The Arduino project began in 2005 as a tool for students at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (IDII) in Ivrea, Italy. The goal of the project was to create a low-cost and easy-to-use programmable platform for interactive art design projects.
The project was started by Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, David Mellis, Gianluca Martino, and Tom Igoe. Banzi was a professor at IDII at the time, and he had been looking for a way to make electronics more accessible to students. He was inspired by the Wiring platform, which had been created by Hernando Barragán as a Master’s thesis project at IDII.
Banzi and his colleagues decided to build on the work of Barragán and create a new platform that was even easier to use. They called it Arduino, after a bar in Ivrea where they used to meet.
The first Arduino board, the Arduino Uno, was released in 2006. It was based on the ATmega328 microcontroller and it cost just $25. The Arduino Uno was an instant success, and it quickly became the de facto standard for DIY electronics projects.
Over the years, Arduino has continued to grow in popularity. There are now dozens of different Arduino boards available, each with its own set of features and capabilities. Arduino is used by students, hobbyists, and professionals all over the world to create a wide variety of projects, from simple robots to complex scientific instruments.
Arduino has had a major impact on the world of electronics. It has made electronics more accessible to people who do not have a background in engineering. It has also helped to foster a community of DIY electronics enthusiasts who are sharing their knowledge and creativity with the world.
Here are some of the key milestones in the history of Arduino:
- 2003: Hernando Barragán creates the Wiring platform as a Master’s thesis project at IDII.
- 2005: Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, David Mellis, Gianluca Martino, and Tom Igoe found the Arduino project.
- 2006: The first Arduino board, the Arduino Uno, is released.
- 2008: Arduino releases the Arduino IDE, a graphical user interface for programming Arduino boards.
- 2010: Arduino releases the Arduino Mega, a board with more memory and IO pins than the Arduino Uno.
- 2012: Arduino releases the Arduino Due, a board with a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor.
- 2014: Arduino releases the Arduino Zero, a board with a low-power ARM Cortex-M0+ processor.
- 2015: Arduino releases the Arduino MKR series, a line of boards with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
- 2018: Arduino releases the Arduino Nano Every, a board with a more powerful processor than the original Arduino Nano.
- 2020: Arduino releases the Arduino Nano 33 BLE, a board with built-in Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity.
Arduino is still going strong today, and it shows no signs of slowing down. It is one of the most popular open-source hardware platforms in the world, and it continues to inspire people all over the world to create amazing things.