10 Arduino Projects for Beginners Anyone can Make
Building Arduino projects can give you a great sense of satisfaction, but many times beginners aren’t sure where to start. There are lots of things to take into consideration when starting a project, and if you have no Maker experience, it can be quite confusing. For this reason exactly, we put together 10 Arduino projects for beginners that anyone can make!
To get you started, it’s best if you have an Arduino starter kit that contains: An Arduino, jumper wires, resistors, a breadboard, LED and buttons. Some of the projects require additional parts, and we’ll contain links to where you can buy them.
In all the projects you’ll see below, we used circuito.io for the BoM (bill of materials), step-by-step wiring guide and code samples.
Ready to begin?
1. Thermometer with a Twist
For this project, you’ll need an Arduino Uno, DS18B20 — One Wire Digital Temperature Sensor and 7-Segment Serial Display.
This simple thermometer is very straightforward and requires basic wiring and code. The logic is very simple: Data from the DS18B20 temp sensor is presented on the serial 7-segment display using sevenSegment.write and the ds18b20.readTempC(), and so the 7-segment displays the temperature read:
sevenSegment.write(ds18b20.readTempC());
Now for the twist: we used Sugru to glue the parts together. It’s colorful and super-strong. You can also see that in the final version we replaced the standard breadboard with a perforated one, but that’s really not a must.
On our project Hub on Hackster.io, you’ll find all the details about how to build this project yourself.
2. How Fast Can You Chug?
The components we used in this project are Arduino Uno, FSR (Force Sensing Resistor), Pushbutton, Piezo Speaker and 7-Segment display.
Here’s a nice little project we made for St. Patrick’s day. As you can see, we used the same Serial 7 segment display, but this time instead of showing the temperature it displays time. The force sensor detects the weight of the pint on the coaster, and once it’s removed, the sensor detects the change is weight and starts the time, which is displayed on the 7-segment. The counter stops when it detects the weight of the pint back on the coaster, which triggers the piezo speaker to play a tune. The pushbutton resets the time and there you have your second project.
Once again, you have all the details and explanations on our project hub on Hackster.io.
3. Monitor Air Pollution
For this project you’ll need and Arduino Uno, MQ7 Carbon monoxide sensor and an RGB LED Common Anode.
The carbon monoxide sensor detects levels of CO-gas concentrations in the air and indicates the air quality by changing the color of the RGB LED from green to red (Red=bad air quality and Green=good air quality). This project is a bit more complex since it requires soldering the MQ7 sensor to the breakout board, but it’s really no big deal, so you shouldn’t worry all that much. Once you get over this small obstacle, you’ll meet the map function in the code, which is very useful in different Arduino projects since it re-maps numbers from one range to another. In this case from the range of the MQ7 sensor, to the range of the RGB LED, which is 0–255. If you’re ready to get started, see all the details on our Hackster tutorial.
4. Thirsty Flamingo
The thirsty Flamingo is another great project to start your making journey with. It will help you monitor the moisture levels in your plants using a Sparkfun soil moisture sensor.
To start the project you can generate a request on circuito.io with the SparkFun Soil Moisture sensor for the input and Piezo Speaker for the output.
As we’ve explained above, you will also need additional components for your project, which are automatically added to the BoM section in the circuito.io reply to make your life easier. Assemble the circuit using the step-by-step guide and then upload and customize the code.
The next step includes 3D printing the Thirsty Flamingo’s body by using the STL files. You finally assemble everything together by putting the PCB and battery in place and screwing the two body parts together. Place your thirsty flamingo in your plant dish and it will beep when the moisture levels get low.
5. Recycled Robotic Arm
Being a maker is also about learning to work with the materials you have and reducing the cost of your project.
In the electronics department, it’s time we introduce you to servo metal gears. Servos have integrated gears and a shaft that can be controlled within a range of 180 degrees. We’ll cover this topic in a future article. In this specific project, we used 3 generic metal gear servos:
1 for moving the arm right and left
1 for moving the arm up and down
1 for the arm gripper
To control the servos, we used a 2 axis joystick, which is comprised of two potentiometers and a push button. We mapped the joystick values (using the map function once more) so that the joystick x-axis moves one of the servos from right to left (0–180 degrees). The joystick y-axis moves a different servo up and down (0–180 degrees). The gripper servo has two positions: 180 degrees — means that the gripper is closed and 0 — means the gripper is open. The Joystick pushbutton toggles between those pre-defined positions. More technical mumbo-jumbo on our project hub.
