Overview
Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer. It’s an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board.
Arduino can be used to develop interactive objects, taking inputs from a variety of switches or sensors, and controlling a variety of lights, motors, and other physical outputs. Arduino projects can be stand-alone, or they can be communicate with software running on your computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP.) – arduino.cc/en/Guide/Introduction
Arduino and other microcontrollers allow the designer to create projects with embedded, tangible interaction: Integrating physical objects, spaces and the whole body with the digital and virtual. Tangible interaction also enables a social element to be a part of the design, where multiple people simultaneously engage with each other simultaneously with the interactive objects, spaces, and media.
Hardware
- Tiny computer that talks to the real world via sensors and actuators – we’ll go over the full range of things you can attach to a microcontroller next week.
- Inputs and outputs
- analog inputs (bottom right) – continuously variable sensors, e.g. proximity
- digital ins/outs (top) – two state (on/off) sensors and outputs, e.g. switch or light
- analog (pwm) outputs (top with “~”) – continuously variable actuators, e.g. LED

A more detailed diagram of the Arduino http://pighixxx.com/unov3pdf.pdf
Other Resources
- Official Arduino Site: arduino.cc
- NETLab Toolkit and Getting Started Tutorial
- Media Design Practices tutorial on Arduino
- Jan Borchers’ Arduino in a Nutshell booklet
- A Canadian college course on the Arduino
- Arduino list of resources
- All About Circuits list of Arduino Projects