Creat Your Own Devices

The ability to create future devices is what makes the field of electronics so exciting.

Most of us were first introduced to the world of electronics when a TV repairman came over to repair our broken TV. We'd see him tinker with some black things (the chips), some round things (resistors and capacitors), some wires joining everything placed on a board (circuit board), and a device to check whether everything was working (voltmeter). It all seemed very complicated.

We've come a long way since then. Technology is getting much more sophisticated, and soon electronic devices will be embedded in our clothes. Such electronics devices are easier to build today and the process will only get simpler. The internet has augmented progress on this front by enabling anyone with a will to create almost anything they put their mind to. Though the common man still can't build a TV by himself, there are many more exciting things that we can build using our existing knowledge of electronics.

This article shows you to a platform called Arduino that has completely taken the world of electronics design by storm by giving the power of creating technology into the hands of not just adults but also kids, in a very cost-effective way to boot. So, if not you, it might help the creative young'uns in your home or neighborhood to utilize their free time more creatively.

Arduino is an open-source platform used for building electronics projects. Arduino consists of both a physical programmable circuit board (often referred to as a microcontroller) and a piece of software, or IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that runs on your computer, used to write and upload computer code to the physical board.

Unlike most previous programmable circuit boards, the Arduino does not need a separate piece of hardware (called a programmer) in order to load new code onto the board you can simply use a USB cable. Additionally, the Arduino IDE uses a simplified version of C++, making it easier to learn to program. Finally, Arduino provides a standard form factor that breaks out the functions of the micro-controller into a more accessible package.

Arduino also makes simpler the working process of microcontroller, but it gives some advantages over other systems for teachers, students, and beginners such as:

Inexpensive
Cross-platform
A simple, clear programming environment
Open source and extensible software
Open source and extensible hardware

The list of Arduino boards includes the following such as
Arduino Uno (R3)
Lily Pad Arduino
Red Board
Arduino Mega (R3)
Arduino Leonardo
Etc.
The Uno is one of the more popular boards in the Arduino family and a great choice for beginners.