Book Image

Arduino for Kids

By : Rishi Gaurav Bhatnagar, Vijay Varada
Book Image

Arduino for Kids

By: Rishi Gaurav Bhatnagar, Vijay Varada

Overview of this book

The mission of this book is to integrate technology with the tools that children already use for crafts so that they feel that the technology is an extension of their playtime. We use coding, sensors, and micro-controllers integrated with art and craft supplies, origami, and Playdough. There are 10 fun-filled chapters that talk to children directly, and give clear instructions for non-technical parents too. We use Arduino as the controller of choice due to its easy availability and large community. By the end of the book, children will comfortably be able to set up their Arduino, read and understand code, manipulate code, and ultimately write their own code for projects. They will also be able to use basic sensors and know how components connect to each other. All the learning takes place with lots of colorful pictures and the circuits are neatly presented using wiring.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Arduino for Kids
Credits
Foreword
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Demystifying microcontroller


We will start exploring the microcontroller by comparing it to something we already know about: our brain. Let's refer to the following diagram. You have already seen this diagram in the last chapter, but this one has more clues to demystify the microcontroller:

Note

Close your eyes for a moment, and think about everything you know about yourself: your hobbies, things you like, things you do, and so on. Write it down in your observation notebook. We are going to learn about ourselves today!

Microcontrollers are a fascinating piece of technology created by our species. They consist of three major parts; they are:

  • Processor core: This processes everything; it is is the brain of the microcontroller

  • Program memory: This consists of instruction and acts as memory for the controller, just as our brain has memory.

  • Inputs and Outputs: This is used to process external data. This is also where external devices connect all of which are controlled by the micro controller...