We make a programmer shield for the Arduino Uno lying around. The most interesting shields for Arduino What is CNC shield v3

One of the key advantages of the Arduino platform is its popularity. The popular platform is actively supported by manufacturers of electronic devices, releasing special versions of various boards that expand the basic functionality of the controller. Such boards, quite logically called expansion boards (another name: arduino shield, shield), serve to perform a wide variety of tasks and can greatly simplify the life of an arduinist. In this article, we will learn what an Arduino expansion board is and how it can be used to work with a variety of Arduino devices: motors (motor driver shields), LCD screens (LCD shields), SD cards (data logger), sensors (sensor shield ) and many others.

Let's first understand the terms. The Arduino expansion board is a complete device designed to perform certain functions and is connected to the main controller using standard connectors. Another popular name for an expansion board is the English-language Arduino shield or simply shield. All the necessary electronic components are installed on the expansion board, and interaction with the microcontroller and other elements of the main board occurs through standard arduino pins. Most often, the shield is also powered from the main arduino board, although in many cases it is possible to power it from other sources. In any shield, there are a few free pins that you can use at your discretion by connecting any other components to them.

The English word Shield is translated as a shield, screen, screen. In our context, it should be understood as something that covers the controller board, which creates an additional layer of the device, a screen behind which various elements are hidden.

Why are arduino shields needed?

Everything is very simple: 1) so that we save time, and 2) someone could make money on it. Why waste time designing, placing, soldering, and debugging something that you can take already assembled and start using right away? Well-designed and assembled on high-quality hardware, expansion boards are usually more reliable and take up less space in the final device. This does not mean that you need to completely abandon self-assembly and do not need to understand the principle of operation of certain elements. After all, a real engineer always tries to understand how what he uses works. But we will be able to make more complex devices if we do not reinvent the wheel every time, but focus our attention on what few people have solved before us.

Naturally, you have to pay for the opportunities. Almost always, the cost of the final shield will be higher than the price of individual components, you can always make a similar option cheaper. But here it is up to you to decide how critical the time or money spent is for you. Taking into account all possible assistance from the Chinese industry, the cost of boards is constantly decreasing, so most often the choice is made in favor of using ready-made devices.

The most popular examples of shields are expansion boards for working with sensors, motors, LCD screens, SD cards, network and GPS shields, shields with built-in relays for connecting to the load.

Connecting Arduino Shields

To connect the shield, you just need to carefully "put" it on the main board. Usually, the pins of the comb-type shield (male) are easily inserted into the Arduino board connectors. In some cases, it is required to carefully tweak the pins if the board itself is not soldered neatly. The main thing here is to act carefully and not apply excessive force.

As a rule, the shield is designed for a very specific version of the controller, although, for example, many Arduino Uno shields work quite well with Arduino Mega boards. The pinout on the mega is made in such a way that the first 14 digital contacts and the contacts on the opposite side of the board coincide with the location of the contacts on the UNO, so the arduino shield easily becomes it.

Arduino Shield Programming

Programming a circuit with an expansion board is no different from the usual programming of an arduino, because from the point of view of the controller, we simply connected our devices to its usual pins. In the sketch, you need to specify those pins that are connected in the shield to the corresponding pins on the board. As a rule, the manufacturer indicates the correspondence of the pins on the shield itself or in a separate connection manual. If you download the sketches recommended by the board manufacturer, you won't even need to do that.

Reading or writing shield signals is also done in the usual way: using the functions, and other commands familiar to any arduinist. In some cases, collisions are possible when you are used to this connection scheme, and the manufacturer has chosen a different one (for example, you pulled the button to the ground, and on the shield - to power). Here you just need to be careful.

As a rule, this expansion board comes in arduino kits and therefore it is with it that arduino people meet most often. The shield is quite simple - its main task is to provide more convenient options for connecting to the Arduino board. This is done through additional power and ground connectors, brought to the board to each of the analog and digital pins. Also on the board you can find connectors for connecting an external power source (you need to install jumpers to switch), an LED and a restart button. Shield options and usage examples can be found in the illustrations.

