An introduction to Arduino that will tell you everything you need to know to get started building interactive electronic projects!

Suitable for makers, designers and artists, with any level of experience. Most importantly everything revolves around a nice long Sunday Lunch!

In the morning we shall learn about sensors like buttons and light dependant resistors, and outputs like LEDs and motors. We shall see how to write code to make LEDs flash and motors spin, when buttons get pressed or a beam of light gets broken. We shall make a variety of useful/amusing/useless interactions!

Then in the afternoon, after lunch, we shall turn anything into a touch sensor using kitchen foil.

And finally we'll get our Arduinos to act as keyboards and mice. That means we can use it to talk to (almost) anything that uses USB. That way we can make our own game controllers or devices that automatically type emails.

By the end of the day we'll be able to trigger almost anything to happen, when almost anything happens! We'll be exhausted - and (hopefully) happy!

All the electronics used during the day (including the Arduino) will be yours to take home afterwards. No soldering is required.

The day will be led by David Chatting, a designer, maker and artist with almost twenty years experience in persuading software and electronics to do what he wants. David recently graduated from the Royal College of Art in London, he is a former member of research staff at BT's Adastral Park and is the cofounder of the Ipswich based Curiosity Collective. He has taught at the Royal College of Art and at University College London.

Many Hands Make Light Work - Arduino, touch sensing, LEDs - David Chatting and Tom Juby (2009)

We will start at 10am and just before 1pm break for a two hour lunch break, finishing around 6pm. We will reserve a table at the excellent local Brewery Tap pub, please indicate if you will be joining in for that so we know numbers. Lunch is not included in the ticket price, you'll need to pay for that yourself.

Everyone will need an Arduino and laptop. If you don't get a ticket that includes an Arduino you will need to bring your own. They can be bought from suppliers such as Rapid Electronics, Proto-Pic, Cool Components and Maplin. The USB examples will require the Arduino Leonardo, but other boards such as the Arduino Uno will be fine for everything else.

You must bring your own laptop and it must have a USB connector. It can be a PC, Mac or Linux.

The day will be hosted by the Atrium Studios in Ipswich, members of the studio and students are eligible for a discounted ticket - see pricing.

Atrium Studios is marked "O Block" on the map below. Local parking is available. The building is accessible for wheelchairs. The venue is approximately a fifteen minute walk from the town centre and reachable from the train and bus stations on foot.

Ticket sales must end early (16th April) to allow time for enough electronics to be ordered for everyone.

(click to enlarge)