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Using Arduino Engineering Kit Rev 2 with Pre-Configured Projects in Support Package

The Arduino® Engineering Kit is directed towards engineering students who want to learn engineering concepts with the help of Arduino, MATLAB®, Simulink®, and Stateflow®. This kit was developed by Arduino in collaboration with bat365. The kit contains all the components needed to build three complete projects, along with educational materials that elaborate on the project assembly as well as the Physics and Engineering concepts behind the projects, such as Control Systems, Image Processing, Mechatronics and Robotics. You will be introduced to programming in Arduino, MATLAB and Simulink, and learn all these topics discussed above while making three challenging engineering projects.

License and Installation Requirements

You can access the license and installation requirements at https://engineeringkit.arduino.cc/.

The kit includes a one-year individual user MATLAB license that includes all of these products with version R2021a:

  • MATLAB Support Package for Arduino Hardware

  • Simulink®

  • Simulink Support Package for Arduino Hardware

  • Control System Toolbox™

  • Curve Fitting Toolbox™

  • DSP System Toolbox™

  • Image Processing Toolbox™

  • Instrument Control Toolbox™

  • Optimization Toolbox™

  • Signal Processing Toolbox™

  • Simscape™

  • Simscape Multibody™

  • Stateflow®

  • Symbolic Math Toolbox™

If you have an existing MATLAB license, you can use that too if you have the required products and access to release R2021a or later.

You can see if you have the required products installed by typing the following command at the MATLAB prompt:

ver

If you have version R2020b or earlier releases, Arduino Engineering Kit Rev 2 project files are not available with the support package. For those releases, you can use the Arduino Engineering Kit Rev 1 project files, which are available in MATLAB Central™ File Exchange.

Pre-Configured Projects Available with the Support Package

When you install MATLAB Support Package for Arduino Hardware, the project files for these three projects are downloaded and installed:

Self-Balancing Motorcycle

Featuring inverted pendulum dynamics using a reaction wheel and movement gyro, the Self-Balancing Motorcycle can move around and balance by itself. The motorcycle is using Simulink to monitor and control the movements, by performing inertial sensing and filtering to make the motorcycle balance. In this project, the Nano Motor Carrier from Arduino will be used to control the inertia wheel in the center of the motorcycle. It will also command a geared DC motor in the back wheel to move forward or backward, and a servo in the front to steer the motorcycle.

Webcam Controlled Rover

The Webcam Controlled Rover features position tracking via a webcam and onboard sensing features for obstacle avoidance and movement. The rover uses a mix between MATLAB and Simulink programs to move around and interact with the world. In the rover, the Nano Motor Carrier from Arduino will be used to control the two DC geared motors at the rear end and a servo motor in the front of the vehicle, providing the rover with a lifting mechanism.

Drawing Robot

Using image processing techniques for extraction of geometries and path planning, the Drawing Robot recreates a picture on a whiteboard from an image captured through a webcam with the help of MATLAB. The robot utilizes pure MATLAB code to convert an image into set of motor commands that moves the markers across a whiteboard in order to duplicate the picture on the canvas. In this project, the Nano Motor Carrier from Arduino will be used to position the two DC geared motors on the whiteboard. Additionally, it will be used to control a servo motor that lowers the markers on the whiteboard, and helps to select between two different marker colors.

Required Products for the Pre-Configured Projects

Self-Balancing Motor CycleWebcam Controlled RoverDrawing Robot
MATLABMATLABMATLAB
SimulinkSimulinkControl System Toolbox
SimscapeStateflowImage Processing Toolbox
Simscape MultibodyImage Processing ToolboxMATLAB Support Package for USB Webcams
Simulink Support Package for Arduino HardwareMATLAB Support Package for Arduino HardwareMATLAB Support Package for Arduino Hardware
 Simulink Support Package for Arduino Hardware 

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