Arduino Basics

This is the first in a series of 4 classes that aim to have you fully-functional with Arduinos and some arduino shields, using materials available at Freeside. The donation covers this class session only.

Electronics veteran Chris will be teaching you how to use Arduino automation to control electronics projects, from small demo systems to some complex robotics.

Required materials: Please bring your own Arduino Uno. You can order them online or find them in Fry's, Radio Shack, or other electronics stores. We will have a few that we can provide, but you'll need to contact us first to confirm that we'll still have some available. Bring your laptop if you can.

This class will cover (depending on participant feedback):

What is an Arduino and why do you need one? What is Processing Language? What is Micro Controller? Downloading Arduino software for you computer and getting it to talk to your computer thru the USB com port. learning about Analog Inputs and the Digital inputs and outputs How to Write a Sketch and Upload it to the Arduino. Hardware of the Arduino USB port or Battery Operation Monitoring the Serial Port thru the Arduino Software on your Computer How to hook up a breadboard for Power and Ground from Arduino and Analog and digital pins. What are Resitors and Variable Resistors and Voltage Dividers. How to Hook up and LED and Identify Anode and Cathode. How to send and hook up a switch as a Digital Input and how to read the Input port How to Initialize Variables in the Processing Language. Hot to Set a pinMode as an INPUT or an OUTPUT. What is void loop() ?? Learning if else statements in processing language. how to use a boolean to monitor the state. How to do a digitalRead of a digitalWrite. how to debouce a switch thru software with using a delay function and reading states by reading currentButton state and (lastButton) state. What is PWM and how do we change it on the Arduino what pins can we use for PWM why do we need PWM? using PWM to run a Servo and to Brighten and dim a LED OHMS LAVW and Resistors and power supply and Voltage Divders. how to use a resistor to limit current and drop voltage for Lighting a LED. how different color LEDs have a Different Voltage Drop. how much current does a LED drop. How to use a Multimeter to measure voltage and resistance What is a PullDown Resistor and why do we need it in a Switch circuit with an Arduino? What is a PullUp Resistor and why do we need one in a circuit How to Make a Voltage Divider and figure the formula for a voltage divider to get the required voltage you need. How to use a Variable Resistor or POT. and use in a voltage divider circuit.do get a variable voltage out. How to do an AnalogRead and how it converts the voltage 0-5 volts to 0 to 1023 how to assign an analog input to a digital level. how ot do a serial listen to a serial port or serial communications Serial.begin(9600) how to do a serial print Serial.println(analogRead(potPin)); or view the out put on the serial monitor on your Arduino Program under serial Monitor. What are 3 pin Voltage Regulators on a bread board for a a fixed volatge in our case 5 volts from 9 Volt battery. What is a Filter Capacitor in a Power supply and what they do? What is an external voltage reference on the Arduino and why do we need it? what are the different types of resistors. Using Sensor and and hooking them up on a breadboard to an arduino Sensors we will use are Photo Resistor. Ping Detector or UltraSonic Distance sensor How to use a PIR Passive Infrared Detector. how to write programs for above sensors. How to use the Function Map to MAP and analog input 0 - 1023 to a digital output of 0 - 255 how to use the Contstrain function to set maximum and min Values. how to control a digital output with an analog sensor for example controlling a servo or a led with a analog sensor such as a photocell or a IR infrared distance sensor or a ping detector. What are shields and why do we need a shield for an arduino? Using a Relay Shield to control 110 volt lamp with a PIR Moition Sensor. Setting a Threshold level for a sensor. how to use a logic II OR and a logic @@ AND statement to read a multiple sensors in a if else statement how to reset a value of the lastDist = currentDist; to reset the distance to be used in the loop What is a Tranistor? Difference between NPN and PNP How to Identify a transistor and how to hook it up in a circuit how to use a transistor to switch a larger voltage using a transistor to drive a motor with PWM from an Arduino How to program a for loop in processing language. What is a Servo and how it works. with PWM and difference between Standard and Continuous Servo. How to use the 5 volt 3 pin Regulator to run the server and not use power from Arduino. how to use the servo Library from Arduino. how to turn a servo from 0 to 180 degrees increments of 20 degree's and use a delay at each increment. using an infrared sensor to increment the servo.

Additional Info:

Email pr@freesideatlanta.org for more details or if you have a question.

Membership is not requires to attend these meetings or to take our classes. However, all guests will be required to sign liability waivers, which is standard practice for makerspaces.

Freeside membership does get you 24hr access to the space with your RFID card, access to our Member message board, invitations to member meetings, a vote on how the space is used, and more!