There are several versions of the sensor expansion board. All of them differ in the number and type of connectors. The most popular versions today are Sensor Shield v4 and v5.

This arduino shield is very important in robotics projects. Allows you to connect regular and servo motors to the Arduino board at once. The main task of the shield is to provide control of devices that consume a current that is high enough for a regular arduino board. Additional features of the board are the function of controlling the motor power (using PWM) and changing the direction of rotation. There are many varieties of motor shield boards. Common to all of them is the presence in the circuit of a powerful transistor through which an external load is connected, heat sink elements (usually a radiator), circuits for connecting external power, connectors for connecting motors and pins for connecting to an arduino.

The organization of work with the network is one of the most important tasks in modern projects. To connect to a local area network via Ethernet, there is a corresponding expansion board.

Prototyping Expansion Boards

These boards are quite simple - they have contact pads for mounting elements, a reset button is displayed and it is possible to connect external power. The purpose of these shields is to increase the compactness of the device, when all the necessary components are located immediately above the main board.

Arduino LCD shield and tft shield

This type of shield is used to work with LCD screens in arduino. As you know, connecting even the simplest 2-line text screen is far from a trivial task: you need to correctly connect 6 screen contacts at once, not counting the power supply. It is much easier to insert a ready-made module into an arduino board and simply upload the appropriate sketch. In the popular LCD Keypad Shield, from 4 to 8 buttons are immediately connected to the board, which allows you to immediately organize an external interface for the user of the device. TFT Shield also helps

Arduino Data Logger Shield

Another task that is quite difficult to implement on your own in your products is the storage of data received from sensors with time reference. The ready-made shield allows not only to save data and receive time from the built-in clock, but also to connect sensors in a convenient way by soldering or on the circuit board.

Brief Summary

In this article, we have considered only a small part of the huge range of various devices that expand the functionality of arduino. Expansion boards allow you to focus on the most important thing - the logic of your program. The creators of the shields provided for the correct and reliable installation, the necessary power supply. All that remains for you is to find the board you need using the cherished English word shield, connect it to the arduino and upload the sketch. Usually, any programming of a shield consists in performing simple actions to rename the internal variables of an already finished program. As a result, we get ease of use and connection, as well as the speed of assembly of finished devices or prototypes.

The disadvantage of using expansion boards is their cost and possible loss of efficiency due to the versatility of shields that lies in their nature. For your specific application or end device, all of the shield's features may not be needed. In this case, you should use the shield only at the stage of prototyping and testing, and when creating the final version of your device, think about replacing it with a design with your own layout and layout type. It's up to you, you have all the possibilities for the right choice.

As a rule, acquaintance with the Arduino hardware platform begins with connecting the simplest peripherals: LEDs, buttons, buzzers, etc. Typically, circuits for this are assembled on a breadboard, but another option is possible. On sale there is a shield on which the most widespread simple peripherals are already arranged. This multifunctional shield was purchased on Ali for $2.

The device comes in an antistatic bag. The module has dimensions of 69 x 53 x 20 mm, weight 24.4 g.

The device is designed to work with the Arduino UNO, Arduino Leonardo and Arduino Mega boards, although, of course, using wires, you can connect this device to any board of the Arduino family. However, the latter does not seem rational to the author of this review, since in this case the main advantage of this board is lost - ease of installation.

It should be noted that when installing this board on top of the classic Arduino UNO, the board rises with a slight skew, the reason for this is the rather large USB-BF connector on the Arduino UNO board. Of course, there will be no such problem on the Arduino Leonardo board. However, this did not affect the operation of this shield in any way.

The board has 4 seven-segment indicators connected via shift registers 74HC595, next to which there is a reset button and an APC220 connector for connecting Bluetooth modules or a voice module.

In addition, the board has four red LEDs connected to ports D10, D11, D12, D13 of the Arduino board. The buzzer is connected to the D3 port, it should be noted that the sound emitter is equipped with a built-in generator, so it will not work to play a simple melody with it. At the bottom of the board is a trimmer connected to port A0.

