If you are here, then obviously you are already convinced that it’s worth your time to learn to use Arduino (or maybe you got lost online – it happens!).
Here is a reminder why Arduino is an awesome tool and why so many people use it in their Digital Manufacturing projects.
Arduino is an interesting platform for electronic prototyping. So we hope it will become your swiss army knife to power up your future projects.
And here is why it’s great:
- it’s open-source: the source code and electronic diagrams of Arduino software and hardware are open-source. This means that you can understand how an Arduino works, duplicate it, modify it, adapt it and then integrate it into any kind of project without paying anyone to use the software.
- it’s well documented: the use of all the code which can be used with Arduino are detailed in an online reference – which you can check out here. This means that once you learn the basics, you can use these resources to do more advanced things without much extra guidance!
- it’s relatively inexpensive: the price of an official classic Arduino board pictured above (called Arduino UNO) is about €20.
(There are many other imitation boards that are even cheaper, but we advise caution when choosing one of these, as they are sometimes lower quality and can stop working without warning.) - it’s used by a large community. This reinforces the second point above: the growing number of people using this platform is an undeniable asset. Thanks to the power of the Internet, it is possible to find documentation and tutorials of what others have used Arduino for, such as smart objects for your home, smart clothing, art Installations…
You should also know that there are alternatives to Arduino however. Just to name a few: Raspberry Pi, BeagleBoard, and NodeMCU. These all have different uses.
Arduino is an excellent resource for learning about robotics, sensors and some IoT (Internet of Things) applications; NodeMCU can be thought of as a little like Arduino with built-in WiFi but it is a little more complicated to use, so we recommend learning to use Arduino before this board!
Raspberry Pi and BeagleBoard, are fully-fledged computers, capable of running much more sophisticated programs. However they are less good – and far less easy to use – for controlling servo motors (for robotics), coloured lights, sensors and so on.