What is an Arduino?

Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs – light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message – and turn it into an output – activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online for example. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.

IDE (Software) is the ‘Integrated Development Environment’ used to program the Arduino. You will write the program in the IDE and download it to the board to execute it.The program is then embedded in the chip on the board and can operate as a completely standalone device. It is in fact a tiny computer you can program to interpret sensors and respond using transducers of your choice.

Workshop Materials

These are the supporting documents and files for the EVolocity Arduino Kit. Use these if you own an Arduino Kit purchased in 2024 or later, or if you are currently in the Arduino workshop.

Download the Arduino Workshop Guidebook – Rev C
Download the Arduino Workshop Slides
Download the Arduino Motherboard Example Sketches – Rev B

Legacy Content

These are the guides for the legacy EVolocity Arduino Kit. These are no longer used in EVolocity, however, if you own the legacy kit you can still download and view the content below.

Download the Legacy Arduino Guide

Arduino Video Tutorial 1 – Getting Started

Getting started with Arduino and linking to Proteus simulation software. Presented by Dr. Duleepa Thrimawithana of the University of Auckland.

Arduino Video Tutorial 2 – Writing Your First and Second Programme

This is Module 1 for EVolocity teams. Taken by Dr. Duleepa Thrimawithana, Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, this session looks at the systems that could be developed and starts out on programming Arduino and then getting Proteus to simulate outputs. Delivers the challenge of building a stopwatch.

Arduino Video Tutorial 3 – Displaying Drive Power and Battery Capacity

This is Module 2 for EVolocity teams and looks at displaying drive power and battery capacity. This session focuses on the use of Arduino and Proteus software to get Voltage and Current sensors to collect data and indicate battery state, current and power drain. These outputs are very important for the Efficiency Event in particular.