Three buttons connected to ports A1, A2, A3 (digital ports D15, D16, D17, respectively). Four three-pin connectors are connected to ports D5, D6, D9, A5 and are intended for connecting external devices. The list of devices is completed by a connector for connecting analog LM35 or digital DS18B20 temperature sensors. Sensors are connected to port A4. Jumper J1 connects or disconnects the 10 kΩ resistor for the correct operation of the sensors

Controlling LEDs and a sound emitter is no different from controlling any simple digital device. For example, you can blink the LEDs and sound the buzzer using the port_D program.

Working with a potentiometer can also be described by the classic example of AnalogInput , which, using a variable resistor, controls the blinking frequency of the LED connected to the D13 port.

You can try to control the LEDs using the buttons, for this you need to download the program _3_LED_with_button

Seven-segment indicators are a powerful visualization tool, it should be borne in mind that if they are not used, then random characters are displayed on them.

You can check their performance using the program _7seg

In principle, based on this shield, without any hardware modifications, you can assemble a variety of timers, for example, a countdown timer Count_Down_Timer . The timer allows you to set time intervals from 10 seconds to 60 minutes 50 seconds in increments of 10 seconds. In this timer, press A2 to set the minutes, press A3 to set the seconds, and press A1 to start the countdown. At the end of the set period of time, an audible signal sounds.

In general, the shield leaves a favorable impression. This device not only allows you to get acquainted with the basic Arduino, but also can become the basis for a simple project, such as a timer, event counter, etc. Naturally, the downside of an attempt to put a maximum of peripherals on the shield is that in each specific project some of the device details will not be used.

It may seem that such a primitive periphery will be relevant only for learning at the initial stage. This is partly true. Of course, problems with connecting several buttons, LEDs, a buzzer or a seven-segment indicator to the Arduino board can only occur for a person who has a You. Any more or less experienced radio amateur is unlikely to have problems with this.

Here the question is different, if the goal is to create a prototype device in the minimum time, then extra trivial operations are exactly what actually distracts from creativity. In fact, this shield fits into the ideology of buying amenities and your own free time for money.

useful links

http://radioskot.ru/blog/raspinovka_usb_i_micro_usb/2013-09-11-97
http://publicatorbar.ru/2017/12/21/arduino-multi-function-shield/
http://robocraft.ru/blog/arduino/59.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z263RK31QA

The review was prepared by Denev.

The Arduino is a tiny board with a lot of power, a typical representative of Open Hardware and one of the first devices to gain wide popularity among hardware hackers. No wonder: a convenient electronic designer allows even beginners to quickly figure it out and start developing their own devices from scratch.

How to get started quickly?

For a quick start, the easiest way for a beginner is to buy a ready-made board - it costs about $30. There will be only two chips on the board - an ATMEL microcontroller and a USB interface chip to which it is connected. All other elements are added independently as needed.

Arduino programs (called "sketches" in slang) are written in the Wiring language. In fact, this is ordinary C ++, extended with special procedures like “digitalWrite” (write a value to a port) or “analogRead” (read a value from an ADC). All this is mastered in one or two sittings, especially if you already have C++ programming experience. The written sketches are compiled and uploaded to the Arduino via USB using the ArduinoIDE (arduino.cc/en/Main/Software). It takes about thirty minutes to assemble the simplest project, without the need for a deep dive into ATMEL datasheets and assembler constructs. The language is intuitive, and a good online help will help you deal with the nuances. And soldering, by the way, is also optional if there is a solderless breadboard and a set of wires.

All microcontroller pins are routed to two neat rows of pads, to which you can connect sensors, buttons, displays, and the like. However, the more complex the harness, the more hemorrhoids can be with it. If we are talking about a pair of LEDs and buttons, then no difficulties. But if you want to control motors or exchange data via the radio interface, a number of difficulties arise. To combat this defect, they came up with shield boards - ready-made boards for expanding functionality.

What is a Shield Board?

The shield board is a turnkey solution for the implementation of common tasks faced by hardware developers. Examples of such tasks can be data transmission via the radio interface, and work with Ethernet, and control of electronic motors. Expansion boards are easy to install on Arduino, docking with pin blocks and forming a very rigid sandwich structure.

