Arduino, the low cost microcontroller board reaching out to enthusiasts everywhere has another variant. This time it is Morocco’s turn.
The team behind arduino maroc launched their kickstarter on September 28th 2012 with a funding goal of $10 000 USD which they managed to achieve within the first three days.
The new arduino board will have several improvements over the current Arduino UNO R3, including on-board USB connector and more GPIO pins.
The board will be manufactured in Morocco locally with high quality components resulting in a low price affordable for any developer on a budget.
What is an Arduino?
An arduino is essentially a small computer that has been adapted to react to and control the outside world. The board is able to get input from sensors and then affect outputs such as LEDs, motors, switches through attached circuitry. A variety of different arduino boards exist, including the Arduino UNO R3 which we reviewed and tested for this article.
What can you do with an Arduino?
Programming an Arduino is done using the Arduino IDE. The board has a number of built-in functions that can be used as building blocks for programming advanced functionality or performing complex tasks. For example, you can use a servo to control a motor, read from sensors and output information to LEDs. More experienced users have managed to build on top of this to add bluetooth, wifi and even water jets.
What does an Arduino UNO R3 look like?
The board itself is small, about the size of a credit card at 60mm x 55mm. On the front of the board there are several colour coded pins that can be configured as either digital i/o or as a pwm pin. There is also a special reset button that can be pressed to force the board into a certain type of bootloader mode.
On the opposite side there are six analog pins and four built in hardware serial ports which allow for communication with bluetooth, GSM modules or other serial devices. The top of the board has a USB connector to allow the board to be connected to a computer either for programming or input/output.
What can you do with an Arduino UNO R3?
The board comes with several useful features including hardware serial ports, six analog pins and 20 digital pins (14 of which are PWM). The board should be powerful enough for most projects including motor control, servo manipulation, lighting and other general I/O tasks.
The Arduino UNO R3 is powered through the USB connection between your computer or through an attached power supply (5v dc). There are also several shield connections that allow you to add on additional hardware to the board for whatever purpose.