1. Arduino Robotics Workshop
Day 1
Sudar Muthu (@sudarmuthu)
http://hardwarefun.com/arduino-workshop
http://github.com/sudar

2. Who am I?
Research Engineer by profession
Build’s robots as a hobby
Playing with Arduino for more than 3 years
Blog about Arduino at http://hardwarefun.com
Moderator for Arduino India forum
http://hardwarefun.com 2

3. Special Thanks
Anil and Sysplay
http://hardwarefun.com 3

4. Objective
Introduce Arduino
Learn about robotics
Learn about sensors
Build a small bot
Make it autonomous
Fully hands on
Details at http://hardwarefun.com/arduino-workshop
http://hardwarefun.com 4

5. Basics of Robotics
http://hardwarefun.com 5

6. Anatomy of a Robot
Sensors
Motors
Processor

7. Sensors (Input)

8. Motors (Output)

9. Processor (Brain)

10. Getting to know your Robotics
Kit
http://hardwarefun.com 10

11. Can you identify the different
components in the kit?
http://hardwarefun.com 11

12. Breadboard Basics
http://hardwarefun.com 12

13. How to use a breadboard
The first two and the last two rows are connected
In all the other rows, columns are connected
Connect the first and last row to power
Connect the second and second last row to ground
http://hardwarefun.com 13

14. Arduino
http://hardwarefun.com 14

15. Different Arduino types
Arduino Uno (The one used for this workshop)
Arduino Mega
Arduino Due
Lillypad
Arduino BT
Arduino Ethernet
.. and clones
http://hardwarefun.com 15

16. Getting to know your Arduino
http://hardwarefun.com 16

17. Identify these components in
Arduino
Microcontroller
Power jacket
USB jacket
Digital pins
Analog pins
Reset button
http://hardwarefun.com 17

18. Identify these components in
Arduino
Voltage Regulator
Power Pins (how many are there?)
Ground Pins (how many are there?)
Vin Pin
Rx and Tx Pins
ICSP Headers
http://hardwarefun.com 18

19. Identify these components in
Arduino
Power Led
Rx and Tx Led’s
Test Led
Crystal
Anything else?
http://hardwarefun.com 19

20. Powering up Arduino
http://hardwarefun.com 20

21. Different ways to power up Arduino
Using USB cable
Using DC power jacket
Giving voltage directly into Vin pin
Giving regulated voltage directly into 5V pin
http://hardwarefun.com 21

22. Setting up Arduino
http://hardwarefun.com 22

23. Testing the setup with a “Hello
World” program
http://hardwarefun.com 23

24. Blinking LED
http://hardwarefun.com 24

25. Making a LED blink
Insert a LED in pin 13
Open File->Examples->Basics->Blink
Select Tools->Boards->Arduino Uno
Select File->Upload (or press ctrl+u)
You should get the message “Done upload”
Your Led should blink
Congrats you can program Arduino now 
http://hardwarefun.com 25

26. Anatomy of an Arduino sketch
http://hardwarefun.com 26

27. Printing values through Serial
Uno has one UART hardware port, using which we
can exchange information with computer
Very useful for debugging
Works at a specified baud rate
Use Serial Monitor to read values
SoftwareSerial is also available
http://hardwarefun.com 27

28. Digital Input and output
http://hardwarefun.com 28

29. Digital Input
http://hardwarefun.com 29

30. Digital Output
The LED blink that we did at “setting up Arduino” is
Digital output
http://hardwarefun.com 30

31. Analog Input
http://hardwarefun.com 31

32. Reading Analog values from sensors
Connect the LDR on pin A0 and Gnd
LDR’s resistance varies based on the amount of light
present
Read the current value using analogRead()
Print the value in Serial Monitor
http://hardwarefun.com 32

33. Control an LED based on light
void setup()
{
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
int val = analogRead(A0);
if (val > 50) {
digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
} else {
digitalWrite(13, LOW);
}
}

34. Analog Output
http://hardwarefun.com 34

35. Analog Output
What is PWM?
Analog like behavior using digital output
Works by switching the LED on and off regularly
Changing the brightness of a Led
http://hardwarefun.com 35

36. Introduction to Batteries
http://hardwarefun.com 36

37. Main Concepts
What is voltage?
What is current ratting?
Rechargeable
Don’t ever short circuit it
http://hardwarefun.com 37

38. Different types of batteries
http://hardwarefun.com 38

39. Can you identify the battery
which is part of the kit?
http://hardwarefun.com 39

40. Let’s get some Food
http://hardwarefun.com 40

41. Introduction to Motors
http://hardwarefun.com 41

42. Dc Motor vs stepper motor
http://hardwarefun.com 42

43. Identify the motor in the kit
http://hardwarefun.com 43

44. H-Bridge
http://hardwarefun.com 44

45. Understanding the pins of H-
Bridge
http://hardwarefun.com 45

46. Connecting motors to H-Bridge
http://hardwarefun.com 46

47. Let’s assemble the bot

48. Teaching robot to crawl
Move Forward
Both motors rotate in the forward direction
Move Backward
Both motors rotate in the reverse direction
Turn left
Left motor stops. Only right motor rotates forward
Turn Right
Left motor moves forward. Right motor stops

49. Putting everything together
You have your first fully autonomous
robot ready.
Now take her for a walk 

50. What we will see tomorrow
Varying the speed of the motor
How IR works
Making use of IR to find obstacles
Make the bot avoid strangers
Making it autonomous
Future ideas
http://hardwarefun.com 50

51. Links
 Arduino – http://arduino.cc
 Asimi – A simple bot using Arduino
http://hardwarefun.com/project/asimi
 Getting started with hardware programming
http://hardwarefun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-
hardware-programming
 Getting started with Arduino
http://hardwarefun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-
arduino-and-avr
 Workshop Details http://hardwarefun.com/arduino-
workshop

52. Questions
Thank You
Sudar Muthu (@sudarmuthu)
http://hardwarefun.com/arduino-workshop
https://github.com/sudar/arduino-robotics-workshop