Bionic Arduino

Introduction to Microcontrollers with Arduino

Class 2

13 Nov 2007 - machineproject - Tod E. Kurt

 What’s for Today
• Random Behavior
• RGB LEDs
• Color mixing
• Analog input with variable resistors
• Potentiometers & photocells
• Basic serial input & output
• Playing sound with piezo buzzers
This is a lot of stuff, let’s see how far we get.
Recap: Blinky LED
Make sure things still work

compile

upload

Load “File/Sketchbook/Examples/Digital/Blink” TX/RX flash

l in k
b k
l i n
b sketch runs
Change the “delay()” values to change blink rate
 Known Good
Configuration
Rule #1 of experimenting:

Before trying anything new,

Get back to a known working state

So spend a few minutes & get “Blink” working again

Get your entire edit->compile->upload->run working
Even if it becomes so second nature to you that you feel you shouldn’t need to, do it anyway.
Especially when mysterious problems arise, revert to a known state
Getting the Board Set Up
Arduino
board
resistor
pin 9
LED
gnd

schematic gnd

wire up pin 9 LED too

 Questions / Review

Any questions, comments, or problems?

 Aside: LED Light Tubes

Snug-fit straws on
the end of your
LEDs to make
them glow more
visibly

I have a box of multi-colored straws for whatever color LED you like
 Random Behavior
“CandleLight”

Uses simple
pseudo random
number generator
to mimic flame

Use random(min,max)
to pick a number between
min & max.

This sketch is in the handout.

Can also use random numbers to make random decisions.
Note: not truly random, but good enough for most purposes.
 Analog Input
To computers, analog is chunky

image from: [Link]

 Analog Input
• Many states, not just two (HIGH/LOW)
• Number of states (or values, or “bins”) is resolution
• Common computer resolutions:
• 8-bit = 256 values
• 16-bit = 65,536 values
• 32-bit = 4,294,967,296 values
 Analog Input
• Arduino (ATmega168) has six ADC inputs
• (ADC = Analog to Digital Converter)
• Reads voltage between 0 to 5 volts
• Resolution is 10-bit (1024 values)
• In other words, 5/1024 = 4.8 mV smallest
voltage change you can measure
 Analog Input
Sure sure, but how to make a varying voltage?
With a potentiometer. Or just pot.

+5V–
50k
measure–
gnd–

The pot you have

pots also look like this

 Potentiometers
Moving the knob is like moving
where the arrow taps the voltage on the resistor

When a resistor goes across a voltage difference, like +5V to Gnd, the voltage measured at any point
along a resistor’s length is proportional to the distance from one side.

If you take apart a pot, there’s a little wiper just like in the schematic symbol.
But I might have the directions reversed (clockwise vs. anti-clockwise).
 What good are pots?

• Anytime you need a ranged input

• (we’re used to knobs)

• Measure rotational position

• steering wheel, robotic joint, etc.

• But more importantly for us, potentiometers

are a good example of a resistive sensor

There are many kinds of resistive sensors

 Arduino Analog Input
Plug pot directly into breadboard

Two “legs” plug into +5V & Gnd

(red + & blue -) buses

Middle “post” plugs into a row

(row 7 here)

Run a wire from that row to

Analog In 2

Why are we using Analog In 2? Because it’s in the middle. There’s no reason, any of the 6 analog
inputs would work the same.
 Pot & LED Circuit
This is what your board should have on it now

+5V

Arduino
+5V board
resistor
220 (red-red-brown)
50k pin 2 pin 9
potentiometer
gnd LED

gnd

gnd

In schematics, inputs are usually on the left, outputs on the right

Also, more positive voltages are on the top, more negative on the bottom
 Varying Brightness by Hand
“PotDimmer”

Turn the knob to

change LED
brightness input
process the
input data
output

Most all embedded

systems have a
input→process→output
loop
Sketch available in handout
 Two Ways to
Hook up LEDs
+5V
+5V

Arduino Arduino LED

board board

resistor resistor
pin 9 pin 9
LED
gnd gnd

gnd

To turn ON: digitalWrite(9,HIGH) To turn ON: digitalWrite(9,LOW)

To turn OFF: digitalWrite(9,LOW) To turn OFF: digitalWrite(9,HIGH)

