- [Instructor] Have you heard about
this thing called Arduino lately?
Maybe you've seen some projects
that use an Arduino?
What is this Arduino thing anyway?
Sounds like a sub sandwich.
Well in this video, I'm
gonna use plain language
to tell you exactly what an Arduino is.
You'll learn why it's so wildly popular,
and most importantly by
the end of this lesson
you'll know if Arduino is
right for your project.
So stay tuned.
(strange music)
So let's start with our first topic,
what is Arduino exactly?
I think the best way to explain
what an Arduino is,
is to start with what you can use it for.
So Arduino is a tool for
controlling electronics.
So think about a pencil.
A pencil is a tool to
help you write stuff.
You need to write something down hey,
you could grab a pencil.
Same idea with Arduino.
But Arduino is a tool
for controlling electronics.
You need to control some
electronic stuff hey,
grab an Arduino.
But what do I mean by electronic stuff?
Well let me define two general groups
of electronics stuff.
We've got inputs,
and those would be electronic devices
that gather information.
And outputs,
those would be electronic
devices that do things.
So for inputs,
you can kind of think of all the types
of sensors out there.
Like temperature sensors, light sensors,
touch sensors, flex
sensors, humidity sensors,
infrared sensors, distance sensors,
all these types of sensors out there.
So, you can think of those sensors
as input devices,
and those types of sensors can be read
by an Arduino board.
Now outputs would be
things like DC motors,
stepper motors, servo motors, solenoids,
LCD displays, LED
indicator lights, speakers,
and electrical stuff that have some type
of action in the world.
So Arduino can be used to read inputs
and control outputs.
So that's kind of what Arduino can do,
but how does Arduino work?
So when we talk about Arduinos
we're really kind of
talking about three things.
First, we have the physical
component of Arduino
which are Arduino boards.
Now there's a bunch of different types
of Arduino boards.
So when someone says Arduino board,
it could mean a number
of different boards.
A very popular Arduino board
is called the Arduino UNO.
Now all Arduino boards
share one thing in common,
and that is that they all
have a microcontroller on them.
And a microcontroller is basically
a really small computer.
So when you learn to use Arduino,
you're learning to use a microcontroller.
And the microcontroller
is what enables you
to read those different inputs,
and control those different outputs.
So when someone says Arduino board,
they're talking about something physical,
it looks like this, it's
a printed circuit board,
and it's got some
electrical components on it.
But the Arduino is more
than just hardware,
it's also software.
And there's this thing
called the Arduino IDE.
And IDE stands for integrated
development environment.
And this is a software application
that you download onto your computer,
and then you use it to program
the Arduino boards.
Now it's a completely free software,
and it's pretty easy to use.
It looks a lot like a text editor.
The Arduino IDE is where
you write your code
that actually gets loaded
onto the Arduino board itself.
So the third part of this Arduino trifecta
is the Arduino code.
So the code that you write inside
the Arduino IDE,
is what ultimately gets loaded
onto the microcontroller
that's on these Arduino boards.
And the Arduino code that you write
is called a sketch.
Now the Arduino code itself is basically
C and C plus plus programming language,
but with some Arduino-specific functions
and structure.
So if you program an Arduino,
you're basically gonna be programming
in C, C plus plus programming languages.
So what is Arduino?
It's three things.
There's the physical hardware
that uses a microcontroller,
there's the Arduino
development environment
called the Arduino IDE,
and then there's the Arduino code itself
and that's called a sketch,
and it gets loaded onto the Arduino board.
So those are the three components
that basically make up what quote unquote
Arduino is,
and kind of roughly what it does.
Okay you know sounds neat,
but why is Arduino so popular?
Well here's the deal.
Recall that I said the key component
of an Arduino board is
the microcontroller.
Now traditionally, microcontrollers
are pretty complicated to use.
The user manual for one is easily
over 300 pages long,
and it's filled with
tons of technical jargon.
But what the creators of Arduino did,
was make using microcontrollers
as easy as possible.
