Arduino: What It Is and What You Can Do With It

To make electronics projects, you can use all kinds of materials and parts. However, the more complex your creation’s needs become, the more difficult it can become for you to successfully create all the components by yourself. You might not have the full understanding to build every single piece at the moment, or you might not want to spend the lengthy amount of time required to create these pieces. Products like Arduino are perfect for simplifying things for electronics makers. In this post, we’ll share information about Arduino, including what it is and what you can do with it.

What Is Arduino?

Arduino is a single-board microcontroller that you can use as a foundation for electronics projects. In other words, it’s a small computer board that has great potential in a variety of applications. It can act as the brain for your projects, directing them to perform tasks without direct inputs from you. There are also huge numbers of step-by-step guides that you can locate online that people have based around Arduino. Arduino boards and their software are more or less completely open-source, meaning that anyone can find out how to put them together and—in the case of the software—contribute to further development.

Programming Arduino

You can code an Arduino board with Arduino Software (IDE). IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment, and you download the software onto a computer to access it. Arduino Software (IDE) is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, so you shouldn’t have trouble using it no matter what computer you have. Within the IDE, you can edit and write code to direct the Arduino, enabling it to then control your creations. The Arduino programming language is beginner-friendly for those new to the world of computers, so it’s a great way to teach yourself useful skills.

Arduino’s Connection Potential

Arduino boards come with rows of I/O (input/output) pins that you can use to connect them to other electronics parts. This is how you can link them for programming and build them into larger circuitry. Sensors of all kinds can hook up to Arduino boards this way, and your imagination is the only true limiting factor here. With Arduino, you can make something as simple as an LED light controller to more intricate robots, motion-following cameras, and 3D printers.

Begin incorporating Arduino into your projects by looking at our selection at Chicago Electronic Distributors. We stock the best maker electronics products for hobbyists, including Arduino maker kits.