If you’d like to experiment with an Arduino project, but don’t have access to an Arduino board or add-on electronics, consider working with a “Virtual” Arduino using the wonderful TinkerCad website that is hosted by Autodesk. I was recently looking for a tool to draw Arduino circuits for documenting projects in the course I’m putting together and found that and much more at TinkerCad.com. Autodesk has provided us with a wonderful website that is useful even if you already have an Arduino. For example, using Circuits.io a great way to make sure your project should work the way you have it wired up and programmed. If it won’t work on TinkerCad.com, it for sure won’t work on your Arduino. If it does work on TinkerCad.com, then you may have a problem with faulty hardware or wires on your Arduino that you can then track down. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to troubleshoot a problem for several hours, only to discover that you were working with a broken piece of electronics.
You’ll need to setup an account on TinkerCad.com, but once you have you’ll be able to create your own projects from scratch, or import other people’s projects that they have made available to the community. Some of the projects of mine that you might want to consider tinkering with on Circuits.io include:
- Lucky 8-Ball
- Love-O-Meter
- Light Theremin
- Four Colour Randomizer
- External LED Blink (Arduino’s Hello World)
Enjoy!
A “Light Theremin” Schematic