Getting Started with Arduino

Chapter 6. Talking to the Cloud

In the preceding chapters, you learned the basics of Arduino and the fundamental building blocks available to you. Let me remind you what makes up the "Arduino Alphabet":

Digital Output

Digital Output

We used it to control an LED but, with the proper circuit, it can be used to control motors, make sounds, and a lot more.

Analog Output

This gives us the ability to control the brightness of the LED, not just turn it on or off. We can even control the speed of a motor with it.

Digital Input

This allows us to read the state of simple sensors, like pushbuttons or tilt switches.

Analog Input

We can read signals from sensors that send a continuous signal that's not just on or off, such as a potentiometer or a light sensor.

Serial Communication

This allows us to communicate with a computer and exchange data or simply monitor what's going on with the sketch that's running on the Arduino.

In this chapter, we're going to see how to put together a working application using what you have learned in the previous chapters. This chapter should show you how every single example can be used as a building block for a complex project.

Here is where the wannabe designer in me comes out. We're going to make the twenty-first-century version of a classic lamp by my favourite Italian designer, Joe Colombo. The object we're going to build is inspired by a lamp called "Aton" from 1964.

Figure 6-1. The finished lamp

The lamp, as you can see in Figure 6-1, is a simple sphere sitting on ...