I encourage all levels of bio/ecologists to employ microcontrollers for their projects because it is economical, reliable, and, most importantly, flexible. It gives me a sense of freedom for generating ideas and experimental methods because my experiment is no longer limited by 'function' or 'capability' of commercial device. But I found difficult to acquire even basic skills and understanding in engineering and programming language at first. For that matter, I would like to share some useful websites for beginners:
1. Arduino forum: https://forum.arduino.cc 2. Raspberry Pi forum: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/ 3. Tutorial: http://www.instructables.com 4. Tutorial: https://learn.adafruit.com 5. Tutorial: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials?_ga=1.54079787.28957350.1476295306 If you don't have any experience in microcontrollers, you need to buy a starter kit rather than only a microcontroller. Even the simplest project (e.g., LED on/off) needs an electrical component (e.g., resistor, breadboard, wire, cable, power) to run. I use Arduino microcontroller for simulating sea level rise in natural wetlands. Please find my publication explaining the design and construction of the system in detail from: Title: Design and construction of an automated irrigation system for simulating saltwater intrusion in a tidal freshwater <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13157-016-0801-4> Wetlands <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13157-016-0801-4> https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13157-016-0801-4 Hope this helps. Dong Yoon Lee, Ph.D. Postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dong_Yoon_Lee2 http://www.people.vcu.edu/~dylee/ <804-827-2796> On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 11:29 AM, David Inouye <[email protected]> wrote: > An interesting article in Science: > > http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6306/1360 > Summary > > Many science research projects rely on specialized electronic devices and > software to gather data that often come with a high price tag. Advances in > open-source hardware and software are occurring at an astounding rate, but > scientists are often slow to take advantage of these for purposes beyond > their original scope. Here, we advocate that open-source technology can be > easily applied in science research to collect large data sets, at the same > time reducing costs and increasing the repeatability of experiments. > > -- > Dr. David W. Inouye > Professor Emeritus > Department of Biology > University of Maryland > College Park, MD [email protected] > > Principal Investigator > Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory > PO Box 519 > Crested Butte, CO 81224 > >
