Messing around with Arduino

Light sensor 

DC motor control

Servo control

For years I've had a few Arduinos and a ton of hardware. Every time I made time to learn it, I always hit a snag or got frustrated with the setup, or not having the right resistors, transistors, sensors ect et al. I've had quite a bit of time these days to learn something new, so I've been taking advantage of Jeremy Blum's Youtube tutorials, as well as his book. 

I met Jeremy when I did my residency at Shaper Tools. He's a down to earth guy but mad smart when it comes to electronics. If you're looking to dive into Arduino, I'd start with his tutorials and then grab his book. 

I'm starting off with the basics and slowly adding the items I need when I need them. I just ordered a pretty cheap starter kit that has most things you need for an insanely cheap price. 

You can buy it on Amazon. Click on image.

I had an issue using my cheap boards with my Mac, but they work fine on my Chromebook using ChromeDuino.
I'm hoping to incorporate an Arduino into my kinetic sculptures. I either want to make them more interactive by tossing in some sensors, or just be able to have more control over my movements without having to get crazy with gearing and cams. I think I'll always prefer mechanical inputs over electrical ones, but I can see where it makes sense. I'm hoping to sketch out something new this week, something flapping no doubt, or maybe more like a machine or rube goldberg machine that can be automatically reset.