Arduino - HomePage

Photo by the Arduino Team

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 running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).

The boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled; the software can be downloaded for free. The hardware reference designs (CAD files) are available under an open-source license, you are free to adapt them to your needs.

Arduino received an Honorary Mention in the Digital Communities section of the 2006 Ars Electronica Prix. The Arduino team is: Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, Tom Igoe, Gianluca Martino, and David Mellis. Credits

Buy an Arduino Board

Download the Arduino Software

Development: For information on the development of Arduino, see the Arduino project on Google Code. Changes to the software are discussed on the developers mailing list.

Elsewhere: You can find lots of pictures of Arduino projects and workshops in the Arduino tag on Flickr. Related links can be found on the Arduino tag on del.icio.us.

Getting Started

To get started, follow the instructions for your operating system: Windows, Mac OS X or Linux; or for your board: Arduino Nano, Arduino Mini, Arduino BT, LilyPad Arduino, Wireless shield. If you're having trouble, check out the troubleshooting suggestions.

Learning

Examples of how to work with the Arduino language and common electronic components; further readings on the foundations; information on hacking and extending the Arduino hardware and software; external resources.

Reference

Reference for the Arduino language (see also the extended version); a collection of libraries for working with various types of hardware; a comparison with other prototyping platforms, and information about the components of the Arduino board.