When I share articles, updates, or new products related to Arduino, I always get some feedback from people asking,
“What on earth is ‘an’ Arduino??????”
I realized it was urgent to write a topic in Portuguese explaining what an Arduino is, to answer those who are not familiar with it—a sort of “Arduino for Dummies.”
For those proficient in English, you can check here. For those who aren’t, you can read my explanation.
Starting with the first paragraph from the official page, it quite well explains what it is, what it’s for, and how it works.
Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control the physical world around us. It is an “open-source” platform (which means a lot to the Portuguese, who love to improvise and modify things by nature, with the guarantee that they are not infringing on any intellectual property laws) based on a microcontroller board and a development environment for writing software for the hardware.
I also recommend Arduino on the Portuguese Wikipedia.
What can it be used for?
Arduino can be used to develop interactive objects, collect data from sensors or switches, control lights or motors, electromechanical valves, sound systems, video alarms, etc. Arduino projects can be completely independent and simple (like making an LED blink) or interconnected and communicate between systems, whether they are Arduino or not (like controlling a series of machines worth over a million euros through a mobile phone located in another hemisphere). Just writing this sentence makes me smile from ear to ear, yes, I’m already doing it.
Arduino boards, i.e., the hardware itself, can be hand-assembled or purchased pre-assembled, or even in educational projects or kits with included software.
The programming language used with the Arduino IDE is an implementation of Wiring.
Why Arduino???
There are loads of other microcontrollers and their respective development platforms that offer similar functionalities. All of them simplify the intricate details of programming and connecting microcontrollers.
Arduino also simplifies the process of working with microcontrollers but offers additional advantages to students, teachers, artists, or simply skillful people with some knowledge and a lot of willingness to learn.
The motivations for using Arduino:
- Inexpensive – Compared to other solutions.
- Multi-platform – It’s not just for Windows, or MAC OS, or Linux, or Android. It’s for everyone without discrimination.
- Simple and Effective – As easy to use as possible for beginners, and flexible and complete for experts.
- Open-Source Software – In short, in good Portuguese, as “Zé Portuga” likes it, “Free,” and extendable through the C++ language.
- Open-Source Hardware – Like the software, free, but in this case, the hardware, which is even better because, as mentioned above, the programs are also free.
How to use Arduino?
That’s what you can find on this site and many others across the web.