You can install several boards at the same time, the main thing is that the devices do not conflict for the same Arduino pins. With a little digging on the net, you can find tables with a list of popular shields and the pins they occupy (shieldlist.org).

Then all that remains is to hook the appropriate library to the main sketch and try out the operation of the circuit using the sample sketch attached to the library. With this approach, time is saved twice: first for the development and debugging of the hardware, and then for the software. However, there are only a couple of dozen truly successful and popular shield boards. How does a good shield differ from a bad one?

First of all, it must have a reset button. Anyone who has debugged the Arduino with a shield on can appreciate this - the regular reset button becomes inaccessible and the exercises to press it with the help of oblong objects at hand are annoying. A good shield should also be compatible with the Arduino Mega - if you have an extended version of the Arduino on an ATmega1280 or ATmega2560, it's not certain that a shield made for the familiar Uno or Duemilanova will work with it. And all due to the fact that in Mega the pins responsible for the hardware SPI were moved to another place! So if the shield communicates with the Arduino via the SPI bus, be sure to study its “belly” - you can hope for compatibility with Mega if you see not only pins there, but also a black square 2x3 female connector. Below I have prepared an overview of the best off-the-shelf Shield boards for common tasks.

Motor control

If you need to control motors, feel free to use the Motorshield shield, created by the talented American engineer Limor Freed aka ladyada (ladyada.net/make/mshield/).

The main benefit of the shield is its versatility, as it supports up to four DC motors, up to two stepper motors and two servos. Can be combined: for example, one stepper motor and two DC motors. The basis of the shield is provided by two L293D quad H-bridge microcircuits, capable of delivering current up to 600 mA per channel and operating voltages from 4.5 to 36 V. By paralleling the inputs of one microcircuit, you can move the current limit to 1.2 A.

With this shield, you can, for example, simultaneously control the motors and steering rod of a racing car model, stepper motors of a coordinate table. For more powerful loads, you can use Ardumoto with an L298 chip from Sparkfun (two channels with load currents up to 2 A) or its more advanced version of Monster Moto Shield (sparkfun.com/products/10182) on two VNH2SP30 chips, capable of delivering up to 30 And with a maximum voltage of 41 V. If it comes to the last option, do not forget to consult with knowledgeable specialists: after all, the loads are quite decent, you may have to get an additional radiator so as not to get burned.

Working with Ethernet

There are two main options for Ethernet shields - based on the good old ENC28J60 chip from Microchip and the more advanced W5100 from Wiznet. Both solutions use the SPI bus for communication, taking away only four Arduino pins. But the ENC28J60 appeared much earlier and clearly loses to the advanced W5100: only 10 Mbps, no hardware support for IP, UDP, TCP. In addition, the W5100 allows you to work with four sockets (which means support for up to four simultaneous connections).

In general, I strongly recommend using the W5100, because it significantly saves the key resource of the microcontroller - RAM (SRAM), which has to be saved (the Atmega328 has only one kilobyte). Well, all the other advantages of preprocessing are obvious: while the W5100 itself asks for packets via the TCP protocol and calculates header checksums, Atmega can safely do more important things.

Another exemplary example is the Arduino Ethernet Shield (arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoEthernetShield) from the Arduino team. With it, you can create a sketch that will be able to:

get a dynamic IP address via DHCP;
set the time using the NTP protocol;
resolve names through DNS;
pass authorization through RADIUS;
act as a simple Web server or act as a Web client, making requests and parsing responses.

Of similar boards, one can note the development of Freetronics - EthernetShield with PoE (freetronics.com/products/ethernet-shieldwithpoe). The idea of powering an Ethernet device from the same Ethernet line it is connected to was born in 2001, and two years later became the official IEEE 802.3af industry standard. From my own experience, I note that there is nothing more convenient for powering autonomous boxes that communicate via Ethernet and are scattered around the building within a radius of 100 meters from a special power switch. Such a shield costs a little more, requires the purchase of an additional PoE module microcard, and has a breadboard field instead of an SD connector.

