Arduinos
From Dev8D
Contents |
Introduction
The Arduino workshops are being organised by Garry Bulmer an Arduino fan.
We have 12 complete kits available, so we hope people will work in pairs to allow more folks to experience the fun of Arduino!
(GB says: In my experience, working in pairs works well. Pairing is effective because, for many folks, there is a lot of new stuff, both programming and electronics. Another brain will help find defects quickly, and figure out improvements. Also, you might enjoy it!)
Because there are limited places, we ask that you please sign up for the session, i.e. now or when you are at Dev8D, so that we know how many folks are attending.
Beginner sessions take place in the Workshop Room
Advanced Sessions in the Project Room
Beginners Workshops (Workshop Room)
The Beginner's workshops will take place in the Workshop room in the mornings from Thursday through to Saturday.
They each last 2.5 hours. Each session is independent of each other and is basically a repeat. So you only need to come to one session.
Places are limited. We have 12 complete kits, and we'd like folks to try working in pairs so more can enjoy the Arduino's.
It would help if you are already experienced in programming, but it is not absolutely necessary.
If you are already experienced in using Arduino's, Garry would love some help in his Beginner's workshop. If you are willing to be a volunteer then please, add some information to the particular session you think you could help out with.
Thursday Morning Beginner's Workshop
Friday Morning Beginner's Workshop
Saturday Morning Beginner's Workshop
Ideally, bring your laptop, and download and install the Arduino software ahead of the workshop. When you install the Arduino IDE, remember to install the FTDI driver. I'll be using version 0017 because I'm an old fuddy-duddy (I have a live project using it).
Advanced Workshops (Project Room)
The Advanced workshops will take place in the Project room in the afternoon of Thursday and Friday.
Places are limited. We have 12 complete kits, and we'd like folks to try working in pairs so more can enjoy the Arduino's.
Each session is independent of each other and is basically a repeat. So you only need to come to one session. You will require to have some previous knowledge of working with Arduinos. You can get that by attending one of the morning "Beginner's Workshops".
Thursday Afternoon Advanced Workshop
Friday Afternoon Advanced Workshop
The mini-projects will be:
- driving more power - an Arduino can drive LEDs, but motors require too much power. In this project we'll augment the Arduino to drive a motor, so you have the understanding to make an electric fan, robot, ...
- flashing lots of lights - an Arduino has 18 pins to listen to and control the world, so it's not obvious how to control many more lights. We'll use 'time division multiplexing' to control more LEDs than might seem possible (theoretically 162) with 18 wires, and no external electronics.
- Reacting to an Infra Red Remote Control - an Arduino has one button, this project adds a whole remote control's worth. We'll use a normal Infrared remote to signal to the Arduino, and you decide what it does in response. For folks with a programming background, you could use this technology to control a host application. (With your own Arduino Ethernet shield, an Arduino could talk, or tweet, to the world.)
- Communications - an Arduino can exchange data with the host computer. We'll do a very simple experiment to control the Arduino over the USB connection. You can expand on this in an infinite number of ways!
The 'organised' mini-projects take about 2 hours, so you can do other workshops in the same afternoon, or dig deeper into something you'd like to try. After the core mini-projects, we'll have a few other electronics components for related experiments, or you might want to bring stuff along. One experiment you might like to try is controlling something by generating an Infrared Remote Control (IR RC) signal. Bring you're own IR RC and the device you'd like to control. If you don't have the Infared Remote, try to find the specification of the IR signal on the web.
Ideally, bring your laptop with the Arduino IDE and FTDI USB driver installed. You can download and install the Arduino software ahead of the workshop.
Showcase
It is likely that we have an Arduino showcase on Saturday afternoon, to show off some of the work that was done during the week.
What is Arduino?
Arduino is several things. Arduino is the popular, low-cost, Open Source microcontroller, an Open Source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with loads of examples, and many useful libraries. There is a large, enthusiastic, diverse community, developing projects, and helping each other build stuff, and express themselves.
Arduino is the microcontroller designed for the rest of us. We don't need lots of documents. Much of the information we use is printed directly on an Arduino board, and the rest is summarised on one Arduino language reference page.
Arduino's are a great way to make electronic gizmo's of every kind. There are lots of playground examples, including interfacing with hardware including ethernet, Blue tooth, WiFi, digital camera's, Infrared Remote Control, MIDI, LEDs, LCDs, sensors, motors, servo's and stepper motors. Use them for free-standing projects, or to connect your computer to the physical world. Arduino allows us to step beyond the bounds of the mouse, keyboard and screen, and interface directly with the people, and even plants.
Arduino's Open Source IDE is easy enough that programming newbies can program the hardware within minutes of starting.
Arduino's are used by artists to make active and reactive art.
Arduino's are used by "makers" to imbue their alternative, green, amazing and sometimes bizarre, hardware with intelligence.
Have a look at some of the projects in the Arduino Exhibition to see how inspiring Arduino can be.
Essentially, Arduino's provides a core microcontroller for physical computing. It is small enough and cheap enough to be used by anyone, anywhere.
There is a family of daughter-boards called 'shields' which provide low-cost access to Ethernet, Bluetooth, audio, motors, and a plethora of handy technology. It's even used inside server racks to make DIY temperature monitors.
What's so special?
Arduino is low cost, but even better, all the information and CAD is available so that you can make your own, using a few components, for a few pounds without constraint. Hence their are many shapes of Arduino and hardware which work with the Arduino IDE. Have a look at the Freeduino INdex to get some impression of the range of unofficial Arduino clones, and the projects and add-on daughter boards (called "shields) available.
Arduino's can program themselves. Traditional microcontrollers require expensive JTAG, ICSP, or other specialised development hardware, which often costs much more than the development electronics. Arduino needs a USB cable (or some of the more stripped down ones, a USB to Serial cable).
The Arduino software development environment (IDE) is assembled from Open Source parts, into a simple-to-use programming environment, easy enough that programming newbies can program it. It is accompanied by a large collection of examples, to get us started quickly, and a useful set of libraries to drive a range of hardware. All the examples, and core libraries are installed with the IDE.
There's an active and very helpful Arduino forum with folks from around the world helping each other and improving the Arduino every day.
The Arduino language is a simplified version of C/C++. It is a simple, and exceptional well thought out set of language primitives, all sumarised on a single Arduino reference page. We'll cover much of this in the workshops.
