movement?

    Hi, I am a total beginner on all subjects of engineering, but I do want to ask here if it's the right place, about this project I want to do: I want to create a cheap (as cheap as possible, home-made kind of thing) piston that will simply move in a linear way in and out (about 40-50cm movement...
  5. marellasunny

    Why do I need a processing code when I pair Arduino with bluetooth

    Why do I need a "processing" code when I pair Arduino with bluetooth I have a need to connect my [Arduino+Bluetooth dongle JY-MCU V1.02] to my laptop in-built bluetooth device.Most forums suggest using a processing code to go ahead and do this...
  6. M

    Hello, Are there any books for labview and Arduino interconnection?

    Are there any books or website where I can see how to connect arduino and labview together?
  7. J

    Measuring voltage with the arduino

    Hi, I would like to record a voltage on a ardruino pin A0 using the 3.3V from the arduino. I connect the 3.3V to one part and the A0 to another part. I want to know when there's contact between the two parts (resulting in 3.3V on pin A0) and when there's no contact (resulting in 0V on pin A0)...
  8. J

    What are some beginner-friendly Arduino projects?

    So I got an Arduino Uno last week and am having quite a bit of fun figuring out exactly what it's capable of. Could anyone suggest some interesting beginner projects for me to have a go at and maybe provide links or instructions? I know there's sites like instructables, but they have so many...
  9. Borek

    Is an Arduino starter kit a great Christmas gift for a tech-savvy teenager?

    This is not engineering (perhaps a social engineering :wink:). I am thinking about Christmas gifts and I decided one of those I have to buy can be some reasonable Arduino starting kit. Question is - what does it mean "reasonable starting kit"? Target: bright teenager with some programming...
  10. V

    Should I Use Arduino Or Experiment?

    I am building a remote control airplane, and naturally the most complex aspect of it is the electronics. I don't know if I should use the Arduino microcontroller or try to build my own circuits that only do one simple thing (I am using commercial electronic speed controls either way for the...
  11. N

    Can I Build a UAV Drone with an Arduino Uno Board for a High School Competition?

    I am building a uav drone for a high school competition and I have the arduino uno R3 board but other websites said I need the ardupilot board. Can I build it with the arduino uno and do you know the materials I would need for the mechanical and electrical aspects of the drone? And if you also...
  12. F

    Program Arduino Sensor for 10V DC Output

    Hey guys I am trying to program a sensor using an arduino. The sensor is operational at 10V DC and an arduino only gives out like 5V. I wanted to know how can I manipulate it to output 10V. Do I need some hardware or can I do it with just programming? Thanx in advance!
  13. T

    Can I Use CAT4101 with Arduino to PWM High Brightness LEDs in Parallel?

    Hi all, I'm trying to PWM a high brightness LEDs in parallel (http://d114hh0cykhyb0.cloudfront.net/pdfs/spmwht5225d5waq0s0.pdf) and I was hoping to use an Arduino and a CAT4101 driver (http://www.onsemi.com/PowerSolutions/product.do?id=CAT4101). I was hoping that someone could tell me if this...
  14. C

    7-segment LED display using Arduino

    I want to make an LED display that can show 3 digits, so I have 7 segments for each digit for a total of 7x3=21 LEDs. I need this to display some data from a sensor I'm capturing with an Arduino, and I want to use the same Arduino to run the display. How can I do this without flickering the...
  15. P

    Arduino Programming for Servo motor

    Hi all. I am working on a project that requires using an arduino microcontroller to control the motion of a servo motor. The original code is of the form: #include <Servo.h> Servo myservo; // create servo object to control a servo // a maximum of eight servo objects...
  16. H

    Measuring speed using phototransistors in Arduino

    Hey guys, I am working on a project where I am using two photo-transistors to detect the speed of a projectile. I am trying to measure the speed of a paintball but I am getting mixed results. When a slow moving object passes through the sensors the correct speed is displayed but extremely fast...
  17. C

    Can an Arduino Effectively Drive a Power MOSFET at High Frequencies?

    I want to drive a IRFP250N power MOSFET using a square wave generated by an Arduino at high frequencies, maybe 1kHz or so. I doubt I can hook up the digital out to the mosfet gate, so is there some kind of gate driver I can make/buy that will take in the square wave signal and violently switch...
  18. L

    MATLAB Matlab and arduino: serial port connection

    Hello, I am trying to hook up MATLAB to my arduino. I am trying to write a number to the serial port in the arduino IDE and retrieving the same number in the MATLAB IDE. My arduino code is: void setup() { // initialize serial communication at 9600 bits per second: Serial.begin(9600); }...
  19. R

    Good resource to learn circuit-side of Arduino?

    I've been studying circuitry from http://allaboutcircuits.com in hopes of experimenting with the arduino. I have read the majority of the DC volume and believe I have enough knowledge to begin working with the arduino board, however, I haven't actually built any circuits on my own yet. Are...
  20. P

    Arduino Serial port greyed out?

    Arduino "Serial port" greyed out? Hi, I am going to make this electronic door lock using an arduino but when i am going to upload the sketch it says"COM1 not found Did you select the right one form the Tools>Serial port?" So i went to my tools and the serial port is greyed out does anyone...
  21. S

    Ratiometric Analog Output interfaced with Arduino?

    I'm trying to interface a pressure sensor (specifically, a Honeywell NSCSANN015PAUNV piezoresistive pressure sensor) with an Arduino Uno analog input, but I'm not having much luck. The output from the pressure sensor is a "ratiometric analog output" with a pin corresponding to V+out and a pin...
  22. C

    Best way to test an Arduino sketch without uploading to the board?

