Why should we be teaching our kids Arduino in 2024?

With the entry of modern computers into most areas of life, the development of electronic programs capable of providing time- and effort-saving services is astonishingly accelerated, making it necessary for new generations to follow and absorb these developments. It uses them in various projects, especially in our Arab world.

One of the most important of these developments is the Arduino, an electronic board whose name goes back to a bar frequented by software engineer Massimo Pansi and his companions. They are the ones who laid the foundation for this board. To create a unique, inexpensive and easy-to-use piece of electronics that users can easily use and connect to a computer to perform specific tasks.

Understanding how Arduino boards work is an important introduction to understanding the principles of computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering, crafts, the arts, and more.

Information technology and digital transformation consultant Islam Khanem explained that in simplified form, an Arduino is an electronic piece with a controller that can be thought of as a precise mind, and programmed to execute thousands of commands.

In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Khanem said these commands are activated by connecting the controller to any part of the computer or mobile phone.

Islam Khanem explained the most important features of Arduino:

• A vital part that connects anything to a computer or mobile phone to execute certain commands.
• Arduino is a separate brain from the computer, but it can be programmed according to where it is placed.
• Arduino boards are used in all modern industries and are considered the brains of many factories and production lines.
• The average cost of an Arduino chip is around $20, so it's not expensive.
• Arduino programming language is as easy as C++ and similar languages.
• With its low cost and ease of programming, the Arduino chip provides important and vital services.
• This programming is shaping the future and is connected to many sciences.Thus, artificial intelligence can be fruitful and it can overcome many obstacles.
• Arduino boards can be used in thousands of projects, whether in the user's specialty or outside of his specialty.

According to Ganem, this chip is the cornerstone of many practical applications. It is used in factory production lines and plays a role, for example, in quickly differentiating right-footed shoes from left-footed shoes in shoe factories. Telephones that remotely control house doors, or elevators programmed to be ready when a building door is opened, or air conditioning and other utilities programmed to operate when a house door is opened.

An IT and digital transformation consultant pointed out the importance of learning this programming to the new generation in the following ways:

• Studying this programming through academic education within the engineering and computer science faculties.
• The average person can take free courses at computer science centers that have a specialized Arduino department and call their tutorials cybernetic tutorials.
• Children as young as ten can get a simplified tutorial on Arduino, learning to control the forward or backward movement of the robot and other simple applications.