Arduino for Dummies

Getting to Know Arduino

What Is Arduino and Where Did It Come From? 
Where Did Arduino Come From?
Learning by Doing
Patching 
Hacking
Circuit bending
Electronics
Inputs 
Outputs
Open Source

Finding Your Board and Your Way Around It 
Getting to Know the Arduino Uno R3
The Brains: ATmega328 microcontroller chip.
Header sockets
Digital pins
Analog in pins
What about analog out?
Power pins 
USB socket
External power jack
Reset button

Discovering Other Arduino Boards
Official Arduino boards
Contributed (Approved) Arduinos
Shopping for Arduino
Official Arduino Store
Distributors in the United Kingdom
Distributors in the United States 
Amazon
Electronics distributors 
Kitted Out: Starting with a Beginner’s Kit 
Preparing a Workspace

Downloading and Installing Arduino 
Installing Arduino ..........................................................................................33
Installing Arduino for Windows .........................................................34
Installing Arduino for Mac OS X.........................................................37
Installing Arduino for Linux................................................................39
Surveying the Arduino Environment...........................................................39

Blinking an LED
Working with Your First Arduino Sketch....................................................41
Finding the Blink Sketch......................................................................42
Identifying your board ........................................................................43
Configuring the software ....................................................................45
Uploading the sketch...........................................................................47
Congratulate yourself!.........................................................................49
What just happened? ..........................................................................50
Looking Closer at the Sketch .......................................................................50
Comments.............................................................................................51
Declarations..........................................................................................52
Variables ...............................................................................................52
Functions ..............................................................................................53
Setup......................................................................................................54
Loop.......................................................................................................56
Blinking Brighter............................................................................................57
Tweaking the Sketch .....................................................................................59

 

Getting Physical with Arduino

Tools of the Trade 
Finding the Right Tools for the Job.............................................................63
Breadboard...........................................................................................64
Jump wires............................................................................................66
Needle-nose pliers ..............................................................................67
Multimeter ............................................................................................68

Using the Multimeter to Measure Voltage, Current, and Resistance .....70
Measuring voltage (in volts) in a circuit ..........................................70
Measuring current (in amps) in a circuit .........................................71
Measuring resistance (in ohms) of a resistor ..................................72
Measuring resistance (in ohms) of a variable resistor ...................72
Checking the continuity (in bleeps) of your circuit........................73

 A Primer on Electricity and Circuitry
Understanding Electricity.
Using Equations to Build Your Circuits 
Ohm’s Law 
Calculating power 
Joule’s Law
Working with Circuit Diagrams
A simple circuit diagram
Using a circuit diagram with an Arduino
Color Coding 
Datasheets 
Resistor Color Charts.

Basic Sketches: Inputs, Outputs, and Communication 
Uploading a Sketch........................................................................................91
Using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) .......................................................92
The LED Fade Sketch.....................................................................................93
Understanding the fade sketch ..........................................................97
Tweaking the fade sketch ...................................................................98
The Button Sketch.......................................................................................100
Understanding the Button sketch....................................................104
Tweaking the Button sketch.............................................................105
The AnalogInput Sketch..............................................................................106
Understanding the AnalogInput sketch ..........................................110
Tweaking the AnalogInput sketch ...................................................111
Talking Serial................................................................................................112
The DigitalReadSerial Sketch ...........................................................112
Understanding the DigitalReadSerial sketch..................................115
The AnalogInOutSerial Sketch..........................................................116
Understanding the AnalogInOutSerial sketch

More Basic Sketches: Motion and Sound 
Working with Electric Motors ....................................................................123
Discovering Diodes......................................................................................125
Spinning a DC Motor ...................................................................................125
The Motor sketch...............................................................................126
Understanding the Motor sketch.....................................................129
Changing the Speed of Your Motor ...........................................................130
The MotorSpeed sketch....................................................................130
Understanding the MotorSpeed sketch ..........................................131