To set brightness: analogWrite(9,val) To set brightness: analogWrite(9,255-val)

We’ve been using the one on the left because it makes more sense.
But you’ll see the method on the right as well.
The reason for this is that some circuits can switch to Gnd better than they can switch to +5V.
 RGB LEDs
Normal LED
anode +
anode +
cathode –
cathode –

RGB LED
anode +
red cathode –
anode +
blue cathode –
green cathode –
red blue green

actually 3 LEDs in one package

RGB LED, aka “tri-color LED”
Common-anode RGB LEDs are much more available than common-cathode.
This is why we’re changing around the logic.
 Color Mixing
With just 3 LEDs you can make any* color
+5V
common anode
RGB LED

Arduino
board
pin 11
pin 10
pin 9
220 (red,red,brown)

gnd
green blue red With RGB you can
make any color
(except black)

Mixing light is the additive color model

(paint is subtractive color, and can give you brown)
*besides the additive/substractive color different, it’s hard to get the mix to be just right for a
variety of annoying reasons:
- the physics of LEDs mean that different color LEDs put out different amounts of light
- our eyes respond non-linearly across the spectrum, i.e. we’re more sensitive to green than red
- the lenses in most RGB LEDs don’t focus each color to the same spot
 Laying out RGB LED Circuit
+5V
common anode
RGB LED

Arduino
board
pin 11
pin 10
pin 9
220 (red,red,brown)

gnd
green blue red

slightly bend the longest lead and plug it into the +5v (red) bus
plug remaining leads into rows (12,14,&16 here)
connect 220 (red-red-brown) resistors across middle to matching rows
run wires from resistors to pins 9,10,11 of Arduino, can color-code if you want

Ignore the green wire in the pictures, that’s another circuit.

Keep the pot from last circuit if you can.
 RGB Color Fading
“RGBMoodLight”

Slow color fading

and mixing

Also outputs the current

color values to the serial port

This sketch is located in the handout.

We’ll get to the serial port stuff in a minute.

It just ramps up and down the red,green,& blue color values and writes them with analogWrite()
from [Link]
 Pot-controlled RGB

+5V
common anode
RGB LED

Arduino
+5V board
pin 11
pin 10
50k pin 2 pin 9
pot 220 (red,red,brown)

gnd
green blue red
gnd
 Pot-controlled RGB
“RGBPotMixer”

Use the pot from

before to control
the color mix

The code turns the single ranged

input value into “sectors” where
each sector is a color

Also see “RGBPotMixer2” for a variation.

How would you change it to adjust brightness?
 Sensing the Dark
• Pots are example of a voltage divider
• Voltage divider splits a voltage in two
• Same as two resistors, but you can vary them
 Sensing the Dark:
Photocells
• aka. photoresistor, light-dependent resistor
• A variable resistor
• Brighter light == lower resistance
• Photocells you have range approx. 0-10k-1M

schematic symbol
Pretty cheap too. Can get a grab bag of 100 misc from Jameco for $20
 Photocell Circuit

pin A2

brown-black-orange

gnd

Try it with RGBPotMixer from before

Looks a lot like the pot circuit, doesn’t it?

 Mood Light

Diffuser made from

piece of plastic
scratched with
sandpaper

Also, can use plastic wrap scrunched up to make an interesting diffuser.

 Resistive sensors
circuit is the same
for all these
+5V

sensor
thermistor to analog
input
(temperature) resistor

photocell
(light)

flex sensor
(bend, deflection)

force sensors also air pressure

(pressure) and others
Thermistor image from: [Link]
Also see: [Link]
 Communicating
with Others
• Arduino can use same USB cable for
programming and to talk with computers
• Talking to other devices uses the “Serial”
commands
• [Link]() – prepare to use serial

• [Link]() – send data to computer

• [Link]() – read data from computer

Can talk to not just computers.

Most things more complex than simple sensors/actuators speak serial.
Watch the TX/RX LEDS

• TX – sending to PC
• RX – receiving from PC
• Used when programming
or communicating
 Arduino Says “Hi”
“SerialHelloWorld”

Sends “Hello world!”

to your computer

Click on “Serial
Monitor” button to
see output

Watch TX LED compared

to pin 13 LED
This sketch is located in the handout, but it’s pretty short.
Use on-board pin 13 LED, no need to wire anything up.
 Telling Arduino What To Do
“SerialReadBasic”

You type “H”, LED blinks

In “Serial Monitor”,
type “H”, press Send

[Link]() tells
you if data present to read
This sketch is in the handout
Always check [Link]() or if [Link]() != -1 to determine if there’s actual data to read.

