Do You Know Arduino?
At the Fort York Digital Innovation Hub, resident technicians James Topping and Alex Lai offer a variety of courses that meet the needs of the maker community.
A popular course at the library, and especially at the Fort York branch, is the Intro to Arduino. Arduino is a microcontroller that can be easily coded with a programming language. Arduino is simple for anyone to use, it is open source and the parts are inexpensive. Arduino can be used to program a cat door to open only to the resident cat or to program a home alarm system. The possibilities are endless when it comes to using an Arduino.
To get people started, James and Alex offer an Introduction to Arduino program. In this class, participants learn how a microcontroller and breadboard works, how to set up an Arduino, basic troubleshooting and they get an introduction to electronics using simple projects such as turning off and on an LED. To increase our customers' knowledge of Arduino, we've designed a new course, Arduino Part 2: Using Inputs and Outputs, that will expand participants' knowledge by teaching about inputs and outputs using switches and other sensors.
At the end of the class, participants will learn how to use potentiometers to fade a light.
Also participants will learn how to use temperature sensors to measure temperature in a room.
The class, 90 minutes in length and limited to eight students, is designed to increase your knowledge of using an Arduino and hopefully inspire try your own personal projects.
The library has a few resources to help you in your Arduino projects. Safari Tech and Business books online is a great resource as it has the most up-to-date technical books available in PDF format. Also, Lynda.com has several thousand tutorials led by experts. Both electronic resources can be accessed through TPL’s electronic databases.
Also, check out these titles:
With thanks to: Fiona O'Connor, Branch Head at Fort York Branch
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