Program Arduino Board (Windows and Mac)
In this video, you will learn how to program an Arduino board using a Windows or Mac device. (For Chromebooks see the second video below.) This video walks through Interactive Tutorial #18, where you will connect the Arduino board to your device, test the LED module using ChDuino, and programmatically control the LED to turn on and off using RoboBlocky.

Note: The RoboBlocky Launch menu referred to in the Windows/Mac video is now located above the Workspace, not above the grid.

 

 

 

Program Arduino Board (Chromebook)
In this video, you will learn how to program an Arduino board using a Chromebook device. This video walks through Interactive Tutorial #18, where you will connect the Arduino board to your device, test the LED module using the Arduino Controller, and programmatically control the LED to turn on and off using RoboBlocky.  

 

 

1. Connecting and Using an Arduino Board with RoboBlocky

The videos above guide you through the interactive tutorial Program Arduino Board. One video covers Windows and Mac computers, and the other covers Chromebooks. Each of the videos covers material found in this lesson and several upcoming lessons.

In this lesson, we will connect an LED module to an Arduino board and then connect the Arduino to a computer using a USB connection. In later lessons, we will learn how to control the LED and blink it with different colors. First, however, we will learn how the LED module is like a digital switch and how to plug it into the Arduino.

 

2. Digital Output

At the most fundamental level, a digital output is like a light switch, as shown in the circuit diagram below (consisting of a 5V battery, a switch, and RGB LED module with a connection to the red LED). If the switch is open, the light is in the off state. If the switch is closed, the light is in the on state.

 

3. A Flexible Switch with Arduino

However, the hardware of a simple switch is inflexible and cannot be changed without altering the physical circuit. That is why microcontrollers, like Arduino, are used for many devices, as they can perform a wide range of tasks through software changes, without changing the circuit itself. The diagram below shows such a circuit with an LED module plugged into an Arduino board:

 

4. The RGB LED Module

A Barobo RGB (“red green blue”) LED module has four pins coming out of it, as shown below. They are labeled “B”, “G”, “R”, and “-“, standing for blue, green, red, and ground.

The LED module can be plugged directly in to an Arduino board. One side of the Arduino board has a row of sockets labeled 0 through 13 and GND. (Sometimes on diagrams these are labeled D0 through D13, the “D” standing for digital. In addition, even though they are sockets, they are usually referred to as pins.) Plug in the LED module so that its “-“ pin goes in the GND socket, and the R, G, and B pins naturally go in to the 13, 12, and 11 sockets, respectively, as shown below:
 

 

5. Connect the Arduino to the Computer

Once the LED module is connected to the Arduino board, the next step is to connect the board to the computer using a USB cable. If the computer only has USB-C ports, an adapter may be needed.

After connecting the board with the cable, the final step is to connect it to software.

• For connection steps on Windows and Mac, view this lesson.
• For connection steps on a Chromebook, view this lesson.

Windows and Mac computers use ChDuino software to connect, while Chromebooks use Arduino Controller software, which is included in RoboBlocky.