A000095

A000095 Datasheet


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ARDUINO ESPLORA

Code A000095

The Arduino Esplora is an Arduino Leonardo based board with integrated sensors and actuators OVERVIEW
• The Arduino Esplora is a microcontroller board derived from the Arduino Leonardo. The Esplora differs from all preceding Arduino boards in that it provides a number of built-in, ready-to-use set of onboard sensors for interaction. It's designed for people who want to get up and running with Arduino without having to learn about the electronics first. For a step-by-step introduction to the Esplora, check out the Getting Started with Esplora guide.

The Esplora has onboard sound and light outputs, and several input sensors, including a joystick, a slider, a temperature sensor, an accelerometer, a microphone, and a light sensor. It also has the potential to expand its capabilities with two Tinkerkit input and output connectors, and a socket for a color TFT LCD screen.

Like the Leonardo board, the Esplora uses an Atmega32U4 AVR microcontroller with 16 MHzcrystal oscillator and a micro USB connection capable of acting as a USB client device, like a mouse or a keyboard.

In the upper left corner of the board there is a reset pushbutton, that you can use to restart the board. There are four status LEDS :
• ON [green] indicates whether the board is receiving power supply
• L [yellow] connected directly to the microcontroller, accessible through pin 13
• RX and TX [yellow] indicates the data being transmitted or received over the USB
communication

The board contains everything needed to support the microcontroller simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable to get started.

The Esplora has built-in USB communication it can appear to a connected computer as a mouse or keyboard, in addition to a virtual CDC serial / COM port. This has other implications for the behavior of the board these are detailed on the getting started page.

TECH SPECS

Microcontroller Operating Voltage Flash Memory SRAM EEPROM Clock Speed Lenght Width Weight

ATmega32u4 5V 32 KB of which 4 KB used by bootloader KB 1 KB 16 MHz mm 60 mm 53 gr
• Memory

The ATmega32u4 has 32 KB with 4 KB used for the bootloader . It also has KB of SRAM and 1 KB of EEPROM which can be read and written with the EEPROM library .

Input and Output

The design of the Esplora board recalls traditional gamepad design with an analog joystick on the left and four pushbuttons on the right. The Esplora has the following on-board inputs and outputs :
• Analog joystick with central two axis X and Y and a center pushbutton.
• 4 laid out in a diamond pattern.
• Linear potentiometer slider near the bottom of the board.
• Microphone for getting the loudness amplitude of the surrounding environment.
• Light sensor for getting the brightness.
• Temperature sensor reads the ambient temperature
• accelerometer measures the board's relation to gravity on three axes X, Y,
and Z
• Buzzer can produce
• RGB led bright LED with Red Green and Blue elements for color mixing.
• 2 TinkerKit Inputs to connect the TinkerKit sensor modules with the connectors.
• 2 TinkerKit Outputs to connect the TinkerKit actuator modules with the connectors.
• TFT display connector for an optional color LCD screen, SD card, or other
devices that use the SPI protocol.

In order to utilize the total number of available sensors, the board uses an analog multiplexer. This means a single analog input of the microcontroller is shared among all the input channels except the 3-axis accelerometer . Four additional microcontroller pins choose which channel to read.

Communication

The Leonardo the Esplora has a number of facilities for communicating with a computer, another Arduino, or other microcontrollers. The ATmega32U4 provides serial CDC communication over USB and appears as a virtual com port to software on the computer. The chip also acts as a full speed USB device, using standard USB COM drivers. On Windows, a .inf file is required. The Arduino software includes a serial monitor which allows simple textual data to be sent to and from the Arduino board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will flash when data is being transmitted via the USB connection to the computer.

The ATmega32U4 also supports SPI communication, that can be accessed through the SPI library.

The Esplora can appear as a generic keyboard and mouse, and can be programmed to control these input devices using the Keyboard and Mouse libraries.

Programming

The Esplora can be programmed with the Arduino software download . Select "Arduino Esplora" from the Tools > Board menu. For details, see the getting started page.

The ATmega32U4 on the Arduino Esplora comes preburned with a bootloader that allows you to upload new code to it without the use of an external hardware programmer. It communicates using the AVR109 protocol.

You can also bypass the bootloader and program the microcontroller through the ICSP In-Circuit Serial Programming header see these instructions for details.

To facilitate writing sketches for the Esplora, there is a dedicated library that contains methods for reading the sensors and writing to the outputs on-board.

The library offers high level methods which provide pre-processed data, like degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius from the temperature sensor. It also enables easy access to the outputs, like writing values to the RGB LED.

Visit the Esplora library reference page to see the complete documentation of the library and examples.

Automatic Software Reset and Bootloader initiation

Rather than requiring a physical press of the reset button before an upload, the Esplora is designed in a way that allows it to be reset by software running on a connected computer. The reset is triggered when the Esplora's virtual CDC serial / COM port is opened at 1200 baud and then closed. When this happens, the processor will reset, breaking the USB connection to the computer meaning that the virtual serial / COM port will disappear . After the processor resets, the bootloader starts, remaining active for about 8 seconds. The bootloader can also be initiated by pressing the reset button on the Esplora. Note that when the board first powers up, it will jump straight to the user sketch, if present, rather than initiating the bootloader.

Because of the way the Esplora handles reset it's best to let the Arduino software try to initiate the reset before uploading, especially if you are in the habit of pressing the reset button before uploading on other boards. If the software can't reset the board you can always start the bootloader by pressing the reset button on the board. USB Overcurrent Protection

The Esplora has a resettable polyfuse that protects your computer's USB ports from shorts and overcurrent. Although most computers provide their own internal protection, the fuse provides an extra layer of protection. If more than 500 mA is applied to the USB port, the fuse will automatically break the connection until the short or overload is removed. Physical Characteristics

The maximum length and width of the Esplora PCB are and inches respectively, with the USB and TinkerKit connectors extending beyond the latter dimension. Four screw holes allow the board to be attached to a surface or case.
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Datasheet ID: A000095 518313