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Arduino For Total Newbies workshop

Day 3 Tuesday 29-December, 13:00 to 16:30

→  →  Right-click on this link, and open in a new window:  ←  ←
Arduino For Total Newbies workshop room on Big Blue Button

NOTE: You do NOT need to register to take this workshop.
Just show up before the start time at the Big Blue Button room, at the link given above.

Learn Arduino
using TV-B-Gone
as an example project
(no materials required)

You've probably heard lots about Arduino. But if you don't know what it is, or how you can use it to do all sorts of cool things, then this fun and easy workshop is for you. As an example project, we'll be creating a TV-B-Gone remote control out of an Arduino -- and it really works!

OPTIONAL: You can do this workshop without materials.
     But, to do the hands-on portion of this workshop, you'll need some MATERIALS.
     Please see the materials section, given below.
It is totally fine to participate in this workshop with no materials.

Prerequisites

     None -- this workshop is for total newbies.

Website

Arduino For Total Newbies workshop page

Abstract

36C3 Arduino For Total Newbies workshopArduino But if you don't know what it is, or how you can use it to do all sorts of cool things, then this fun and easy workshop is for you. As an example project, we'll be creating a TV-B-Gone remote control out of an Arduino -- and it really works!

Full Description

Arduino is an amazingly powerful tool that is very simple to learn to use. It was designed so that artists and non-geeks can start from nothing, and make something cool happen in less than 90 minutes. Yet, it is powerful enough so that uber-geeks can use it for their projects as well.

This workshop is easy enough for total newbies to learn all you need to know to get going on an Arduino.

Taught by Mitch Altman. Participants will make their own Arduino clone, and set it up on solderless breadboards to make their own TV-B-Gone remote control to turn off TVs in public places -- a fun way to learn Arduino (and electronics) basics.

Workshop Itinerary

  • Intro to Arduino
  • Very short lesson to learn everything you need to know about electronics!
  • Overview of the Arduino Uno board.
  • Set up the free and open-source software on our laptops -- Windows, MacOS, or Linux are all fine!
  • And then its time to make something and learn how easy it is to use Arduino! I'll (very easily!) show you how to read schematic diagrams, and you'll put together your own TV-B-Gone remote control using your Arduino board. We will use a solderless breadboard. These are really useful, and provide a fast, and very easy way to put circuits together without needing to solder.
  • Target practice is available all over the world after the workshop.

Materials

OPTIONAL:
To do the hands-on portion of this workshop you will need to order and receive workshop MATERIALS:

If you prefer to obtain the materials, here is what you need:
→  →  NOTE: You can do this workshop with no materials.

  • Arduino Uno Rev3 board (or clone) (example)
           Note: if you order only one thing, the above Arduino board should be that one thing.
  • USB cable: one side fits into your Arduino Uno, the other side fits into your laptop (example: USB-B to USB-A)
  • 1 -- Solderless breadboard -- any size (example)
  • 15 or more -- Jumper wires for solderless breadboard (example)
  • 1 -- 3XAA battery pack with switch and leads (example)
  • 3 -- AA Alkaline batteries (example)
  • 1 -- CR2032 coin cell (example)
  • 1 -- 2N3904 transistor (example)
  • 1 -- Infra Red LED, 940nm, 5mm (example)
  • 1 -- visible LED, 5mm, any color (example)
  • 1 -- 10 Ohm, 1/4W through-hole resistor (example)
  • 1 -- 47 Ohm, 1/4W through-hole resistor (example)
  • 1 -- 1K Ohm, 1/4W through-hole resistor (example)
  • 1 -- 10K Ohm, 1/4W through-hole resistor (example)
  • 1 -- 6mm tactile switch example (example)

Required Software

Please download the free and open source Arduino software before the workshop -- Windows, Linux, or MacOS are all fine!:
Arduino software

Links

Arduino For Total Newbies workshop page
TV-B-Gone website
Ardiuno website
Ken Shirriff's TV-B-Gone Arduino project page

Presenter Bio

Mitch Altman is a Berlin- (and San Francisco) -based hacker and inventor, best known for inventing TV-B-Gone remote controls a keychain that turns off TVs in public places, he was also co-founder of 3ware (a SillyValley RAID controller company), did pioneering work in Virtual Reality at VPL Research invented the NeuroDreamer sleep mask and created the Brain Machine one of MAKE Magazine's more popular DIY projects. He has contributed to MAKE Magazine has written for 2600 and Makery and wrote a chapter from the popular book, Maker Pro He is a mentor at HAX and other accelerators. For the last several years Mitch has been leading workshops around the world, teaching people to make cool things with electronics and teaching everyone to solder Mitch promotes hackerspaces, open source hardware, and mentors others wherever he goes. He is the co-founder of Noisebridge hackerspace in San Francisco, and President and CEO of Cornfield Electronics.