Intro to Arduino Class taught at CRASHspace by Quin (Qtechknow). Originally taught on August 11, 2012 at Crashspace, in LA. This revision patches the diagrams and fixes the code! Thanks to SparkFun who shared all of their original slides with me!

1. Intro to Arduino
Class
Intro to Arduino
Held at CRASHspace
Taught by Quin
8/11/12

2. Thank you to SparkFun for
sharing the original
presentation!

3. Schedule
• Getting started with Arduino and electronics
• Project 1 & 2
• Break
• Project 3, 4, & 5
• Explaining More Code
• Q&A + Project Time

4. Arduino Board
“Strong Friend” Created in Ivrea, Italy
in 2005 by Massimo Banzi & David Cuartielles
Open Source Hardware
Atmel Processor
Coding is accessible (C++, Processing)

5. Why do I want an Arduino?
Arduino is a 8-bit prototyping system
that is easy for the modern developer,
designer, hacker, kid, or someone that
has no experience in this type of genre
to use.
But why is important to all of us?

7. Arduino Shields
PCB
Built Shield
Inserted
Shield

8. Arduino Shields
Micro SD
MP3 Trigger
Joystick

9. Components
Name Image
Type
Function Notes
Digital Input Closes or Polarized,
Button opens circuit needs resistor
Analog Input Variable
Trimpot resistor
LDR Analog Input Variable Also known as
resistor photoresistor
Temp Analog Input Variable
resistor
Sensor
Flex Sensor Analog Input Variable
resistor
Dig. &
16,777,216 Ooh... So
RGB LED Analog
Output
different pretty.
colors

10. Polarity
Polarity is when there are two or more
different sides (or leads) of a
component that have different
qualities that can not be reversed.
Examples: batteries, LEDs, buttons

11. Power (+5V) and Ground
(GND)
Power is the current that goes through
the circuit, and ground is the current
return path (collector)
Always make sure that Power and
Ground never touch directly, or the
circuit will short.
Make sure to not use over 10V, just
5V, and 3.3V, so no shock will occur.

12. What’s a Breadboard?
One of the most useful tools in an engineer or
Maker’s toolkit. The four most important things
to remember:
• Breadboard is very easy to prototype with
• A breadboard is easier than soldering
• A lot of those little holes are connected, which
ones?
• Breadboards can break

13. What’s a Breadboard?

14. Analog and Digital
• All Arduino signals are either Analog or
Digital
• All computers including Arduino, only
understand Digital
• It is important to understand the
difference between Analog and Digital
signals since Analog signals require an
Analog to Digital conversion

15. Analog to Digital Conversion
An ADC is a device that samples a
continuous quantity of digital signals,
compares it to discrete time, then
outputs an analog signal.
The ADC (analog) compatible pins on
the Arduino are A0, A1, A2, A3, A4,
and A5

16. I/O, or Input/Output
Input is any signal entering an
electrical system.
Output is any signal exiting an
electrical system.

17. Output
Output is any signal exiting an electrical system
• Almost all systems that use physical computing
will have some form of output
• Outputs include LEDs, a motor, a piezo buzzer,
and an RGB LED

18. Output
Output is always Digital
To Output a Digital signal (On or Off) use this
code:
digitalWrite (pinNumber, value);
Where value is HIGH (on) or LOW (off), both in
caps
To output a signal that pretends to be Analog, use
this code:
analogWrite (pinNumber, value);
Where value is a number 0 - 255

19. Output
To output a signal that pretends to be
analog (anywhere in between on and
off), you will have to use a PWM pin.
All PWM pins on the Arduino are
market with a “~” on the digital side.

20. Output
Output is always Digital
Using a Digital signal that pretends to be an
Analog signal is called Pulse Width Modulation
Use Pulse Width Modulation, or P.W.M., for
anything that requires a signal between HIGH and
LOW (1-254, with 0 being off and 255 being on)
P.W.M. is available on Arduino Leonardo digital
pins 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 13

21. Installing Drivers for Mac
The first time you plug a Leonardo into a Mac, the
"Keyboard Setup Assistant" will launch. There's
nothing to configure with the Leonardo, so you can
close this dialogue by clicking the red button in the
top left of the window.

22. Installing Drivers for Windows
This method has been tested on Windows XP and 7:
• Plug in your board and wait for Windows to begin
its driver installation process. If the installer does
not launch automatically, Navigate to the
Windows Device Manager (Start>Control
Panel>Hardware) and find the Arduino Leonardo
listing. Right click and choose Update driver.
• If prompted to search for drivers online, choose
"No, not this time". And click Next

23. Installing Drivers for Windows

24. Installing Drivers for Windows
• When asked to install automatically or from a
specific location, select "Install from a list or
specific location" and press Next

25. Installing Drivers for Windows
• Choose "Search for the best driver in these
locations", and check the box "incude this
location in the search". Click the Browse button
and navigate to your Arduino 1.0.1 or later
installation. Select the drivers folder an click OK

26. Installing Drivers for Windows

27. Installing Drivers for Windows
Click Next. You will receive a notification that the
Leonardo has not passed Windows Logo testing.
Click on the button Continue Anyway