6. The Flying Manatee
A fascinating field of technology has been motion detectors and this Arduino project will enable you to make a Manatee that will flap its wings as a reaction to motion.
During the planning phase, all you need to have is a power source, a micro-controller like Arduino Pro micro 5v and two components: PIR Motion sensor and servo. Once you’re done putting together your circuit and tweaking the code, you can 3D print this nice casing for your Manatee by following the provided steps and instructions or using STL zip file from the project on Hackster.io.
All you need to do at this point is place the battery and board into place and screw the body parts together. Take your Flying Manatee to your doorway or any other place and any movement will be detected causing it to flap its wings.
7. 34Five Arduino Pet
Another thing you can make as you get into the universe of micro-controllers and codes is this electronic pet that reacts to acceleration. We admit, this is a strange and quirky project, but it got a lot of hilarious reactions. And what’s wrong with having some fun?
You’ll need to select an accelerometer for input, Arduino Uno controller, battery for power supply and Piezo speaker for output on circuito.io. After you click generate and put together the circuit, you can 3D print the body of the pet using the STL files. And before you know it, you’ll have a stunning 34five Arduino pet that you can take out for a stroll and you will be surprised at just how much you have done. The full tutorial is on Hackster.io so you can just in for more details.
8. Drone Air Gate
Drones have become extremely popular recently and you can take your playtime with the drone to a new level using this interactive air gate. For this project, what you need includes HC-SRO4 Ultrasonic sensor, 9v battery, Sparkfun Arduino Pro Mini controller and RGB Diffused Common Anode.
The drone poles are great for practicing your flight technique. The ultrasonic sensor detects the drone coming closer and changes the light from red to green. Make as many air gates as you want and build an obstacle course through them to race your friends. It’s really fun, believe us. As always, you have the full instructions on our community hub on Hackster.io
9. A Useless Arduino Gift Box
If you’ve reached this far, you deserve a Giftduino!
Having fun is also a big part of the maker-Arduino world, and there’s nothing wrong with making projects that don’t have a purpose.
The interesting component you get to work with here is the A1302 Hall Sensor. This sensor works on the principles of the Hall effect which means that it reacts to differences in magnetic fields. Therefore, to activate the hall sensor in this project, we placed a magnet on the box’s lid. When the box is opened, the piezo speaker starts playing a tune and the screen displays a giftbox (or whatever else you like). In this project you can see that we didn’t use a breadboard but rather an Arduino prototype shield. We’re not going to dive into this topic in the current post, but we’ll definitely cover it in our future posts. In the meanwhile, you can follow the tutorial and make your very own Giftduino.
10. Nespresso Capsule Detector
We chose to wrap up our first blog post(!) with our most popular project. The love for coffee is universal and a Nespresso capsule detector can be an amazing gadget to help you choose a capsule.
The mechanism behind the operation of the project is that the RGB light sensor reads the brightness levels of the red, green and blue color channel and sends them to the Arduino which will recognize your capsule basing on the code predefined values. In this case, circuito.io is still important in helping you every step of the way from what you need to every step. The components needed include an RGB light sensor, Arduino pro mini, wall adapter, power supply and serial enabled LCD. Generate the Bill of materials, schematics, and codes from Circuito automatically and you will be ready to put it together. Follow the instructions on our tutorial on Hackster.io to join your circuit and code it before 3D printing the capsule container. Assemble them together and voila, you have a Nespresso capsule detector.
So now that you have a little bit more information about how this whole Arduino thing work, it’s time to get started! Take a moment to prepare your working environment, and making sure that you have everything you need before you sit down to work. The first few projects may be challenging, but it opens up a world of creative possibilities! It’s amazing!
We’d love to see the projects you make and hear your comments. Enjoy Making!
Originally published at circuito.io on April 23, 2017.