Controlling the Speed of Your Motor........................................................132
The MotorControl sketch .................................................................132
Understanding the MotorControl Sketch .......................................135
Tweaking the MotorControl sketch.................................................135
Getting to Know Servo Motors...................................................................136
Creating Sweeping Movements..................................................................137
The Sweep sketch ..............................................................................137
Understanding the Sweep sketch ....................................................140
Controlling Your Servo ...............................................................................142
The Knob sketch................................................................................142
Understanding the Knob sketch ......................................................145
Making Noises ..............................................................................................146
Piezo buzzer .......................................................................................146
The toneMelody sketch.....................................................................147
Understanding the sketch.................................................................153
Making an Instrument .................................................................................156
The PitchFollower sketch .................................................................156
Understanding the sketch.................................................................159

 

Building on the Basics

Learning by Example 
Skube.............................................................................................................163
How it works.......................................................................................164
Further reading ..................................................................................165
Chorus ..........................................................................................................165
How it works.......................................................................................166
Further reading ..................................................................................167
Push Snowboarding.....................................................................................167
How it works.......................................................................................168
Further reading ..................................................................................169
Baker Tweet..................................................................................................169
How it works.......................................................................................170
Further reading ..................................................................................171
The National Maritime Museum’s Compass Lounge and Compass Card...171
How it works.......................................................................................172
Further reading ..................................................................................174
The Good Night Lamp.................................................................................174
How it works.......................................................................................175
Further reading ..................................................................................175
Little Printer .................................................................................................175
How it works.......................................................................................176
Further reading ..................................................................................177
Flap to Freedom...........................................................................................177
How it works.......................................................................................178
Further reading ..................................................................................178

Soldering On 
Understanding Soldering............................................................................179
Gathering What You Need for Soldering ..................................................180
Creating a workspace........................................................................180
Choosing a soldering iron.................................................................181
Solder ..................................................................................................185
Third hand (helping hand) ...............................................................186
Adhesive putty ...................................................................................187
Wire cutters........................................................................................188
Wire strippers ....................................................................................188
Needle-nosed pliers ...........................................................................189
Multimeter ..........................................................................................189
Solder sucker......................................................................................190
Solder wick .........................................................................................190
Equipment wire..................................................................................191
Staying Safe while Soldering.......................................................................192
Handling your soldering iron ...........................................................192
Keeping your eyes protected ...........................................................193
Working in a ventilated environment..............................................193
Cleaning your iron .............................................................................193
Don’t eat the solder! ..........................................................................193
Assembling a Shield ....................................................................................194
Laying out all the pieces of the circuit............................................195
Assembly.............................................................................................196
Header pins.........................................................................................196
Acquiring Your Soldering Technique........................................................197
Building Your Circuit ..................................................................................201
Knowing your circuit.........................................................................201
Laying out your circuit......................................................................202
Preparing your wire...........................................................................202
Soldering your circuit........................................................................203
Cleaning up.........................................................................................203
Testing your shield............................................................................205
Packaging Your Project
Enclosures .
Wiring 
Securing the board and other elements .

Getting Clever with Code 
Blinking Better .............................................................................................209
Setting up the BlinkWithoutDelay sketch.......................................211
Understanding the BlinkWithoutDelay sketch...............................214
Taking the Bounce Out of Your Button ....................................................216
Setting up the Debounce sketch ......................................................216
Understanding the Debounce sketch..............................................219
Making a Better Button...............................................................................221
Setting up the StateChangeDetection sketch .................................221
Understanding the StateChangeDetection sketch.........................225

Smoothing Your Sensors ............................................................................227
Setting up the Smoothing sketch.....................................................228
Understanding the Smoothing sketch.............................................231
Calibrating Your Inputs .............................................................................233
Setting up the Calibration sketch ....................................................233
Understanding the Calibration sketch ............................................237

Common Sense with Common Sensors
Making Buttons Easier 
Implementing the DigitalInputPullup sketch
Understanding the DigitalInputPullup sketch
Exploring Piezo Sensors
Implementing the Knock sketch ......................................................248
Understanding the Knock sketch.....................................................251
Utilizing Pressure, Force, and Load Sensors............................................252
Implementing the toneKeyboard sketch.........................................254
Understanding the toneKeyboard sketch.......................................257
Sensing with Style........................................................................................258
Implementing the CapPinSketch sketch .........................................261
Understanding the CapPinSketch sketch........................................264
Tripping Along with Lasers ........................................................................267
Implementing the AnalogInOutSerial sketch..................................268
Understanding the AnalogInOutSerial sketch................................271
Detecting Movement...................................................................................271
Implementing the DigitalReadSerial sketch....................................273
Understanding the DigitalReadSerial sketch..................................276
Measuring Distance
Implementing the MaxSonar sketch
Understanding the MaxSonar sketch 
Testing, Testing . . . Can Anybody Hear This?
Implementing the AnalogInOutSerial sketch
Understanding the AnalogInOutSerial sketch