Can modify it to print “hello world” after it receives something, but before it checks for ‘H’.
This way you can verify it’s actually receiving something.
Arduino Communications
is just serial communications

• Psst, Arduino doesn’t really do USB

• It really is “serial”, like old RS-232 serial
• All microcontrollers can do serial
• Not many can do USB
• Serial is easy, USB is hard

serial terminal from the olde days

 Serial Communications
• “Serial” because data is broken down into bits, each
sent one after the other down a single wire.

• The single ASCII character ‘B’ is sent as:

‘B’ = 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
= L H L L L L H L
= HIGH

LOW

• Toggle a pin to send data, just like blinking an LED

• You could implement sending serial data with digitalWrite()

and delay()

• A single data wire needed to send data. One other to receive.

Note, a single data wire. You still need a ground wire.
 Arduino & USB-to-serial
Arduino board is really two circuits

USB to serial

Arduino
microcontroller

Original Arduino boards were RS-232 serial, not USB.

 Arduino Mini
Arduino Mini separates the two circuits

Arduino Mini USB adapter Arduino Mini

aka. “Arduino Stamp”
If you don’t talk with a computer, the USB-to-serial functionality is superfluous.
 Arduino to Computer
Laptop Arduino board
TX USB RX
Arduino USB to serial
USB to serial
programmer driver chip Arduino
RX TX
microcontroller
-OR-

Processing
sketch

-OR-

Java program

-OR-
...

USB is totally optional for Arduino

But it makes things easier
Original Arduino boards were RS-232 serial, not USB.
All programs that talk to Arduino (even the Arduino IDE) think that they’re talking via a serial port.
 Arduino & USB

• Since Arduino is all about serial

• And not USB,
• Interfacing to things like USB flash drives,
USB hard disks, USB webcams, etc. is not
possible

Also, USB is a host/peripheral protocol. Being a USB “host” means needing a lot of processing
power and software, not something for a tiny 8kB microcontroller.
It can be a peripheral. In fact, there is an open project called “AVR-USB” that allows AVR chips like
used in Arduino to be proper USB peripherals. See: [Link]
Controlling the Computer

• Can send sensor data from Arduino to

computer with [Link]()
• There are many different variations to suite
your needs:
 Controlling the Computer
You write one program on Arduino, one on the computer

In Arduino: read sensor, send data as byte

In Processing: read the byte, do something with it

But writing Processing programs is for later

 Controlling the Computer
• Receiving program on the computer can be
in any language that knows about serial
ports
• C/C++, Perl, PHP, Java, Max/MSP,
Python, Visual Basic, etc.
• Pick your favorite one, write some code for
Arduino to control

If interested, I can give details on just about every language above.

 Controlling Arduino, Again
“SerialReadBlink”

Type a number 1-9

and LED blinks that
many times

Converts typed ASCII value

into usable number

Most control issues are

data conversion issues

This sketch is also in the handout

 Serial-controlled RGB
“SerialRGBLED”

Send color commands

to Arduino
e.g. “r200”, “g50”, “b0”

Sketch parses what you

type, changes LEDs g50

This sketch is in the handout.

Color command is two parts: colorCode and colorValue
colorCode is a character, ‘r’, ‘g’, or ‘b’.
colorValue is a number between 0-255.
Sketch shows rudimentary character string processing in Arduino.
This is still one of the hardest tasks, unfortunately.
 Reading Serial Strings
• The function
“[Link]()”
makes reading strings
easier

• Can use it to read all

available serial data from
computer

• The “readSerialString()”
function at right takes a
character string and sticks
available serial data into it

Pay no attention to the pointer symbol (“*”)

Must be careful about calling readSerialString() too often or you’ll read partial strings
 Piezoelectrics

• Big word – piezein is greek for “squeeze”

• Some crystals, when squeezed, make a spark
• Turns out the process goes the other way too
• Spark a quartz crystal, and it flexes
• Piezo buzzers use this to make sound
(flex something back and forth, it moves air)

Piezo buzzers don’t have quartz crystals, but instead a kind of ceramic that also exhibits
piezoelectric properties.
I pronounce it “pie-zoh”. Or sometimes “pee-ay-zoh”.
 Piezo Buzzers

• Two wires, red & black.