The use of such a shield is exclusively in fixed structures that require interaction over a TCP / IP network. For example, displaying the status of connected sensors in the browser or remote control of some mechanisms.

I immediately recall the “twitter-flower” project, in which the Arduino + Ethernet bundle, using a moisture sensor stuck into the ground, complained about dryness through twitter and demanded immediate watering. With all the variety of EthernetShield applications, I want to warn you that each library, of course, saves time, however, it also takes up several kilobytes of the microcontroller's flash memory. Therefore, if sooner or later you run into the size limit of 30 KB of your Arduino Duemilanova - think about replacing it with a Mega 2560, there will be eight and a half times more memory for sketches.

Using SD cards

In projects related to the accumulation of some information (for example, GPS coordinates), it is often necessary to increase the amount of available non-volatile memory. The easiest way to do this is by connecting a standard SD card. There are several ready-made shields for this. The prettiest option I know of is the microSD module, developed by the Spanish environmental monitoring firm Libellium (goo.gl/iHCy4).

The shield occupies only one Arduino pin block and allows you to work with SD and SDHC cards pre-formatted in FAT16 (preferred) or FAT32. You can only work with one file at a time, long names are not supported.

Wireless shields

The simplest amplitude modulated RF modules (ASK), operating in the unlicensed 433 and 313 MHz band, although they can be used with Arduino through the VirtualWire library, still seem to me a pretty bad option.

They are too susceptible to interference, work stably only at low speeds, do not have hardware separation into channels - several simultaneously operating transmitters will interfere with each other. Maybe that's why I haven't seen shield boards for them yet.

The polar opposite is the Xbee family of boards based on Zigbee protocols, ideal for organizing self-powered distributed sensor networks. Each such board is itself a device with a microcontroller on board, and very little is required from the shield - to ensure coordination with the Arduino. Such shields are usually called "Xbee Shield", but not always - for example, Libellium developed Communication Shield (goo.gl/OZDxl). The shield necessarily contains two rows of pads, to which the module in Xbee format is docked.

The only drawback, perhaps, is the price of the Xbee module itself. In return, we get speeds up to 250 Kbps, line-of-sight range up to 90 meters (Xbee PRO modification can reach up to 1.2 km), encryption, economical power consumption and the ability to relay data (two modules transparently communicate with each other through the third).

It has long been noted that when a company talks about wireless networks, the first thing they remember for some reason is WiFi, much less often about Bluetooth. Examples are WiFly Shield by SparkFun (sparkfun.com/products/9954) and Bluetooth module by Libellium (cooking-hacks.com/index.php/arduinobluetoothmodule-89.html). The latter is made in the Xbee format and will work with any Xbee adapter shield, and the software configuration from the Arduino resembles a dialogue with a modem - through the serial port and AT commands. By the way, at one time the original Arduino BT board was released (arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardBluetooth), which did not have a USB interface, but was programmed and connected to the computer via Bluetooth. It did not receive wide distribution - perhaps due to an increase in price.

To exchange data via GSM, a mobile phone is usually used that can work on a serial port at TTL levels.
But now there are fewer and fewer of them - they are being replaced by USB, which requires you to be a host (and not a device, which is Arduino) to work with. But, fortunately, manufacturers have been churning out finished GSM modules for a long time, to which it remains to twist an external antenna and a SIM card connector. You don't have to look far for an example - Libellium's GPRS Quadband module for Arduino (goo.gl/KueFH), which is based on a SAGEM GPRS modem.
A feature of this particular model is that the GRPS module is removable, and you can transfer not only data - the output to an external speakerphone is wired.

Various shields

Summing up, we can say with confidence that solutions to almost all typical problems have long existed in the form of shields. But do not think that this is where it all ends. Here are some examples: Libellium's Radiation Sensor Board (Geiger counter).

Do-it-yourself shield

As an example, let's create our own LCD shield. The connection scheme of the popular 1602 alphanumeric LCD on the HD44780 controller is available in two versions - an eight-bit bus or a four-bit one. It's time to discover the Arduino shield building strategy: there are never too many pins! We try to use them to a minimum and therefore we choose a four-bit scheme (for our happiness, support for such a scheme is included in the ArduinoIDE distribution kit, in the form of the LiquidCrystal library).

