Arduino has now become a strong platform for creating and developing various open-source hobbyist electronic projects. Its relative ease of use, versatility, and the unbeatable price have all made Arduino into the prototyping board of choice for many home-brew electronic enthusiasts worldwide. In this article, we review 4 of the best arduino project books available till date.
We have already listed 4 books to learn the basics of Arduino. If you are looking out for a practical and a little more advanced approach to Arduino we suggest you to read any or all of the books we have reviewed below. All these books focus on arduino projects and they come with complete circuit diagram and source codes.
All these books have been reviewed in detail and the links to buy them in USA, India, and UK are provided. Also note that the list is provided on the basis of advanced projects presented in these books.
#1 30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius by Simon Monk
This book has 33 projects (not 30) that are useful for starters who have a fair knowledge of basic electronics and programming. Though the project may not satisfy very high end users, they surely cover more than the basics and the projects are really good to show off. The book focuses more on Uno and Leonardo boards. The best part of the book is that there is very little soldering practice for most of the projects except for a protoshield project, a binary clock and two or three projects on peripheral boards. One of the projects also covers the basics of a high end processing IDE, so on to provide a graphical displaying output. All the coding for each project is no more than 3 pages and is hence easy to understand. You can try each and every project without even knowing electronics beyond the basics of how to read a schematic and recognize specific components.
Some of the useful projects include an LCD thermostat, a servo-controlled laser, infrared remote control circuit, lie detector, magnetic door lock and many more.
About the Author
The book is written by Prof. Simon Monk, a degree holder in Cybernetics ad Computer science and also has a PhD in software engineering. He is also the cofounder of the mobile software company Momonte Ltd. He has also published some bestsellers like “Programming Arduino”, “15 Dangerously Mad Projects for the Evil Genius”, and “Arduino + Android Projects for the Evil Genius”. All his projects go beyond the workbench and include helpful considerations on how you might want to implement them in the real world.
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30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius by Simon Monk – USA
30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius by Simon Monk – UK
#2 Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware by Jonathan Oxer, Hugh Blemings
When it comes to practical applications of Arduino, this is considered one of the best books in this field. The quality of information that is densely provided in this book may not be adequate for novice beginners in Arduino. Though the first two chapters provides knowledge on basic electronics and the tools required to build each project, it jumps directly to 14 chapters of pure Arduino projects. Most of the projects are built with ATMega 128 or 328 CPU. If you are a little advanced in this subject, this is one of the best books for you to buy. You will not find the “Flashing LED” type projects in this book. Each project is specified with the clear knowledge that is required to do it. Each chapter also discusses the software necessary to drive the circuit and also provides the source coding that is very easy to follow. The book has a very useful index and the circuit diagrams are clear and easy to understand.
About the Author
The author Jonathan Oxer was the former president of LINUX Australia and the founder and technical director of Integrated Vision Technologies. He has also written many famous books like “How to Build a Website and Stay Sane”, “Ubuntu Hacks”, and “Quick Start Guide to Google Adwords”. He has been part of many reality TV shows like Superhouse, The Phone and also has appeared as guest in many radiostation programmes.
Hugh Blemings, the co-author of this book has been working on free software since the early 90’s.
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Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware by Jonathan Oxer, Hugh Blemings – USA
Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware by Jonathan Oxer, Hugh Blemings – UK
#3 Arduino + Android Projects for the Evil Genius by Simon Monk
Witten by the same author Simon Monk (30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius), this book is meant for the people who are interested in advanced Arduino projects. If you can easily complete all the basic projects in Arduino, then you may want to try your hand at getting your microcontroller projects communicating to another mobile device.
This book is written in a unique, inventive and creative style and covers topics apart from advanced Arduino like Android Open Application Development Kit (ADK). Their applications may include communication of mobile with external devices, via USB. There are also some basic applications of bluetooth and wifi technology.
Some of the projects in the book include Android Light Show, TV Remote, Ultrasonic Range Finder, Smart Thermostat, RFID Signaling Flags and several more.
In short, if you are really interested in advanced Arduino and Android applications, where you can get your Arduino talking over the air, then this book is the best choice.
Buy this Book
Arduino + Android Projects for the Evil Genius by Simon Monk – USA
Arduino + Android Projects for the Evil Genius by Simon Monk – UK
#4 Arduino Robotics by John-David Warren, Josh Adams, and Harald Molle
This book is very useful for hobbyists who are looking out for advanced robotic projects with Arduino applications and
heavy on fabrication (mechanical and electrical). The book provides careful, graduated instructions in robotics and the necessary Arduino skills to complete the transition from a line-following robot to complex projects like robotic lawn mower to even a DIY segway-clone. Before going into the detailed projects including Arduino and embedded processors, the authors have very well explained all the basics of accelerometers, H-bridge motor controllers, and Arduino interfacing of DC servo and stepper motors.
The author John-David Warren ahs also made sure that all his projects are made cheap and cost-effective. The Arduino is programmed through an Integrated Development Environment with the help of code sketches which describe the operational steps that the Arduino will execute at the robotic level. The basic variable, functions and procedures of the coding language are described along with neat diagrams.
In short, if you are looking for an advanced book that mostly features on robotics projects, this is the best choice available.
About the Author
John-David Warren, the main author of this book is known for his real world experience as a carpenter, plumber and electrician rather than as a writer. His practical knowledge as an electronic hobbyist has really reflected on his book as he solves even the smallest details that may make his readers confused. He was featured on the cover of MAKE magazine in April 2010. He has built many kinds of robots with various motor controllers and is famous for his cost effective ways of building bots.
Josh Adams holds his Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University if Alabama. He is a developer and an Architect.
Harald Molle is a Computer Engineer who worked as a researcher at a University in Germany. He later co-founded an embedded system company.
Buy this Book
Arduino Robotics by John-David Warren – USA
Arduino Robotics by John-David Warren – UK
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