What Is Arduino, And Why Should You Use It?

[Participant @chinomnso]

Arduino is an open-source microcontroller development board. Arduino boards are easy to use and are able to read input and turn it into output. Such input can come from a light sensor, a water sensor, a pressed button or a proximity sensor, resulting in output – blinking an LED, activating a buzzer or displaying text on an LCD. Your board can be controlled by writing code on your computer and uploading it via a USB cable.

Arduino was created to be an easy-to-use tool to speed up prototyping, targeting students without a foundation in electronics and programming. But going into the wild, the Arduino board began to adapt to changing needs, growing from a simple 8-bit board to boards that now power wearable tech, IoT applications, embedded technologies and even 3D printing.

Arduino makes a wide range of boards which differ in capability and purpose. Because Arduino is open-source, other companies have modified Arduino and produced similar boards too. For starters, The Arduino Uno range of Arduinos is recommended. There are other boards with extra functionality like support for Bluetooth, WiFi and Ethernet. Others are more suitable for real-time applications.

Why Arduino?

Arduino boards are quite affordable in comparison with other microcontroller platforms. It is also a cross-platform board. While other platforms are primarily targeted at Windows, the Arduino IDE works on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux operating systems. The Arduino IDE is easy to use for newbies, yet powerful enough for professionals. It is also open-source and can be extended beyond basic capabilities.

The Arduino board has grown in popularity over the tears, and understandably so. In contrast to most pre-Arduino programmable circuit boards, it does not need another piece of hardware for code to be loaded onto the board after programming. It comes with a USB cable. On top of that, you don’t have to work yourself out learning raw C++ as Arduino is programmed in a simplified version of C++. In fact, the Arduino IDE is the simplest and cleanest IDE I’ve ever seen.

To add extra functionality to your board, shields have been built. Shields are pieces of hardware that can be mounted on the Arduino to extend its capabilities. For example, to control motors with Arduinos, there are shields for that purpose that spare you the extra time and effort required to design and build the requisite circuitry.

Would you like to connect your Arduino to the Internet? Or would you like to connect your project to an Android phone or an iPhone? There are shields for these and even more. Shields can be easily detached from the Arduino board and reattached.

What Can your Arduino do?

In addition to the aforementioned, Arduino can interact with speakers, motors, GPS units, the Internet and even your smartphone. It is cheap and the software is free. And both the hardware and software offer a mild learning curve. There is also a large community of professionals and hobbyists around Arduino.

Arduino is great for robotics and can be used as the backbone for virtually any electronic project. Thinking of home automation, remote sensing, security, IoT and even more? Your Arduino is a great tool. Get yourself an Arduino Uno if you’re looking to begin playing with it, and start building something.

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