Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web. Arduino. Arduinos Provide Interactive Exhibits for About $30. These, of course, were not viable options for your average starving artist. This all changed a few years ago when a group of five engineers and artists got together to develop a tiny programmable computer called an Arduino, (pronounced arr-DWEE-no). Most museumgoers probably have not seen an Arduino, as it is intended to be a behind-the-scenes part of an exhibit. For those who wonder what it looks like, the Arduino is about the size of a deck of cards, does not have a screen or keyboard and looks like something you would find in a mad scientist’s lair or in a secret lab at or .
But this nondescript gadget has become the driving force behind most of the interactive exhibits seen in museums and galleries today. Push a button and watch a painting light up, or see a sculpture move autonomously in a gallery, and there is a pretty good chance an Arduino is orchestrating the entire experience.
For artists and designers, one of the biggest draws of the Arduino is the cost. Ms. Ms. Mr. Mr. Arduino: inspiration « museum geek. Ok, so one of the coolest things that I heard about at MW2011 was the Arduino – an “open source electronics prototype platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software.” It’s designed for d-i-y creativity, and is “intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.”
Sweet! Miriam Langer presented a cool mini-workshop on sensors & micro-controllers, in which she explored some of the possibilities for museums and galleries to use Arduino for sensing users in the gallery space. The Arduino can be hooked up to motion-detection sensors and similar and used to turn the gallery space into a more interactive playground. My imagination was totally captured by Miriam’s talk, and the possibilities that the Arduino offers.
I think it could work perfectly to turn the NRAG‘s “smART space” for kids into a far more dynamic area in the Gallery, and could also work well to bring some of Newcastle’s public art to life. Like this: Floppy Music | James Bond 007 Theme (4 Drives) Experimentiertechnik (Arduino) | Experimentierkästen. Washing Dobpler.