Interface almost anything; the best choice for beginners – this is the Arduino UNO board. Using an ATmega328 microcontroller and 14 I/O pins, Arduino UNO is one of the most popular development boards in robotics and electronics as well. We take a look around and select the best tutorials to start working with the board. From tutorials to setup Arduino UNO, and up to blink an LED or how to control a robot wirelessly using an Android phone. This article is a good starting point and a good introduction to Arduino UNO board.

The board is very popular among students and hobbyists due to its flexibility, ability to connect different robotic parts including sensors, actuators, etc., and a great platform to learn about robots and how they work. The board can be used in various projects from semi-autonomous to autonomous robotics applications.

UNO’s features include a USB interface that doesn’t require drivers to communicate with operating systems like Windows or Mac OS, stability, a long list of resources and a large community of members ready to improve the ecosystem of the board.

Arduino Uno Specifications

• Microcontroller – ATmega328;
• Operating Voltage – 5V;
• Input Voltage (recommended) – 7-12V;
• Input Voltage (limits) – 6-20V;
• Digital I/O Pins – 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output);
• Analog Input Pins – 6;
• DC Current per I/O Pin – 40 mA
• DC Current for 3.3V Pin – 50 mA;
• Flash Memory – 32 KB (ATmega328) of which 0.5 KB used by bootloader;
• SRAM – 2 KB (ATmega328);
• EEPROM – 1 KB (ATmega328);
• Clock Speed – 16 MHz;

Setup Arduino Uno

Setup the board is the first step before starting working with it.
Before starting working with Arduino UNO, the board has to be connected to a PC. Depending on what is your operating system, you have to follow some steps to setup the board. Below we explore tutorials to setup the Arduino UNO board on almost all popular operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac).

• Installing the Arduino Uno under Windows XP – guide to install the Arduino UNO board on Windows XP with detailed steps and screenshots;
• Getting Started with Arduino Uno – comprehensive tutorial with detailed steps to install Arduino UNO under Windows XP and start working with the board;
• My Arduino UNO Rev 3 and Windows 7 64-bit Installation – tutorial how to setup Arduino UNO under Windows 7 with steps and screenshots; (link removed)
• Windows 8 Arduino Driver Install – guide to install the driver of Arduino UNO on Windows 8;(link removed)
• How to Install Arduino for Mac OS X – guide to install the Arduino UNO on Mac computers including Mac OS X Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion;
• Getting Arduino UNO To Work In Linux – guide to install the driver for Arduino UNO on Linux. Arduino UNO has some firmware problems when it works under Linux and all of these problems are fixed and explained in this tutorial;
• Getting started with Arduino Uno on Ubuntu – guide to setup the Arduino UNO board under the Ubuntu;
• Installing Arduino on Linux – resources to install the Arduino on different Linux versions;

Arduino Uno Tutorials

A variety of tutorials to start building robots using the Arduino UNO board.
From simple to advanced tutorials, from blinking an LED to connect Arduino UNO with an Android device, below we take an overview of the best tutorials that can help you to start working with the UNO board and build wonderful robots.

• Arduino UNO Tutorial For Servos – tutorial how to control a servo with Arduino UNO;
• Blinking an LED using a Arduino Uno – simple tutorial with programming lines and an explanation about how to use the board for blinking an LED application;
• Learn Arduino, Lesson 16. Stepper Motors – comprehensive tutorial how to control stepper motors using the Arduino UNO board;
• Stepper Motor Quickstart Guide – tutorial with explanation why is better to use a stepper motor and not other types of electric motors, as well as how to connect the motor to the Arduino UNO board and programming lines;
• Arduino Driving a Micro Stepper Motor – using a potentiometer, a stepper motor and Arduino UNO board, in this tutorial is explained how to be driven directly the motor and how to programming;
• Tutorial: Stepper Motor + Easy Driver + Arduino – tutorial to control stepper motor using an Arduino UNO board and a control board like Easy Driver;
• Pole climber – overview of a project aimed to build an autonomous robot that can climb a pole;
• Arduino Programming – tutorial series of programming Arduino UNO from blinking LED to two button drive example; (link removed)
• Arduino WiFi – tutorial how to connect and programming Arduino UNO with an Official Arduino WiFi shield to Xively;
• Temperature Sensor with Arduino and LM35 (Arduino + LM35) – tutorial how to connecting and programming the LM35 temperature sensor with the Arduino UNO board;
• Arduino GPS Tutorial: Get Latitude and Longitude Coordinates – tutorial interfacing and programming GPS receiver with Arduino UNO board;
• Arduino Wireless Programming with XBee Series 1 or 2 – guide to programming wireless XBees module with Arduino UNO;
• Arduino and L293D Robot ( Part 1 ) – great tutorial with steps building line following robot using the Arduino UNO board;
• How to make your first robot using Arduino – comprehensive tutorial how to build a simple robot from scratch based on Arduino UNO board;
• Arduino Masterclass Part 4: Build a mini robot – tutorial how to build a robot with Arduino UNO and a wide list of sensors including L293D motor drive shield, HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, TowerPro SG90 servo motor, and many more robotic parts;
• Build a Phone-controlled Robot Using Node.js, RN-XV WiFly, Arduino and Twilio – mobile devices like a smartphone are used in many robotic applications and this tutorial explain in detailed steps how to control wireless a robot with a phone, Twilio, Arduino UNO, Node. js, and the RN-XV WiFly module;
• Project: Ardu-Bot-Tom – RF Link Controlled Robot – guide to control your robot wireless with Arduino UNO;
• Basic roaming bot w/t ultrasonic object avoidance – simple robot using ultrasonic sensors and Arduino UNO board designed to avoid objects on a path;
• Android and Arduino Bluetooth communication – guide to connect an Android tablet to Arduino UNO board using the Bluetooth module;
• Android talks to Arduino – guide with schemes and programming lines to connect an Android device using the Bluetooth Chat application with Arduino UNO;

Arduino Uno Resources

• Power your Arduino Uno with four rechargeable AA batteries – guide to connect the Arduino UNO board with four AA batteries;
• Arduino UNO FAQ – article with an explanation about Arduino UNO features and detailed explanations about how to make changes like changes for USB firmware;
• Arduino Uno -Arduino UNO page on Arduino site;
• Programming Arduino Uno in pure C – an example of how to programming Arduino UNO in C programming language for a classic blinking LED;
• Interfacing with Hardware – a variety of hardware and software setup in order to connect an Arduino device with a wide range of electronics parts and devices;
• Direct Control of Arduino Uno Digital Input/Output Pins Using Port Registers – guide to use Arduino UNO I/O pins by accessing the port registers directly;
• Arduino Uno – document with product overview and technical specifications;