Pencil, paintbrush, ...Arduino?

This journey started for me a few months ago when I started to create art installations using e-waste - mainly components from old computer equipment I'd disassembled. I was using some old PC fans as part of an installation and it occurred to me that it would be really cool if I could make them spin again. I knew absolutely nothing about electronics, but with some patient help I managed to wire one to a transformer. When I discovered that not only could I make it spin again, but I could also change the speed by adjusting the voltage I was quite ridiculously pleased with myself.

My recent installation: Forensic reconstruction #00-23.7.6.I could have saved myself a small fortune in batteries if I'd used sensors to turn the EL wires on when required!

That spinning fan opened up a world of possibilities for me: perhaps I could create art that would physically do things, and even change in response to the people looking at it. I'm lucky to have friends who are far more technical than me, and they suggested that Arduino would be a great tool to achieve this. So I got hold of an Arduino Uno Beginners kit and got stuck in.

The fan that started it all

Initially, I have to admit, I was a little unconvinced that I would be able to make sense of it - despite the claims that it is designed to be simple enough for children and artists to use. Apart from my total ignorance of electronics, my coding experience extends no further than a bit of Old Skool html, so to learn both in conjunction felt a bit daunting.

However, from the moment I opened up the beautiful packaging (more like some luxury goods than a collection of electronics components), the whole experience was much more accessible than I'd expected.

The components in the Arduino Starter Kit

The kit I have comes with a set of beginner projects to teach you basic principles, and a generous selection of electronic components to play with. The manual that comes with the kit is exceptional: well designed, and clearly written. I particularly liked the photos of how your breadboard should be set up. It gives clear steps for working through the projects, telling you what to do, exactly why you are doing it, and where to go if you want to dig deeper into a particular topic. It also provides useful reference material, such as how to read resistor codes.

With the help of the manual I was able to work my way through the initial projects successfully. More importantly, I was starting to understand at least some of what I was doing with the electronics and the code. My only hiccup turned out to be down to an LED not being seated right in the breadboard. But by that stage I understood enough of what I was doing to be able to debug my work and quite enjoy the process. In parallel I took a short introductory course to Arduino aimed at creatives. Although I ended up repeating some projects it was useful being able to ask questions of an experienced practitioner."Hello World" - writing text to an LCD

I’m really excited by the opportunity to get involved in the world of “physical computing”. While we’re all busy migrating more and more of our world and ourselves into the virtual realm - Arduino represents an opportunity to use computing to bring back the tangible. To retrieve stuff out of the virtual, and make it physical again. So we can interact with it with our whole bodies, not just our heads and a couple of fingers.

So what next? It's still quite a leap between following a set of instructions and branching out on your own. But luckily it seems like there is a really friendly Arduino community out there, from local clubs to online communities and hangouts. And they are happy to share ideas and expertise with even the greenest of newbies. So I'm fairly confident that soon I'll be making my first Arduino-driven sculpture.

Twitter: @nyethompson

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