Building The Boss (Part 2): Arduino, the Anchor

Check out Part 1 of this series here, if you missed it!

The first decision in both designing The Boss, the robot, and the vision for design tech that he will (hopefully) champion was to determine the basic development platform. To my mind, Arduino was the obvious choice.

Being both an open-source and robotics enthusiast, I’ve been aware of the Arduino project for some time, although I must stress that I’m a total newbie from a hands-on perspective.

 Arduino has been around since 2005, so it is a mature platform, many generations refined. Arduinos are operating on satellites and collecting data for the Large Hadron Collider. I’m certainly treading on pretty familiar ground building a simple Arduino-based robot - it’s a hobbyist staple. And there is no doubt that there are teachers in world who years ahead of me in using Arduino in the classroom.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? First of all, starting simple is smart, which is an important guiding principle for the whole project. Secondly, getting engaged with a community like the one based around the Arduino platform allows me to tap into a wealth of existing expertise and resources, including tutorials, hardware advice and sample code.

For the uninitiated, a little bit of background about the Arduino may be helpful. Arduino is basically  a generic, programmable microcontroller (yes, like a little computer <sigh>) which was basically invented to make it easier for designers, artists, hackers and students to design and build different sorts electronic devices. See the excellent TED talk by Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi for more about the philosophy behind Arduino, the open source community generally, and also to see some great Arduino projects.

 You can combine inputs, like sensors, and outputs, like movement from a motor, or a sound, or a message on a screen- to create your own interactive electronic devices.

The electronics are real, and they need to be wired together correctly, or LEDs will burn out and motors will blow. The amount of power required depends on what you hook up, and the work you are asking it to do. This is an absolutely authentic environment for learning basic electronics design.  It is basic electronics design.

Programs are coded on a computer, using open-source software, and downloaded to the Arduino. The Arduino language itself is merely a set of functions from the more robust programming language C/C++, so (as I understand it, which may be poorly) there is a direct application towards learning more advanced computer studies too.

A professional designer might mock-up a circuit design for a new product on the Arduino to incorporate it into a working prototype, or “proof of concept”. Later, a manufacturer could mass produce smaller custom electronics for the product, using the Arduino design. The hardware is also open source, and explicitly allows for this sort of use.  

Arduino’s best feature is the flexibility: it can works with standard electronic components and sensors (both analog, and digital, if you can hook it up correctly), which are mostly pretty inexpensive.

It is also well supported by a good selection of accessories designed specifically for the platform, which can add a whole range of capabilities. For example, for an advanced robot you could add a “motor shield” to add more motors, with better control. You can add a “WIFI” shield to create a device which connects to a wireless network.

I want to stress: Arduino is not confined to amateur robotics, it can provide the basis for all sorts of design-build projects. One good example is a version of the Arduino called the Lilypad, which is designed to drive wearable electronics and e-textiles.

A few final pragmatic benefits: Arduinos are easily, affordably, and locally available.

Conveniently, there are a good selection of decent “Arduino starter kits” available which include enough electronic components to complete some basic training and simple projects.

They usually start at around €40 - €80 per kit, including an Arduino board. These kits are probably a long way from all that would be needed for proper projects. You would almost always be better off buying bulk components and creating your own “kits”. But that gives you some idea of the modest startup cost of the learning the Arduino platform, and an easy way to get started.

It should be mentioned that there are other similar tools in this vein, notably the Raspberry Pi, that would likely work as well. Arduino, by far, comes with the most well-established community. I wouldn't be against students exploring other platforms, but Arduino would be a great stepping-stone in any event.

So, Arduino will be “brains” of my robot, and form the foundation of the affordable prototyping platform I am designing. The next step will be to choose the “bones” - some sort of flexible structure that can support (quite literally) a wide variety of student projects.

Next time: Introducing Makerbeam