Arduino Starter Kit Project Ideas

[ISamson]

Hello,

I have ordered an arduino atarter kit and plan to explore some programming and electronics.
Do you have any interesting project ideas for me?

Thanks.

 

[Windadct]

It really is, IMO, a great platform, but also quite versatile. What are your interests?... IoT, robotics, data collection, etc...and then what have you done before? Do you know C++ ( it's OK if you do not)

 

[jim hardy]

You probably want to start simple. Have you been to the hobby sites ?

Figure out something fun to do with it.
On my other computer i have a program that makes Arduino count in Roman Numerals . Plan is to make a clock. Uses the Arduino timer function that isn't very accurate so it'll need a real time clock module, but one goes in small steps and to learn how to count was my first .
It taught me how to manipulate text strings, and how do integer and modulo functions in order to get hour minute second time of day out of # seconds since midnight.

I think the longest string you have to handle for 24 hour format is 18:38 , MDCCCXXXVIII 12 letters
and if you do seconds too , add XXXVIII that's 19 letters plus a colon
there are 24 character serial displays about. I have some nice big VFD ones but they're bare glass with no interface . Honestly i prefer Basic , but whatever language that Arduino is isn't indecipherable. Their site has examples .

 

[Windadct]

http://www.microcenter.com/product/476325/ds1302_real_time_clock_module_with_battery_-_2_packHard to beat that one.

 

[ISamson]

You probably want to start simple. Have you been to the hobby sites ?

Figure out something fun to do with it.
On my other computer i have a program that makes Arduino count in Roman Numerals . Plan is to make a clock. Uses the Arduino timer function that isn't very accurate so it'll need a real time clock module, but one goes in small steps and to learn how to count was my first .
It taught me how to manipulate text strings, and how do integer and modulo functions in order to get hour minute second time of day out of # seconds since midnight.

I think the longest string you have to handle for 24 hour format is 18:38 , MDCCCXXXVIII 12 letters
and if you do seconds too , add XXXVIII that's 19 letters plus a colon
there are 24 character serial displays about. I have some nice big VFD ones but they're bare glass with no interface .Honestly i prefer Basic , but whatever language that Arduino is isn't indecipherable. Their site has examples .

http://www.microcenter.com/product/476325/ds1302_real_time_clock_module_with_battery_-_2_packHard to beat that one.

Would it be possible to do these with an Arduino UNO, because I have already ordered an Arduino UNO Rev3. Sound like interesting ideas!

 

[jim hardy]

Here's a listing in Basic

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/looking-for-an-idea-for-a-new-product.579013/#post-3772540

here's the QBASIC program
I painfully translated it to Arduino language . If my laptop comes back to life (it's got Windows Ten Poisoning) i'll post that too.
You'll want to read about Arduino "strings" , which is text characters instead of numbers.. In Qbasic dollar sign denotes a string

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
' program clock displays time in 24 hr Roman numerals
' press q to exit

';; COMMENT
' set up strings first
'

DATA "","M","MM","MMM","Mv","v","vM","vMM","vMMM","Mx"
DATA "","C","CC","CCC","CD","D","DC","DCC","DCCC","CM"
DATA "","X","XX","XXX","XL","L","LX","LXX","LXXX","XC"
DATA "","I","II","III","IV","V","VI","VII","VIII","IX"
DIM m(10), c(10), x(10), i(10) AS STRING
FOR a = 0 TO 9: READ m$(a): NEXT a
FOR a = 0 TO 9: READ c$(a): NEXT a
FOR a = 0 TO 9: READ x$(a): NEXT a
FOR a = 0 TO 9: READ i$(a): NEXT a
; COMMENT just setting up the Roman Numeral strings for thousands (M) hundreds (C and D) and tens (X and L) and ones (I and V)
'

' COMMENT wait ofr a second to pass by
ON TIMER(1) GOSUB time
'COMMENT then go to subroutine that updates the clock
'
TIMER ON
' and restsrt timer
'
WHILE INKEY$ <> "q"
WEND
END

; COMMENT it will loop forever so INKEY$ detects keyboard Q to stop the program

time: time = TIMER
sec = INT(time) MOD 60
min = INT(time / 60) MOD 60
hr = INT(time / 3600) MOD 60
hr$ = m$(INT(hr / 10)) + c$(hr MOD 10)
min$ = x$(INT(min / 10)) + i$(min MOD 10) + ":"
sec$ = x$(INT(sec / 10)) + i$(sec MOD 10)
'
; COMMENT You know about INT and MOD , yes ? They're not peculiar to any language they're math functions see wikipedia
;

PRINT "Time : "; hr; min; sec, hr$ + min$ + sec$
RETURN:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

old jim

 

[donpacino]

What comes in the starter kit?
If you bought the kit off a site like adafruit, there might be projects online that are "compatible" with your kit (read you don't need to buy new parts).

That being back when I was learning embedded programming I made the following projects using a starter pack with arduino uno from adafruit.

1. clock (like jim was talking about above, will teach you some programming basics).
2. a timer using a BCDs display (these might have come with your package). This will teach you some basic digital electronics. Make it so when you push a button, your displays count from 00 to 99 (or whatever values you program in.
3. a data-logger with an accelerometer and a gyroscope, and then take it on a roller coaster. I followed an online guide for using arduino to make a datalogger and purchased a shield ($20) with a gyroscope and accelerometer. I then rode on roller coasters and looked at the data afterwards. This got very in depth with programming and circuit designs.

Like others have said, do some basic things, then find something that you think is fun!

 

[ISamson]

What comes in the starter kit?

The starter kit includes:

1 Projects Book (170 pages), 1 Arduino / Genuino Uno, 1 USB cable, 1 Breadboard 400 points, 70Solid core jumper wires, 1 https://store.arduino.cc/product/FB00001?language=en, 1 9v battery snap, 1 Stranded jumper wires (black), 1 Stranded jumper wires (red), 6 Phototransistor, 3 Potentiometer 10kOhms, 10Pushbuttons, 1 Temperature sensor [TMP36], 1 Tilt sensor, 1 alphanumeric LCD (16x2 characters), 1LED (bright white), 1 LED (RGB), 8 LEDs (red), 8 LEDs (green), 8 LEDs (yellow), 3 LEDs (blue), 1 Small DC motor 6/9V, 1 Small servo motor, 1 Piezo capsule [PKM17EPP-4001-B0], 1 H-bridge motor driver [L293D], 1 Optocouplers [4N35], 2 Mosfet transistors [IRF520], 5 Capacitors 100uF, 5 Diodes [1N4007], 3 Transparent gels (red, green, blue), 1 Male pins strip (40x1), 20 Resistors 220 Ohms, 5Resistors 560 Ohms, 5 Resistors 1 kOhms, 5 Resistors 4.7 kOhms, 20 Resistors 10 kOhms, 5Resistors 1 MOhms, 5 Resistors 10 MOhms

https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-starter-kit