Sensors for Arduino, a great combination for novice users

Arduino board compatible with sensors for Arduino

Working with the Arduino can be very powerful and varied, but to achieve this we need to have advanced and diverse knowledge about the operation of the Arduino and its various accessories.

One of the accessories that quickly begins to be used is the sensor. The work of these and Arduino can result in interesting projects, but not only that, it will help us better understand how our board works and how to develop projects with it. Hardware Libre.

What are sensors for Arduino?

One of the most popular and useful elements when working with Arduino Project boards are the sensors. The sensors are elements that allow us to expand the functionality of the board, they work as complements or accessories that are added to one or more plates. At the moment, An Arduino board, by itself, cannot capture any information from the outside or from the surrounding context., unless it is special that it contains the new device.
What can be done with Arduino sensors

Otherwise, only the information we send through the physical ports on the board can be used. If we want to capture information from outside, we only have to use the sensors.

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There is no generic sensor, that is, there are as many types of sensors as there are types of information that we want to capture, but we must never forget that this information will never be processed but will be basic information. The information processing will be carried out by Arduino or a similar board that acts as a bridge or media interface between the information collected and the data received by the software.

What types of sensors are there for Arduino?

As we have said before, there are many types of sensors for Arduino. The most popular are weather-related sensors, these are: temperature sensor, humidity sensor, light sensor, gas sensor or atmospheric pressure sensor. But there are also other types of sensors that have become popular thanks to mobile devices such as the fingerprint sensor, the iris sensor or a voice sensor (not to be confused with the microphone).

The temperature sensors They are sensors that collect the thermal temperature that surrounds the sensor, it is very important to remember this because it is not the temperature of the plate but of the sensor. The information obtained is sent to the Arduino board and allows us not only to use the assembly as a thermometer but also to use programs that carry out various actions depending on the external temperature of the device.

Arduino temperature sensor

El humidity sensor It works almost the same as the previous type of sensor, but this time the sensor collects the humidity that surrounds the sensor and we can work with it, especially for agricultural areas where the humidity of the crops is also a variable to take into account.

El light sensor has jumped to popularity after its application on mobile devices. The most popular function is to dim or perform certain actions based on the light the device receives. In the case of mobile phones, depending on the degree of light that the sensor receives, the screen of the device changes brightness. Taking this into account, we can deduce that projects related to the agricultural world take into account this type of sensors for Arduino.

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If we look for a safety device, to program or simply to access the Arduino software, a good option is to use a fingerprint sensor. A sensor that will ask us for a fingerprint to block or unblock access. The fingerprint sensor became popular for some time, but it is true that so far there are not many more functions beyond the unlocking of items.

Fingerprint sensor for arduino

The voice sensor is also oriented to the world of security although in this case it can be easily taken to other worlds such as the world of AI or voice assistants. Thus, thanks to a voice sensor, the smart speaker can recognize sounds and also distinguish the various roles or types of users based on the voice tone that we associate. Unfortunately both the fingerprint sensor and the voice sensor are quite expensive sensors and difficult to get and work with, at least for the most novice Arduino users.

Can I use a sensor if I am a novice user?

The million dollar question for many readers of this article is whether or not it is possible to use sensors with low knowledge. The answer is yes. It's more, many guides recommend quickly using sensors with Arduino, in order to accelerate your learning.

You usually learn to use LED lights first, a quick and easy project to learn. Later on, the temperature sensor or a humidity sensor began to be used, easy-to-use sensors, easy to acquire and they have many projects that help to learn how to use these types of devices.

What sensors are recommended to use to use on Arduino?

There are many types of sensors and each of them are manufactured by various brands, so the number of sensors is very high. If we want to create a project with one sensor or with several sensors, first we have to decide what life this project will have. If we are going to make a single unit with a prototype, it is best to choose to use high-quality sensors, so that this information is as accurate as possible.

Arduino kit with sensors of various types

If on the contrary we want create a project that will later be massively replicated, first I recommend using the cheapest sensor we can findLater, when we verify that it works, then we will test several types of sensors with the same function. Later, when we control more over sensors, we will already know which model or type of sensor to use when we are going to create a new project.


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  1.   Raymundo said

    Excellent information, who of you could ask for a specific one?