Flickerdart
2011-11-17, 01:29 AM
So I've been playing around with one of these (http://arduino.cc/) bad boys. Well, two actually - an Uno and a BT (which is a hideously temperamental and ludicrously expensive thing, but I'm loaning it so I can't complain).
For those of you not in the know, an Arduino is a microcontroller. For those of you further not in the know, that means it's a little computer you can wire stuff to and then control it with code you've uploaded to the board. The little suckers don't have an independent power supply, but they can be attached to a battery or tethered to a PC (and then it can interface with other software like Processing or MAX MSP through the cable).
If you've ever wanted to build a hardware thing, this is an excellent start, considering that I know next to nothing about wiring stuff and building circuits, and I've got this thing running an ultrasonic sensor and a bunch of motors. The plan is to make it into a sort of Roomba that drives around and avoids obstacles, and sends that data back to the PC so that another Arduino robot can then find its way around based on the first one's experiences.
Have you guys heard of these? Owned one? Built something cool with it? Had it explode in your face, gruesomely scarring you for life and turning you into a microcontroller-themed supervillain?
For those of you not in the know, an Arduino is a microcontroller. For those of you further not in the know, that means it's a little computer you can wire stuff to and then control it with code you've uploaded to the board. The little suckers don't have an independent power supply, but they can be attached to a battery or tethered to a PC (and then it can interface with other software like Processing or MAX MSP through the cable).
If you've ever wanted to build a hardware thing, this is an excellent start, considering that I know next to nothing about wiring stuff and building circuits, and I've got this thing running an ultrasonic sensor and a bunch of motors. The plan is to make it into a sort of Roomba that drives around and avoids obstacles, and sends that data back to the PC so that another Arduino robot can then find its way around based on the first one's experiences.
Have you guys heard of these? Owned one? Built something cool with it? Had it explode in your face, gruesomely scarring you for life and turning you into a microcontroller-themed supervillain?