We use a special blank to build our shield - a protoshield, which is a breadboard with a few frills. Its most important value is the correctly spaced pin holes for perfect docking with the Arduino. It just so happened that all the pin blocks are located on a grid with a pitch of 2.54 mm, except for one (if not for this annoying fact, one could take any piece of the “perforated breadboard” and solder the PLS docking plugs into it). This was done on purpose so that the recipient, out of absent-mindedness, would not insert the shield the other way around and burn the future masterpiece in the bud.
Note that the circuit includes a variable resistor to adjust the contrast. It is important! If you forget about it, with the rest of the scheme and sketch correct, nothing will be visible. Any 10-20 kOhm will do, and specifically on this protoshield it is already provided for - though it is connected to the analog0 input, so you have to solder extra wires.

Let's take a piece of the PLS pin comb and solder it first to the display contacts, and then to the shield. After that, you need to take the mounting wire and carefully, in turn, strip and solder the wires from the display to the Arduino pins according to the diagram - fortunately, it is simple. I intuitively managed to hide most of it under the display.

Let's put the result on Arduino and load the first test sketch from the LiquidCrystal directory. Nothing on the screen? Or a bunch of black squares? It doesn't matter, it's time to tighten up the variable resistor - I'm sure something will definitely appear! In this case, you can breathe a sigh of relief - now you have the first shield of your own making. Well, since he has earned - you can Russify it at the same time. At one time, I changed the standard library so that Cyrillic characters were correctly translated from UTF-8 to the display character generator. Look for the latest version of the library at github.com/mk90 .

And programming. It is designed to replace bulky analog devices or microcircuits and is ideal as a gift for all radio amateurs.

Arduino: high-tech constructor

"Arduino" is a microcontroller board with many pins and its own processor. The board is the basis to which you can connect a fairly large number of so-called shields (from the English shield - shield), expanding the functionality of the board. It is used in process automation systems, but can also be easily used in robotics. There are a lot of areas of activity for the Arduino board. But she gained popularity among radio amateurs precisely as an inexpensive, but simple and very multifunctional designer.

You can make the Arduino work as it should with the help of programming. This process is easy, and even a beginner can handle it. And if the user has the skills of the C ++ language, then programming the board will turn out very simply and quickly.

The main advantage of the board is the ability to connect an unlimited number of peripheral devices to it, thereby achieving maximum automation of work. In addition, if something does not work out for a beginner, it does not matter. There are a huge number of communities on the network with a lot of information and instructions for programming and connecting. radio amateurs is a wonderful choice.

It should be noted that the constructor works on free software (for example, a special Linux distribution), so you won’t have to pay extra for the OS and software.

Working with shield-boards (shields)

As mentioned above, the functionality of the device is enhanced with the help of special boards - shields. These are ready-made boards for managing a particular process. Shields are connected using connectors - pins. The range of processes that can be controlled using shields is very large: from data transmission over Ethernet to control of electric motors. You can assemble a process control system using shields with your own hands. "Arduino" only distributes the role of one or another external device prescribed in the program, and the expansion boards themselves work directly.

There are times when you need to write some data to memory (for example, GPS points). The Arduino itself cannot do this, since it does not have a memory drive. This is where the shield comes in handy, adding the ability to use micro-SD cards up to 64 GB.

Oddly enough, you can even create shields yourself. For example, a simple LCD shield. Take a screen from a calculator or an old pager and attach it to the pins of the board. Of course, you still have to write a program so that the Arduino displays the image on the screen. And that's it, the homemade shield is ready.

Programming "Arduino"

Arduino programs are written in the Wired language. This language is similar to C++ in many ways. However, even if you do not have programming skills, it is still not difficult to deal with Wired. On forums dedicated to "Arduino", programs for it are called "sketches". Even if you are too lazy or unable to program yourself, you can find a huge number of ready-made sketches.

Each sketch requires its own set of libraries. They can also be searched on the Arduino forums. For beginners, there is a very good reference guide with step-by-step instructions for writing sketches for a particular process.

