Summary of Master Your Arduino Skills With Arduino Playground Book
Warren Andrews' "Arduino Playground" book guides experienced makers through 10 advanced projects to enhance hardware design, electronics, and programming skills. Published by No Starch Press, the guide covers practical and fun builds ranging from reaction-time games to custom pH meters. Each chapter details required tools, components, software, sketches, and board templates, accompanied by design notes for inspiration.
Parts used in the Arduino Playground:
- Arduino
- IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
- Drafting tools for DIY PCBs
- SOICs (Small Outline Integrated Circuits)
- LEDs
- Battery saver components
- Colored LEDs
Are you an experienced maker who are looking for more advanced Arduino skills to get?
Warren Andrews, an experienced engineer and journalist, wrote a new book that walks makers through building 10 outside-the-box projects, helping them advance their engineering and electronics know-how. With this book, makers will delve more deeply into hardware design, electronics, and programming.
The “Arduino Playground: Geeky Projects for the Curious Maker” book is published by the Geek book publisher, No Starch Press. Projects inside the book provide a way to build new things that vary between practical and fun.
Content of the book
The book has 11 chapters, the first one is a warm up, it contains a quick guide to get the Arduino ready, prepare the IDE and try some sketches, making DIY PCBs, and using SOICs. Each chapter of the other 10 chapters is a project chapter that starts with listing the required tools, components, and software, followed by detailed instructions of the build containing all sketches and board templates. There are also author’s design notes, which are sure to provide inspiration for your own inventions.
- Chapter 0: Setting Up and Useful Skills
- Chapter 1: The Reaction-Time Machine
A reaction-time game that leverages the Arduino’s real-time capabilities - Chapter 2: An Automated Agitator for PCB Etching
A tool for etching your own printed circuit boards - Chapter 3: The Regulated Power Supply
A regulated, variable-voltage power supply - Chapter 4: A Watch Winder
A kinetic wristwatch winder decked out with LEDs - Chapter 5: The Garage Sentry Parking Assistant
A garage parking assistant that blinks when your vehicle is perfectly parked - Chapter 6: The Battery Saver
A battery saver that prevents accidental discharge - Chapter 7: A Custom pH Meter
- A practical and colorful pH meter
- Chapter 8: Two Ballistic Chronographs
A ballistic chronograph that can measure the muzzle velocity of BB, Airsoft, and pellet guns - Chapter 9: The Square-Wave Generator
A square-wave generator - Chapter 10: The Chromatic Thermometer
A thermometer that tells the temperature using a sequence of colored LEDs
Read more: Master Your Arduino Skills With Arduino Playground Book
- Who wrote the Arduino Playground book?
Warren Andrews, an experienced engineer and journalist. - How many projects are included in the book?
The book contains 10 outside-the-box projects plus a setup chapter. - What publisher released this book?
No Starch Press published the book. - Does the book include code examples?
Yes, each project chapter includes all necessary sketches. - Can I learn to make my own PCBs from this book?
Yes, Chapter 0 provides a guide on making DIY PCBs. - What is the purpose of the Garage Sentry project?
It acts as a parking assistant that blinks when a vehicle is perfectly parked. - Does the book cover battery management?
Yes, it includes a Battery Saver project to prevent accidental discharge. - What tool measures muzzle velocity in the book?
A ballistic chronograph is described for measuring BB, Airsoft, and pellet gun velocities. - How does the Chromatic Thermometer display temperature?
It uses a sequence of colored LEDs to indicate temperature.