    Hi What do you think is the best way to test an Arduino sketch without uploading to the board? ie. What is the best piece of software available? I’m currently writing an Arduino sketch and it would be very usefull if I could test it without having to upload it to the actual Arduino board...
  23. H

    Need help with arduino sampling voltage and current

    Hi, I built a electrolytic cell that uses electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen. I am testing efficiency and need a way of calculating the average current draw and voltage drop over a period of time for the cell. I have some experience using Arduinos in projects but not much. I...
  24. S

    Calculating Voltage and Current after resistor from an Arduino Uno.

    I have an Arduino Uno micro controller that operates at 5V and I'm doing some work with an LED. The positive leg of the LED has a 220ohm (1/4watt) resistor on it and goes into output pin 13 which produces 40ma @ 5V. My LED wants to have 2V @ 18ma. I'm not quite sure yet how to calculate the...
  25. P

    C# for Arduino? Mech Major Questions EE/CS

    Although I'm a mech major, I feel asking this in the EE section is more approparite or a CS section if there was one. I haven't had much experiencing with arduino circuit boards and C, C#, or C++ programming. Next semester, I will take a mechatronics class. This will involve considerably...
  26. E

    Arduino Sine Wave: Piezo Buzzer Possible?

    Is it possible for an Arduino to produce a sine wave to a piezoelectric buzzer?
  27. Z

    Condition +-.1v from 2 wires to 0-5 for Arduino analog

    I am toying around with connecting a 236PC 15GW pressure sensor to my arduino board. I am supplying nearly 10 volts to the Sensor and can get +- .1V readings from some simple tests. How do I condition these two lines that give +- .1V to range from 0-5 Volts for the Arduino analog pins.
  28. A

    What is the voltage and current requirement for an Arduino Uno?

    greetings, i have an arduino usb 328 and i want to know the supply voltage and current requirement of it. thanks
  29. L

    Why is my Arduino Uno not receiving data and how can I fix it?

    for some reason, my Arduino Uno does not detect data. I have it hooked up to an EasyDriver and a stepper motor. I would like the motor to turn and I am controlling it with the Arduino IDE. void loop() { if (Serial.available() > 0) { Serial.print("data available"); int a...
  30. L

    MATLAB Connecting Arduino to Matlab: A Step-by-Step Guide

    I am confused as to how to hook up Arduino to Matlab. I have copied the code into Matlab. I would like to run a code I wrote in Matlab through Arduino. How can I do this?
  31. E

    Output 0-20mA from an Arduino with ATMega328

    Hi! I am using a Arduino Duemilanove with ATMEga328 for my project. I need an input of 0-20mA into a speed indicator. I know that the Ardunio pins have a current output of 0-40 mA and was wondering if I could use one of the pics to input 0-20mA into the speed indicator. I know that directly...
  32. J

    Questions about capacitors, and arduino

    hey all, I've been playing around with capacitors and have a few questions Is it possible to get 5 volts over a capacitor using a AA batery? Or am I limited to 1.5 volts? If I have more than 5 volts going into an arduino pin, that will cause damage. But I can use a voltage divider to drop...
  33. A

    Air valve for Arduino platform

    Hi guys, I am looking for a small and light air valve that can be activated by the arduino platform and can run on batteries. Once the valve gets the “go”signal it needs to switch (speed doesn’t matter) from a closed to an open position. The pressure to handle is low, i.e. <2 bar. It only needs...
  34. C

    What are some useful projects that can be done using Arduino in a cable factory?

    Hello all, I really need your help Friends, I am having my internship in a cable factory. Then I must make a "control" things (for my final project) to finish my undergraduate. I prefer to choose Arduino as my microcontroller since it is open source and easy to be operated. I have...
  35. D

    Can an Arduino and PWM circuit be used to create an arc generator and speaker?

    Hello everyone. My first post so bear with me. I'm planning on buliding an arcgenerator (and possibly an arc speaker later on if this works) with my arduino and a coil. I'm relatively to electrical engineering, so there are a few things I need some help with. If I've understood things...
  36. X

    MATLAB Serial Communication btwn Matlab and Arduino

    I'm trying to setup serial communication between Matlab and an Arduino. As a test I have a logical input to the Arduino (it can be either 0 or 1). I then want to pass the value of the input to Matlab and display it. Here's the Arduino code I have: void setup() { Serial.begin(9600)...
  37. K

    Arduino boards and image processing.

    Okay, so my first essay was swallowed by some impromptu logging out, so I'll be shorter and sweeter this time. I want to make a robot that accepts commands from a computer via USB. It will tell the robot basic commands like "next" and "back" with the bot figuring out what motors to move for...
  38. P

    Arduino board works on one computer but not another

    Greetings, I have recently bought a roboduino http://store.curiousinventor.com/all-kits/roboduino-kit-servo-ready-freeduino-arduino-compatible.html . I have tried uploading programs from my computer (a Dell Inspiron 1525 Vista) using Arduino 0022, however it does not seem to work. At first...
  39. J

    Reading the Arduino Schematic (for a Beginner)

    Alright, well, I've decided to start learning about how circuits work and as part of that I've looked into getting an Arduino, either by building one myself or buying one. I came across this tutorial here: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Arduino-or-The-DIY-Duino/" I noticed that the design...
  40. G

    Stream video from Arduino wirelessly

    I want to make an RC car that I can control in two ways. One would be over local wifi and I am actually watching the car and controlling it with my iPhone using touchOSC. The Arduino is using the http://asynclabs.com/" to connect to the wireless network at home or Ad-Hoc when no network is...
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