28. Installing Drivers for Windows
• After a few moments, a window will tell you the
wizard has finished installing software for
Arduino Leonardo. Press the Finish button
(from arduino.cc)

31. Board Type

32. Serial Port / COM Port

33. Circuit 1: Basic Blink
33

34. 34

35. Parts of the Sketch

36. void setup() {}
36

37. void loop ( ) { }

38. Why do I make a comment?
• Comments are great ways to
remind you what you did,
teach other people what that
code means, or to make a
long description for your
whole piece of code for
licenses, date, and author

39. Comments
• Comments are ignored by
the compiler
• Comments can be anywhere
• Comments can start with
a // for a one-line comment
• Another type of comment is
multiple lines and starts with
a /* and ends with a */

40. Example of Comment:

41. Output
Output is always Digital, even when it’s P.W.M.
For P.W.M. the Arduino pin turns on, then off very fast
P.W.M. Signal @ 25%
P.W.M. Signal @ 75%
P.W.M. Signal
rising

42. Input
Input is any signal entering an electrical system
•Both digital and analog sensors are forms of input
•Input can also take many other forms: Keyboards,
a mouse, buttons, light sensors, or just plain
voltage from a circuit

43. Analog Input
• To connect an analog Input to your Arduino, use
Analog Pins # 0 - 5
• To get an analog reading:
analogRead (pinNumber);
• Analog Input varies from 0 to 1023 on an
Arduino

44. Downloading Code
https://github.com/Qtechknow/
Arduino-Code/zipball/master/

45. Circuit 2: Analog Reading

48. Digital Sensors/Digital Input
• Digital Input could be a switch or a button
• To connect digital input to your Arduino use
Digital Pins # 0 – 13 (Although pins # 0 & 1 are
also used for serial)
• Digital Input needs a pinMode command (in
setup):
pinMode ( pinNumber, INPUT );
Make sure to use caps for INPUT
• To get a digital reading: digitalRead
( pinNumber );

49. Digital Sensors/Digital Input
• Digital sensors are more straight forward than
Analog
• No matter what the sensor, there are only two
settings: On and Off (for buttons, pressed, or
not)
• Signal is always either HIGH (On) or LOW (Off)
• Voltage signal for HIGH will be a little less than
5V on your Leonardo
• Voltage signal for LOW will be 0V on most
systems

50. Parts for Circuit 3:
Arduino Leonardo
Breadboard
Pushbutton (2)
LED (2)
Resistor - 10K Ohm (2)
Resistor - 330 Ohm (2)
Jumper Wire

51. Circuit 3: Buttons

54. Semicolons
Semicolons are needed after every line
of code, except for void setup(), void
loop(), and a few others

55. Operators
The equals sign
= is used to assign a value
== is used to compare values

56. Operators
&& is “and”
|| is “or”

57. Variables
Basic variable types:
Boolean (on or off)
Integer (a number)
Character (a letter)

58. Declaring Variables
Boolean: boolean
variableName;

59. Declaring Variables
Boolean: boolean
variableName;
Integer: int variableName;

60. Declaring Variables
Boolean: boolean
variableName;
Integer: int variableName;
Character: char variableName;

61. Declaring Variables
Boolean: boolean
variableName;
Integer: int variableName;
Character: char variableName;
String: stringName [ ];

62. Assigning Variables
Boolean: variableName = true;
or variableName = false;

63. Assigning Variables
Boolean: variableName = true;
or variableName = false;
Integer: variableName =
32767;
or variableName = -32768;

64. Assigning Variables
Boolean: variableName = true;
or variableName = false;
Integer: variableName =
32767;
or variableName = -32768;
Character: variableName = ‘A’;
or stringName =
“Crashspace”;

65. Variable Scope
Where you declare your variables
matters

66. Circuit 4: ArduSensor + LED

67. Circuit 4: ArduSensor+LED

69. Common Functions
pinMode(pin, kind); (declares pins)
analogRead(pin); (reads an analog pin)
digitalWrite(pin, state); (tells a pin to
turn on (5V), or turn off (0V)
if() {} (tells something to do a function,
when something else happens
for() {} (tells something to do a function
over and over)

70. Setup
void setup ( ) {
Inputs & Outputs are declared in
setup, this is done by using the
pinMode function
This particular example declares digital pin # 13
as an output, remember to use CAPS

71. If Statements
if ( this is true ) { do this; }

72. If
if ( this is true ) { do this; }

73. Conditional
if ( this is true ) { do this; }

74. Action
if ( this is true ) { do this; }

75. Else
else { do this; }

76. Basic Repetition
for (int count = 0; count<10; count++)
{
//for action code goes here
//this could be anything
}

77. Basic Repetition
for (int count = 0; count<10; count++)
{
//for action code goes here
}

78. Basic Repetition
for (int count = 0; count<10; count++)
{
//for action code goes here
}

79. Basic Repetition
for (int count = 0; count<10; count++)
{
//for action code goes here
}

80. Basic Repetition
for (int count = 0; count<10; count++)
{
//for action code goes here
}

81. Basic Repetition
for (int count = 0; count<10; count++)
{
//for action code goes here
}

82. Basic Repetition
for (int count = 0; count<10; count++)
{
//for action code goes here
}

83. Circuit 5: Meter

86. Q&A and Project time