Author: Machtelt Garrels

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It is aimed at artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (which will look familiar if you have some C programming skills) and the Arduino development environment (a Java application, though control through the command line is also possible).

The boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled; the software can be downloaded for free. The hardware reference designs (CAD files) are available under an open-source license, you are free to adapt them to your needs.

We will demonstrate the Arduino and some variants (o.a. the Lilypad, a wearable version) and the programming environment. We start with the electronics equivalent of "hello world": a blinking light.
After that, it is time to demonstrate some input from sensors. Our example uses a light sensor.
Then we will show some motors in action, so that we can build robots and machines.

We will bring enough materials so that anybody attending the workshop can try out what they have seen in the demo.