 

Unlocking Your Arduino’s Potential

Becoming a Specialist with Shields and Libraries 
Looking at Shields .......................................................................................289
Considering combinations................................................................290
Reviewing the field.............................................................................291
Staying current...................................................................................308
Browsing the Libraries................................................................................309
Reviewing the standard libraries.....................................................309
Installing additional libraries ...........................................................311
Obtaining contributed libraries .......................................................313

Sensing More Inputs and Controlling More Outputs 
Controlling Multiple LEDs ..........................................................................315
Implementing the AnalogWriteMega sketch ..................................318
Understanding the AnalogWriteMega Sketch ................................322
Tweaking the AnalogWriteMega sketch..........................................324
Controlling Lots of LEDs by Shifting Out..................................................327
Implementing the shiftOutCode, Hello World sketch ...................329
Understanding the shiftOutCode, Hello World sketch..................333
Tweaking the shiftOutCode, Hello World sketch...........................334
Doing more with the same cirduit...................................................337

Multiplying Your Outputs with I2C 
What Is I2C?...................................................................................................339
Assembling the I2C PWM/Servo Driver .....................................................341
Using the I2C PWM/Servo Driver................................................................343
Understanding the I2C PWM/Servo Driver Sketch...................................350
Buying Servo Motors...................................................................................353
Other Uses for I2C........................................................................................355

 

Sussing Out Software

Getting to Know Processing 
Looking Under the Hood.............................................................................360
Installing Processing..........................................................................362
Taking a look at Processing..............................................................364
Trying Your First Processing Sketch.........................................................365
Drawing shapes..................................................................................368
Changing color and opacity..............................................................372
Playing with interaction....................................................................374

Processing the Physical World 
Making a Virtual Button..............................................................................359
Setting up the Arduino code.............................................................360
Setting up the Processing code........................................................362
Understanding the Processing PhysicalPixel sketch ....................364
Understanding the Arduino Physical Pixel sketch ........................367
Drawing a Graph..........................................................................................369
Setting up the Arduino code.............................................................371
Setting up the Processing code........................................................372
Understanding the Arduino Graph sketch......................................374
Understanding the Processing Graph sketch.................................374
Sending Multiple Signals.............................................................................378
Setting up the Arduino code.............................................................380
Setting up the Processing code........................................................381
Understanding the Arduino SerialCallResponse sketch...............383
Understanding the Processing SerialCallResponse sketch ..........385

Ten Places to Learn More about Arduino
Arduino Blog ................................................................................................409
Hack a Day....................................................................................................409
SparkFun.......................................................................................................410
MAKE ............................................................................................................410
Adafruit.........................................................................................................410
Bildr...............................................................................................................410
Instructables ................................................................................................411
YouTube .......................................................................................................411
Hackerspaces ...............................................................................................411
Forum............................................................................................................411
Friends, Colleagues, and Workshops........................................................412

Ten Great Shops to Know 
Shops in the United Kingdom ....................................................................413
SK Pang................................................................................................413
Technobots.........................................................................................414
Proto-PIC.............................................................................................414
Oomlout ..............................................................................................414
RoboSavvy ..........................................................................................414
Active Robots .....................................................................................415
Shops around the World.............................................................................415
Adafruit (U.S.).....................................................................................415
Arduino Store (Italy)..........................................................................415
Seeed Studio (China) .........................................................................416
SparkFun (U.S.)...................................................................................416
Chapter 20: Ten Places to Find Parts and Components . . . . . . . . . . 417
RS Components (World).............................................................................417
Farnell (World).............................................................................................417
Rapid (World) ..............................................................................................418
Digi-Key (World) ..........................................................................................418
eBay (World) ................................................................................................418
Maplin (U.K.) ................................................................................................418
RadioShack (U.S.) ........................................................................................419
Ultraleds (U.K.) ............................................................................................419
EnvironmentalLights.com (U.S.)................................................................419
Skip/Dumpster Diving (World) ..................................................................419