The Origin and Development of Arduino

Today, in the field of the Internet of Things, the open-source hardware Arduino can be said to be popular all over the world, becoming the first choice for many electronics enthusiasts and hardware geeks.So, do you know the origin and development history of Arduino?

Origin

In the winter of 2005, a cold winter, Massimo Banzi’s students were complaining about not being able to find affordable and easy-to-use microcontrollers.

Coincidentally, a Spanish chip engineer, David Cuartielles, came to the school as a visiting scholar, and Massimo Banzi discussed this issue with him.

After some discussion, the two decided to design their own circuit board and brought in the questioning student David Mellis to develop a programming language for the circuit board.

Two days later, David Mellis wrote the code.Three days later, the circuit board was completed.

Banzi decided to name this circuit board Arduino.

The Origin of the Name

▲ Ivrea

A picturesque town in northern Italy, Ivrea, spans the turquoise Dora Baltea River.

Arduin was the Count of Ivrea. In the year 1002, King Arduin became the ruler of the nation, but unfortunately, he was deposed by King Henry II of Germany two years later.

Today, there is a bar called “di Re Arduino” on cobblestone streets commemorating this king.

▲ The Arduino founding team

One of the founders of Arduino, Massimo Banzi, often visited this bar, to commemorate this place, he named this circuit boardArduino.

Arduino is a masculine name in Italian, meaning “strong friend”. As a proper noun, Arduino always appears in uppercase, while the model name Uno is only in all uppercase in the PCB icon.

▲ Arduino Uno

Due to the simplicity and ease of use of the circuit board, almost anyone, even those who do not understand computer programming, can use Arduino to create cool things, such as responding to sensors, blinking lights, and controlling motors. Banzi planned to market Arduino.

Unfortunately, Professor Banzi was not good at managing, and after five years of hard work, the company faced bankruptcy. Professor Banzi did not want Arduino to end like this, so he decided to open-source Arduino and make the hardware cheaper.

Unexpectedly, after the open-source release, Arduino spread rapidly and became one of the most mainstream open-source hardware platforms.

▲ The development history of Arduino (incomplete version)

Makers abroad have done many interesting projects using Arduino:

▲ Top 10 Arduino Projects

Makers in China have also come up with many creative ideas:

▲ Self-balancing robot Nano with a height of less than 10cm

▲ The ever-unceasing funny clock

▲ Six-legged bionic robot

Understanding Arduino UNO

Arduino can receive input signals from various sensors to detect the operating environment and influence its surrounding environment through controlling light sources, motors, and other actuators.The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing).

Arduino can run independently or communicate with software running on a computer (such as Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).The Arduino development IDE interface is based on open-source code, allowing you to download and use it for free to develop more amazing interactive works.

Arduino IDE

Open the webpage and enter the URL:

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software