The workshop began with Massimo Banzi giving a history and overview of the arduino board and it's uses. After a quick coffee break we started 'tinkering' with our boards. Firstly the simple Hello World/LED flash, then on the the pulsing LED. I discovered that swapping the LED for a piezo made a very annoying square wave. The fist day was well structured and went at a nice steady pace.
The whole sunday was dedicated to our own projects. George, Henry and I decided to work in a group and produce two Braitenberg type vehicles, a predator and a prey. This almost worked and although we managed to get everything working, the vehicles were too heavy for the small motors.
In hindsight it would probably have been easier to make the vehicles without the arduino altogether. However, were we able to get the vehicles working, 'personalities' and other interesting features would have been possible via the arduino code.
The workshop was a good introduction to the arduino board as well as some beginner electronics and coding. Now we just need to think of something big to make for when Massimo visits in December.
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