So instead of just electrical engineers
and computer scientists
using microcontrollers,
now pretty much anybody
can get their hands dirty on them,
and start building stuff.
So how did they make microcontrollers
easy to use?
Well hey, let's go back
to that Arduino trifecta.
First, the Arduino board itself
is designed for ease of use.
You can connect it to your computer
with a simple USB cable,
not like some specialized cable
that it would normally take
to connect a microcontroller.
Connecting electrical components
to the microcontroller is also very easy
with an Arduino board.
Because they have these plastic holes
around the perimeter of the board.
They're called headers,
and to connect an electrical component
to the microcontroller,
you just stick the
component inside the holes
it's literally that easy.
And our Arduino also has a built-in
external power jack,
so when it's not hooked up to the computer
it can still be powered by a battery pack.
So that's like the ease
of the hardware side,
but the Arduino IDE is also designed
for ease of use.
There's a lot of integrated development
environments out there,
but the Arduino IDE is built
with simplicity in mind.
There's no like bells and whistles
that kind of get in your way,
it's really just a basic window
where you type code.
And to upload the code that you've written
in the Arduino IDE,
you simply press a button and it uploads.
Finally, the Arduino code itself
has functions specifically for things
like reading inputs and
controlling outputs.
If you were to directly program
a microcontroller,
you'd find yourself constantly referencing
the user manual for highly
specific information
on controlling different things.
The Arduino language has
significantly reduced
that complexity by creating simple
programming functions for you to use.
In addition there's many
Arduino code libraries
that you can install and use,
and these libraries simplify the use
of all different types of components
from interacting with different sensors,
to controlling tons of different outputs.
So the Arduino hardware is easier,
the Arduino IDE is simpler,
and the code itself is
much easier to comprehend.
And that's a big part of why Arduino
is so popular.
The other reason Arduino is so popular,
is because there are many people using it
which means there's a
lot of examples out there
to work with.
Also, the Arduino board itself
is open source hardware.
That means while there is a company
named Arduino that makes Arduino boards
and supports the Arduino IDE,
there are also lots of other companies
that make Arduino compatible boards
that can also be programmed
in the Arduino IDE.
So there's this huge hardware
and code ecosystem for you to work with.
Finally, Arduino hardware
is generally pretty inexpensive,
and that helps keep it popular as well.
So how do you know if the Arduino
is right for your project?
Well I have a couple
different rules of thumb,
here's the first one.
Most Arduino projects
go something like this.
You have an input, and you have an output,
and you have some logic
in between the two.
So for example,
maybe you have a temperature sensor
and if the reading of
the temperature sensor
is above a certain threshold,
you wanna turn on some cooling fan
and that would be your output.
So you have some input,
you apply some logic to that input,
and then you have an output.
Now it doesn't have to
be so narrow of an input.
You know we could have something like
if the temperature is in this range,
and the time is this and
the sun isn't shining,
then you know maybe you
wanna turn on a light
switch on the radio,
and move that lever back
to its original position.
So if you're project kind of follows
this basic idea that you
have inputs and outputs
and you need to control them then yes,
Arduino is probably gonna be a good fit.
Now here's the deal,
we mentioned that Arduino
uses a microcontroller
and a microcontroller is
like a small computer.
So if your project involves using
huge input streams like video recording
or big computations,
then Arduino is probably
not the right match for it.
Could you potentially use an Arduino
for these type of applications?
Well maybe,
but there's better suited technologies
for things like that.
Well I really hope your
wheels are turning,
and you're excited about what you can do
with Arduino.
And if you are you're definitely
gonna wanna watch this next video
where I highlight five
awesome Arduino projects.
This will give you a great idea
of what Arduino is capable of.
If you wanna watch the next video,
just click this little
video link right here.
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But hey, now I just wanna
turn it over to you.
Please let me know what you wanna build
with Arduino in the comments below,
I'd love to hear what
you're thinking about.
Well hey take it easy,
and I'll see you in the next video.
Bye.
