What is Arduino

Arduino is defined as an open-source electronics platform which consiste two part : hardware and software. In the first part, arduino boards (hardware) are capable to read the inputs of phyisical quantity such as light variation by using a light sensor, movement changes by means of movement sensors, recognition of vocale variantion using blueteeth application. Secondly, it turns it into an output : For example, controling a motor’s speed and torque, shwiching on and off a LED…etc. For this reason, it is possible to write a programm that can control the board by sending a set of instructions into microcontroller. To perform this procedure, arduino software (IDE), based on Processing is employed by using arduino programming language most probably C++ language.

Historically, the arduino project was derived from wiring platform which was an invention of Hernando Barragan in 2003, a master degree student at interaction institute ivrea (IDII) in ivrea, italy. He created it during his master’s thesis project under the supervision of Massima Banzi and Casey reas. The aim of his project was to design and manufacturer a printed circuit board (PCB) with cheaper microcontroler (ATmega168). Therefore, it replaced the expensive microcontroller that used Basic stamper which was selled $100 per device. However, Massimo Banzi, with David Mellis, another IDII student, and David Cuartielles, developed the wiring by adding support for the cheaper ATmega8 microcontroller. But instead of continuing the work on Wiring, they forked the project and renamed it Arduino. The first arduino prototype was designed by Massima Banzi and it was quite simular to wiring.

This group was called arduino team and they were from different country such as italy, USA, Spain. Although they were conducted to create this platform for Ivrea Interaction Design Institute as an easy tool for fast prototyping and targeting the students without an electronics and programming background. By

the time that it reached a larger community, the Arduino board started modernizing in order to adapt to the new needs and challenges, distinguishing its offer from simple 8-bit boards to products for IoT applications, wearable, 3D printing, and embedded environments. All Arduino boards are completely open-source, empowering users to build them independently and eventually adapt them to their particular needs. The software, too, is open-source, and it is growing through the contributions of users worldwide. Over 300,000 of Arduino boards had been commercially produced in Adafruit Industries, a New York City supplier of Arduino boards, parts, and assemblies, estimated in mid-2011 and increased exponentially to 700,000 official boards in 2013.

Nevertheless, arduino is the brain of plenties of projects for everyday objects to complex scientific devices. It is the source of creativity and innovation that gathered a worldwide community such as makers - students, hobbyists, artists, programmers, and professionals around this open-source platform. Their contributions have added up to an incredible amount of accessible knowledge that can be of great help to novices and experts alike.