Introduction: Get Started With Arduino: Beginners Arduino Kit

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Arduino is a go to board for many electronic projects. It can be used in projects with prototyping shields and it has a large collection of libraries and hence programming an Arduino board is simple. There are many variants in Arduino such as Arduino Uno, Arduino Nano, Arduino Micro, Arduino Leonardo and the list goes on. The most popular board among these is Arduino Uno. Unlike many other programmable circuit boards Arduino doesn't need a separate piece of hardware to program a code onto the board, a simple USB cable does the job. Platform to develop a code for Arduino is provided by Arduino team itself called Arduino IDE.

This beginners kit for getting started with Arduino includes basic components along with an Arduino Uno and a few simple projects that will help a beginner to learn how to use Arduino.

Supplies

This Arduino kit includes following components:

  1. Arduino Uno
  2. Prototyping Shield
  3. Bread board
  4. Servo motor
  5. DC motor
  6. Fan Blade
  7. Mini IR Remote Controller
  8. Relay
  9. 10K Potentiometer
  10. Resistors - 1K, 220R, 4.7K, 10K
  11. 9V battery
  12. 6xAA Battery Holder with power jack
  13. RGB LED 5MM
  14. LED 5MM
  15. Tilt Switch Sensor
  16. LM35 Temperature Sensor
  17. Ambient Light Sensor
  18. HC-SR04 Ultrasonic sensor module
  19. Mini Pushbutton Switcher
  20. Buzzer
  21. IR Receiver
  22. 12V 1A Adapter
  23. Jumper Cables- M/M, F/M
  24. 16x2 LCD module
  25. 4-Digit 7 segment display
  26. 1- Digit 7 segment display

Step 1: A Simple Arduino Project Using Ultrasonic Sensor

This is a very simple project using Arduino UNO.

Here, we are using an LED that blinks when there is an object within a specified distance of ultrasonic sensor.

The distance value that we have taken is 10cm in the code. So, whenever there is an object in front of sensor within 10cm the led glows. And as the object moves away from the specified distance the led turns off.

Step 2: Components Required

The components required for building this project are:

  1. Arduino UNO
  2. Breadboard
  3. Ultrasonic Sensor
  4. USB cable
  5. Jumper cables
  6. 1K ohm resistor
  7. LED

Step 3: Making Connections

Next step is to connect all the components.

Rig up the circuit as per the code.

Step 4: Type and Upload the Code

Download Arduino IDE to type the following code. Arduino IDE is an open source provided by Arduino company itself. Connect the Arduino UNO board to computer through USB programming cable. Then, compile and upload the code to the board.

Use the following code for this project:

#define trigPin 13
#define echoPin 12

#define led 11

void setup() {

Serial.begin (9600);

pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT);

pinMode(echoPin, INPUT);

pinMode(led, OUTPUT);

}

void loop() {

long duration, distance;

digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);

delayMicroseconds(2);

digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);

delayMicroseconds(10);

digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);

duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);

distance = (duration/2) / 29.1;

if (distance < 10) { digitalWrite(led,HIGH);

}

else

{

digitalWrite(led,LOW);

}

Serial.print(distance);

Serial.println(" cm");

delay(500);

}

Step 5: Testing

In the first image there is no object kept in front of the ultrasonic sensor. Hence, the LED is not blinking.

Whereas in the second image, the LED is blinking as there is an object kept within 10cm distance from the sensor.

This project helps us to learn three things:

  1. How to use Arduino UNO to control a process.
  2. How to program an Arduino.
  3. How ultrasonic sensors work.