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Arduino
Have you ever think about how to make a robot and whenever you succeed how it would change your life just as your mobile playing a good role in your daily lives. Of course, it could make the difference. Okay, just think about when a robot writing your whole assignment in just as 10 minutes or finding your missing chappel when you are in hurry, let us make a robot then. Arduino, there it goes, it is a popular open-source single-board microcontroller (i.e., a microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals). Which means nothing but you connect all those necessary things to this Arduino microcontroller board, write a program in a C like editor load into the Arduino board and sit and watch what your asimo do.

A little History
In 2005, with an aim of less expensive microcontroller for students interactive design projects resulted in development of open-source Wiring platform (i.e., Wiring is an open source electronics prototyping platform consists of a programming language, an integrated development environment (IDE), and a single-board microcontroller) and moreover people become fan of this Arduino and they make their own robots these days. Founders Massimo Banzi and David Cuartielles named the project after Arduin of Ivrea, the main historical character of their Italian town.

Something more about Arduino

People can also make their own Arduino boards as they like, but official Arduino boards come up with megaAVR chips (technically they often called the processor of this particular microcontroller devices e.g. ATmega8). In addition, these Arduino boards work with a voltage of 2.7V 5.5V. More importantly, Arduinos boards can be pre-programmed with a boot loader that simplifies uploading of programs to the on-chip flash memory (same way of storing data in our memory card and pen drives). There are several types of Arduino boards according to their size and how does it connected to a computer (example, via Bluetooth or Ethernet, etc) Examples of popular Arduino board models: Uno Nano Lilypad Diecilmila BT(Bluetooth) Ethernet(with Ethernet connectivity)

How to program it???

There is a C/C++ like processing programming language for making the codes for the Arduino boards and those who familiar with C/C++ languages can easily develop their desired codes. Even for beginners it is not so hard to learn this language. This can be run in most of the operating systems whether it is

2 windows variant or linux variant or mac. (The compiler software can be downloaded from http://goo.gl/MiOvw) Have a look at this sample code to flash a LED continuously (just on and off)
#define LED_PIN 13 void setup () { pinMode (LED_PIN, OUTPUT); } void loop () { digitalWrite (LED_PIN, HIGH); delay (1000); digitalWrite (LED_PIN, LOW); delay (1000); } // enable pin 13 for digital output

// // // //

turn wait turn wait

on the LED one second (1000 milliseconds) off the LED one second

Here, setup() and loop() are the functions, first one initialize the settings when starting the program, second one for repeating the LED on/off until the board power off. Purpose of the each command line is explained with the comment line (beginning with //). Before uploading this code to the Arduino board the LED should connect to the pin number 13(i.e. +ve side of the LED, the ve side connect to the ground. After connecting the Arduino board to the computer (this can be via serial cable or Bluetooth or USB), press the Upload to I/O board button in the IDE window. In addition, the LED on the board will be blink until the power off the board.

What Else???
Of course, it is not only to blink a LED repeatedly and people wouldnt love Arduino boards just for that, but as a beginner discussion about huge number of program codes and sensors wouldnt work well. Give shot for this now and gradually learning about Arduino and making robots for specific applications is definitely worth a shot. Check it out some videos Sun tracking solar panels and charges itself (http://goo.gl/f7IqU) Arduino EMF detector (http://goo.gl/iwNe5) Arduino Helicopter( dont get excite when you hear US drones killed another Pak dude tomorrow, of course no offence, just watch this http://goo.gl/aUldu) Control a Slot Car Race With Your Mind (using brain waves, http://goo.gl/02jr0)

Add on
There are a number of additional modules can be integrated to an Arduino device with a variety of electronic parts, chips and devices for specific tasks, some of those modules include

3 Servo motors They are the small size having dc motors give the functionality to move the Arduino and its parts Sensors There are several types of sensors from touch sensors to ultrasound sensors (to measure the distance) and much more

Further more
You can buy Arduino starter kit from Rhydo Tech, Cochin, Contact number : 048427370444 (to view location on map, http://goo.gl/GsV9Y) More tutorial is available at http://goo.gl/EYcfo or http://arduino.cc And there are good books about Arduino like Arduino Robot Bonanza (Gordon McComb) ISBN:: 978-0071782777 Arduino related media files are available at http://goo.gl/XKJaI

As a whole
There are many Arduino hobbyists around the world and they develop and share their knowledge frequently with the help of internet, surprisingly their number is also increasing significantly. Because human tend to be so curious and they changed the entire planet for them when they learned to use tools. Later, the invention of robotics made wonders for example NASA made robot went inside the Fukoshima nuclear power plant, which is, cant be make it for a man directly since it is so hazardous to man. Just leave Fukoshima behind, there is a bright future for this tool, robotics and its further development. Without much expense and deep knowledge about the robotics systems, we could also develop and design robots at home. Moreover, this article is intended to make awareness and spread a little knowledge about the robotics and especially about Arduino.