Polarity matters: black=ground
• Apply an oscillating voltage to
make a noise
• The buzzer case supports the
piezo element and has
resonant cavity for sound

Oscillating voltage alternately squeezes and releases the piezo element.

Must apply flucuating voltage, a steady HIGH or LOW won’t work.

diagrams from: [Link]

 What’s in a Piezo Buzzer?

You can get at the piezo

element pretty easily.

Be careful not to crack

the white disc that is
the actual piezo

Only take it out of its

case to use it as a
sensor

another $1.99 I won’t be getting back from Radio Shack

Of course, you usually destroy the enclosure to get at the element.
And it’s the enclosure that has the proper support and resonant cavity to make a loud sound
 Piezo Buzzer

piezo
Arduino
buzzer
board
+
pin 7
–

gnd

Piezo leads are very thin. The breadboard holes grab them better than the header sockets, which is
why the jumper leads are used.
Or you can jam a jumper wire in the holes to hold in the piezo leads.
 Play a Melody
“SoundSerial”

Play the piezo beeper

with the Serial Monitor

Type multiple letters

from “cdefgabC” to
make melodies
This sketch is in the handout,
Notice the problem with this sketch?
Different notes play for different amounts of time.
50 cycles of low C isn’t the same amount of time as 50 cycles of high B
 Making it Quieter
Easiest way: add a resistor

piezo
Arduino Arduino
buzzer
board board
10k
+ +
pin 7 pin 7 piezo
(brown, buzzer
– –
black,
orange)
gnd gnd

Like most things in electronics, if you want less of something, add a resistor.
A better value would probably be 1k, but we don’t have that on hand.
This may not seem important now, but wait for the next project.
 Play a Stored Melody
“PlayMelody”

Plays a melody stored

in the Arduino

Could be battery-powered, play

melody on button trigger, control
playback speed with photocell, etc.

Melody definition is sort of like the old cell ringtone style

Melody playing logic is a little hard to follow, since it is timing critical.
 Make a Theremin
“ooo-weee-ooooo”

The original spooky

sound machine

Works by measuring your

body’s electric field

No touching needed!
We’ll use light in lieu of RF Leon Theremin
As heard on Star Trek, Beach Boys, horror movies, Mars Attacks!, and bad New Age songs.
Works sorta like those touch switches, but no touching here.
That is, your body becomes a variable capacitor.
 Light Theremin
“Theremin”

Move hand over

photocell to
change pitch

Play with val processing & cycles count

to alter sensitivity, pitch and timbre

Okay so maybe it sounds more like a bad video game than a spooky movie
The glitchy sound is cause because of the time it takes to read the sensor
There are ways around such stuff, but requires more complex programming using timers &
interrupts
The sound can get annoying quick
 Other Serial Devices

to Wi-Fi to Ethernet to graphic LCD

to 8-servo controller

Lantronix Wi-Port and Lantronix Xport [Link]

Seetron Serial Graphic display and Mini SSC [Link] [Link]
 Serial Examples

to Roomba

You’ve already seen this. :)

[Link]
 Going Further
• Piezo buzzers
• Can hook up multiple buzzers for
polyphonic sound
• Can play waves other than just square
waves using PWM techniques
• Can also be used as input devices (we’ll
cover that later)
 Going Further
• Serial communications
• Not just for computer-to-Arduino
communications
• Many other devices speak serial
• Older keyboards & mice speak are serial
(good for sensors!)
• Interface boards (graphic LCDs, servo
drivers, RFID readers, Ethernet, Wi-Fi)
 Going Further
• RGB LEDS
• You can pretty easily
replicate the Ambient Orb
($150) functionality
• Make a status display for
your computer
• Computer-controlled accent
lighting (a wash of color
against the walls)

Ambient Orb doesn’t connect to computer though. Uses the pager network.
Ambient Devices: [Link]
 END Class 2

[Link]

Tod E. Kurt
tod@[Link]

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.