Creating shields for Arduino with your own hands

Buying shields for Arduino is not necessary at all. Let's say you don't have an extra $30, but there are a lot of unnecessary details and a great desire to automate something. No problem. The main thing is that you already have a main board with a flashed OS and the ability to write sketches.

From improvised parts, an Arduino circuit can be obtained. With your own hands, it remains only to solder the components. Although, if the structure is assumed to be motionless, then nothing needs to be soldered. Simply connect the components with wires. It should be noted that such a home-made shield for Arduino at cost will turn out to be many times cheaper than the factory one. For example, an Arduino kit for automating the operation of electric motors will cost $80-90. But if you do the assembly yourself, you can reduce the cost to $ 30.

There are also many other kits created for certain areas, and they include, in addition to the main board, all the necessary parts. For example, a kit for creating a smart home, video surveillance, climate control or stereo systems.

Naturally, not all shields can be made by yourself. In some cases, you just can not find the right details. For example, a shield with an extension for a memory card will have to be bought.

What can you use Arduino for?

There are a lot of applications for this device, we will consider only some examples of use.

For example, you have a car. And you need to display information about the speed on the LCD screen of the radio. How to make a speedometer from Arduino? Very simple. We buy fees. For example, Arduino Mega 2560, Ublox NEO 6m GPS GPS module. After that, we search the network for ready-made sketches for control, prescribe all this in Arduino, attach it to each other, and you're done.

You can just as easily create a whole control system with your own hands. Arduino makes this possible. The main thing is to stock up on the necessary sketches and details.

Using "Arduino" in robotics

Arduino is widely used in robotics. Due to the fact that a large number of servos, motors, sensors are connected to the board, you can get a whole robot made by yourself. "Arduino" also allows you to program it however you want. If you are interested in crawling, driving and jumping pieces of iron, then "Arduino" is definitely for you.

In addition, if you attach the device, along with some sensors, to a quadrocopter, you can get a good observer robot. And this is already quite a useful development.

It is in robotics that one can show remarkable imagination, and with the help of "Arduino" - to put it into practice. Some craftsmen even make prototypes from Futurama using just this constructor.

Instead of a conclusion

Arduino controller boards are ideal for automating any process due to their flexibility in customization. In addition, no one will have problems with board programming thanks to the rich reference manual on this topic. If something breaks in the process of work, it will not be difficult to repair it yourself. "Arduino" allows a person to show boundless imagination. With this board, you can create almost anything, from an underfloor heating control system via a smartphone to a robot.

Flashing an LED and the like is great, of course, but I wanted to do something really more or less worthwhile that can be applied in everyday life. Probably the simplest thing is to turn on and off powerful current consumers - light bulbs, ve Fans, pumps, tape recorders, etc. For this, Relay-Shield will help us. There are ready-made solutions, a lot of schemes in the internet. But it's more fun to do it yourself.

Here. Now you can start soldering the components. First of all, jumpers and small elements (resistors, diode assembly, transistors).

The most troublesome thing is sealing the connector pins.... But somehow I managed it :) So you can too. The main thing is that there would be no "snot", "shorty" and "non-solder" :)
Here are some photos of the finished product. Let's just say, not an exhibition option, but still ...
By the way, SMD diodes are visible from below, standing parallel to the relay windings. The transformer is fixed with two wires.

And upload the test sketch:

/*
Test Home made relay Shield (Ghost D. 2012)
Using digital pins #7 and #8
*/

void setup()(
//
pinMode(7, OUTPUT);
pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() (
digitalWrite(7, HIGH); // Turn on the first relay
delay(2000); // we wait
digitalWrite(8, HIGH); // Turn on the second relay
delay(2000);
digitalWrite(8, LOW); // Turn off the second relay
delay(2000);
digitalWrite(7, LOW); // turn off the first relay
delay(2000); //
}

Our new shield clicks relays. Voila!!!

P.S. In my version, during testing, the transformer heats up quite strongly. Either the information was incorrectly indicated on the PSU (from where I picked it out) (such as 300 mA), or there was some kind of trouble with it ...