Chapter 1. Powering on Arduino

Welcome to the wonderful world of Arduino! This small but powerful processor board has become a staple with the robotic hobbyist community, and many have provided open source software to enhance its capabilities. Unfortunately, many, especially those new to embedded systems and programming, can end up so discouraged that the processor board can end up on the shelf gathering dust. The purpose of this first chapter is to help you decide which of the many different Arduinos is right for your application. Then, you'll walk through the steps to get your Arduino powered up and working so that you can begin working on all those amazing robotic projects you've always wanted to create.