[https://www.arduino.cc/ Arduino] is a wildly popular hobby computing platform.  Arduino refers to three things:
  * A friendly software development environment that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (get it [https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software here])
  * A suite of single board computers (see [https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Products here]) based on AVR and ARM processors
  * A standard stackable [http://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=11473 interface] that lets you plug "shields" into the single-board computers to extend their functionality with things like [http://www.gearbest.com/other-accessories/pp_218079.html motor control], [http://www.gearbest.com/development-boards/pp_136559.html Ethernet], [http://store.cutedigi.com/juniper-wifi-shield-for-arduino-based-on-gainspan-module/ WiFi], etc.

We use Arduino computers on Team 2537 because they are very inexpensive (often available for less than $4) and are designed to connect to the real world.  Arduino computers can easily be connected to sensors that provide information about the real world and actuators such as motors and solenoids that can interact with the world.

Team 2537 has a set of lessons that introduce you to Arduino through hands-on projects culminating in mini-robots that you design.

* Lesson 1 - [wiki:ArduinoLesson1 Getting to Blinky]
* Lesson 2 - [wiki:ArduinoLesson2 Breadboards and Multimeters]
* Lesson 3 - Touch and Feel
* Lesson 4 - Making Music
* Lesson 5 - Ultrasonic
* Lesson 6 - Move It!
* Lesson 7 - Control It
* Lesson 8 - Smorgasbord