Arduino Project Mission, Goal and Scope

Today's snippet on the Arduino Project

Advanced Arduino


Mission Statement

The mission of the Breadboard Arduino Project is to provide hands-on training with the Arduino micro controller with widely available and generally affordable components in a breadboard prototyping environment. In other words, Learn Arduino, Have Fun, On the Cheap.

Course Goal

The goal of this course is to provide the student with a working knowledge of Arduino features that are beyond the introductory course. It is intended to be a stepping stone on the student’s path to Arduino enlightenment.

Course Intent

The intent of this class is to provide the student with a handful of tools that should be helpful in developing robotic platforms using the Arduino platform. It is not intended to be the definitive course on use of the Arduino and does not delve into the architecture of the chip. Indeed, this class does not really exploit any particular feature of the Arduino, but will leave the student with the knowledge of how to interface the Arduino with other components and assemblies.

In addition, the intent of this class is to let the student experience working with the Arduino at minimal cost. Students are encouraged to shop for lowest prices on components and buy in bulk when it makes sense. This course is specifically intended to keep costs as low as possible. Arduino has a development platform called the Duemilanove (extra credit for pronouncing it correctly). It’s a dandy platform, but at this writing, Sparkfun carries it for $29.95 + S&H. For our purposes, it doesn’t do anything better than what the student built in the introduction to Arduino class. In addition, for the exercises, one would still need a breadboard and all the additional components. Also, with the breadboard class, prototyping another chip means swapping out the Arduino with another chip and rewiring components. That activity may be performed for the cost of the new chip.

Overall, this class provides hands-on education at a low cost with a development platform and components that are reusable with other micro controllers. And it’s fun!

Course Scope

The scope of this class is limited to breadboard prototyping of different robotic functions including

• Indicator lights

• Switching

• Motor control

• Sensor input

• Position

• Motion

In addition, the coding is limited to the Arduino development platform and the Arduino interpretation of the “C” programming language. Even though the Arduino is an Atmel ATMega 328 chip, the specific Atmel and AVR functionality will not be specifically covered. Coding at the assembler level will not be covered. Should you wish to teach those classes, your involvement will be heartily welcomed.

The particular Arduino used in the Breadboard Arduino series is the Atmel ATMega 328 chip in the 28P3 28 pin PDIP (Plastic Dual Inline Pin) package. This is generally affordable, readily available, easily handled by hobbyists and lends itself well to breadboard prototyping. Outside of this class, you are welcome and encouraged to explore other chips and packages.

Intended Audience

The intended audience for this class is students that have participated in the Introduction to Breadboarding Arduino class as delivered by Dale Wheat. This prerequisite class defines the foundation for this class, familiarizes the student with the Arduino chip and the student will have already built the breadboarded Arduino that is used as the base for each of the sessions in this class.