Arduino - Open source electronics prototyping platform

Exceptionally boring classes made me think about some alternatives, so that I can get myself engaged in something. And some how I ended up googling about electronics. Amazingly my fingers led me to Arduino - an Open Source electronics prototyping platform.

Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software on running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).

Why Arduino ?

Some of my friends are working on some electronics projects and all the time when something goes wrong they have to replace some parts or remake it again. But the open source nature of Arduino initiated projects like Fritzing, which made the job of enthusiasts much less and interesting. Anyone with common sense can understand how these stuff works and can get started in a few hours or days. The strong community support is always available whenever we are in the middle of trouble.

What is Fritzing ?

Fritzing is essentially an Electronic Design Automation software with a low entry barrier, suited for the needs of designers and artists. It uses the metaphor of the breadboard, so that it is easy to transfer your hardware sketch to the software. From there it is possible to create PCB layouts for turning it into a robust PCB yourself or by help of a manufacturer.

I'm interested. But..Where Should I start ?

The getting started section of Arduino site is complete with instructions to install and documentations to help you on the go. You can access the page here - http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/

The Arduino forum is another place where you can actively discuss your problems, doubts and suggestions. Everyone out there are so helpful and cooperative. Check out - http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/

You can also checkout http://fritzing.org/learning/ for learning more about Fritzing project.

Open Source Robotics

Even after better hardwares are available, there was a serious problem in the availability of software toolkits for robot developers. Now the Open Source movement offers a helping hand with its Open Source Hardware and Open Source Robotic movements. Building a Robot involves different skill sets including firmware design, hardware design, mechanical design etc. But Open Source Robotics toolkits and simulation environments can provide a virtual environment for building, testing and visualizing robotics algorithms with low cost of development.It was never this easy to play with hardware, with the help of a new generation of open source hardware platforms and rapid fabrication tools.

"We are starting to realize we can control a laser cutter like a printer," said Pablos Holman, a long time figure in the hardware hacking movement.

Open Source Robotics is slowly getting popular and now hackers are slowly embracing the Open Source Robotics. See some of the most popular open source robotic movements.

The Leaf Project is a group robot development program. The objective is to develop a robot platform that supports experiments with Artificial Intelligence, vision, navigation etc.

Simbad is a Java 3d robot simulator for scientific and educational purposes. It's mainly dedicated to researchers and programmers who wish to study Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and more generally AI algorithms, in context of autonomous robotics and agents.

Simbad also enables programmers to write their own robot controller programs, or modify th environment and use the available sensors.It's available under GPL license.

RobotFlow is a mobile robotics tookit based on the FlowDesigner project. FlowDesigner is a data-flow oriented architecture, similar to Simulink (Matlab) or Labview that is free (LGPL) and versatile. The visual programming interface provided in the FlowDesigner project will help people to better visualize & understand what is really happening in the robot's control loops, sensors, actuators, by using graphical probes and debugging in real-time.

Robot Operating System, ROS is a new, ultra-portable robot programming system. ROS lets you easily build distributed robot control systems in different languages and on different platforms.

If you ever dreamed about a robotic world designed by you, now the time is yours. Start design and create your own robots. Be the future robotic guru with the open source technologies. Yeah it's free, free as in free speech not as in free beer.

NB: image courtesy wired.com

Remote Controlled beetle

Scientists at the University of California developed a tiny rig that receives control signals from a nearby computer. Electrical signals delivered via the electrodes command a Giant flower beetle with implanted electrodes and a radio receiver on its back to take off, turn left or right, etc. The research is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This could be used for surveillance purposes or for search-and-rescue missions,etc.

The beetle's payload consists of an off-the-shelf microprocessor, a radio receiver, and a battery attached to a custom-printed circuit board, along with six electrodes implanted into the animals' optic lobes and flight muscles. Flight commands are wirelessly sent to the beetle via a radio-frequency transmitter that's controlled by a nearby laptop. Oscillating electrical pulses delivered to the beetle's optic lobes trigger takeoff, while a single short pulse ceases flight. Signals sent to the left or right basilar flight muscles make the animal turn right or left, respectively.

NB : News Courtesy Technology Review Magazne