So one of your friend talked about Arduino and you searched on google what it is ? Got hundreds of results and now you are even more confused. Or you were randomly scrolling through YouTube and saw a title containing the word Arduino (YouTube algorithm ;)).
First things first, Arduino is a company(Brand) based in Italy. It was started by two tech enthusiasts Massimo Banzi and David Cuartielles .
This company manufactures electronics and software for development as well as students and hobbyist . Well there are for sure many companies that manufacture electronics what's special in that? This company is currently very famous for its Microcontroller Boards like these ....
These credit card sized (not exactly) boards provides us very versatile piece of equipment to create and prototype projects like robotics,automation,etc...
whenever you switch on your pc,the cooling fan,LEDs which turn on are actually controlled by a microcontroller which is on your pc's motherboard. Microntrollers takes digital instructions and based on those instructions it can be used to control motors,LEDs,servo motors,speakers,stepper motors,etc...these can also sense various conditions like moisture, temperatures,sound,light,motion with suitable sensors.
Above all that ,the main reason for its popularity is that every Arduino product (even softwares) are open-source.
Above is a picture of Arduino Uno board, the basic board from the brand, it features the microcontroller ATmega328-P from Atmel. Best choice for any newbie in this field but very versatily with a huge community and a lot of online support.
Arduino also created an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) called the Arduino IDE which used simple C++ programming language to program all the boards manufactured by Arduino and others also (benefits of open-source).
Because these cheap boards come with nearly everything on-board, different choice for different level of users & tasks and programming is easy using the free software (Arduino IDE), it is very successful and useful tool for everyone related with electronics or interested in electronics .
In the above Mega board the black color 1,2,...,50,51..,54 labeled parts are the I/O pins which can be connected with different components like actuators (motors,servo) and sensors(ultrasonic,light,PIR) and then programmed by connecting to pc using (USB A to USB B) cable using software Arduino IDE.
The name Arduino has changed many person's whole world and is like a blessing for hobbyists and students (specially technical).
If you are thinking of getting in the beautiful hobby of electronics ,arduino is the most sensible way to start.
Happy Learning.
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