Arduino Internals

Control Systems

An entire subfield of mathematics and engineering is devoted to the subject of control theory. The central idea is that a system, which has a measurable output and a controlling input, can be stabilized with the use of negative feedback.

You can use an Arduino to perform several of these functions for you in a robot. You already know that the Arduino is good at doing simple things quite rapidly. It can measure voltages, count accurately, and control external circuitry with the appropriate driver circuits. These abilities make it especially well-qualified to use as a starting point in building a robot-controller circuit.

Open-Loop Systems

When you blink an LED using an Arduino, you verify the output with your eyes and then make ...