If you are an avid lover of electronics, you may have already messed around with an Arduino board or at least have an interest in these. In this article we are going to describe a handful of relatively simple projects with which you will be able to use your Arduino board, and not only to use it in itself but to create tools that can be very useful for you .
Today we are going to describe a few projects that you can do with an Arduino board, but as you probably already know, the board alone can do almost nothing and will require you to add certain components. Obviously, in some cases these may have a higher or lower cost and, in addition, in all of them it will require a certain degree of programming on the platform.
Small projects to do with an Arduino board
Below you will find the small projects to do with your development board, all of them relatively simple and inexpensive. Of course there are plenty of projects and more things you can do, but with this we hope to give you some ideas especially if you have the plate in a drawer collecting dust. After all, Arduino fame is for building robots and little else, but as you will see below, there are many more things you can do.
A small weather station
This is one of the best Arduino projects for beginners. It requires you to build a small screen to display the data, and the schedule will even allow you to include the forecast for later days. For this project you will need an Adafruit HUZZAH board (at least it is the one recommended by the experts), a small OLED screen and a case.
Presence sensor to turn on lights
Have you ever got out of bed and tripped over something for not giving light? With this project you could build a presence sensor so that it detects when you get out of bed and a LED strip placed under it lights up so you can see the ground.
For this project you will need an LED strip and sensors for the Arduino board. We recommend that when you program it, you establish a schedule so that it does not light up during the day.
Ambient lights for the monitor
Ambient lights on the monitor are a luxury, because they detect colors at the edges of the screen and extend them from behind to the wall, creating a sense of depth and impressive immersion.
For this project you will need RGB LED strips and a sensor that detects the colors of the edges of the screen. Also, we warn you, the programming is not as simple as it may seem (but we give you ideas).
Fingerprint sensor to open doors
Another very interesting project due to its usefulness is to create a fingerprint sensor that allows you to open doors. Imagine for example that your garage door is motorized … with this project you could make it open automatically by putting your fingerprint on the sensor. Very useful, right?
For this project, you will logically need the fingerprint sensor, a housing to put it in and, if you want to give it the final climax, a small screen that shows information like the one you can see in the image.
A complete control panel for the PC
Have you ever considered the possibility of having a control panel like those of spaceships but for the PC? Arduino can make it possible, and it’s really not too complicated to program the board for a control panel to work with PC elements like turning the volume up and down or opening applications.
This project will be as complicated as complete you want to do it, but what you will need is obviously as many keypads and LEDs as you want to put into it. Then the programming will consist of assigning to each one of them the corresponding function.
An infinite kaleidoscope mirror
This project is a cool and has been seen on many occasions in other areas. This mirror creates an infinite kaleidoscopic illusion that creates a mind-blowing effect for the viewer’s eyes. As the orientation of the mirror moves, you can make the lights and their colors change. It is merely aesthetic, but it looks incredibly good.
For this project you will need a minimum Arduino 101 board (you can also do it with the Sparkfun or NeoPixels version), in addition to many LED strips and a mirror.
Arduino smoke detector system
Another project that has a utility in real life is a smoke detector. The idea is to use an Arduino board in conjunction with the new MQ-2 sensor for the platform, in addition to adding a speaker or buzzer to warn when it is detected. You can also add a display for more information.
What do you think of these ideas to use with Arduino boards? Do you have any more ideas? Tell us in the comments.