Arduino Esplora / A000095

Arduino Esplora / A000095 is a microcontroller based on the popular Arduino Leonardo platform. The Esplora series devices, unlike the boards of the previous lines, have a huge number of integrated interaction sensors on board, which allows you to create many Arduino Esplora projects of varying complexity. At the same time, the architecture of the platform implies that even a novice programmer without special skills and vast experience can start working with an Arduino Esplora-based device.

The Esplora board is equipped with integrated sensors and light and sound indicators, which allows you to receive and display the necessary information. The platform has

• light sensor
• temperature sensor
• MMA7361L acceleration sensor
• joystick
• potentiometer for setting analog values
• piezoelectric transducer
• PWM controlled LED RGB diode

Also, the board is equipped with two Tinkerkit type input / output connectors and has a port for connecting an LCD monitor / display. This allows you to significantly increase the capabilities and functionality of devices based on Arduino Esplora.

Features of the board

The Arduino Esplora uses the ATmega32U4 AVR microcontroller and a 16 MHz quartz resonator. The presence of a micro-USB connector makes it possible to use this board as a joystick or, for example, a computer mouse.

The Arduino Esplora, which our online store offers to buy, is equipped with four functional LEDs that are used to display the current state of the device - on / off, transmitting / receiving data via the usb port, and so on.

To start working with the device, you just need to connect the appropriate ports of your personal computer or laptop to the microcontroller. Please note that Esplora has special blocks that are responsible for recognition when connected via USB. After connecting with a suitable cable to a computer or laptop, the device can be identified as a mouse, joystick, keyboard, or a virtual COM port. Naturally, the board will function according to the identified device.

Technical specifications:

Input and output devices

The Esplora board design resembles a traditional gamepad design with an analog joystick on the left and four buttons on the right. Esplora has the following built-in inputs and outputs:

• Analog joystick with center push-button. An analog joystick with a center button, two axes (X and Y) and a center button.
• 4 push-buttons. 4 buttons are arranged in a diamond pattern.
• Linear potentiometer. Linear potentiometer slider at the bottom of the board.
• Microphone. A microphone for measuring the volume (amplitude) of the environment.
• Light sensor. Light sensor for measuring brightness.
• Temperature sensor. The temperature sensor reads the ambient temperature.
• Three-axis accelerometer. A three-axis accelerometer measures the board's relationship to gravity in three axes (X, Y, and Z).
• Buzzer. The buzzer can play rectangular waves.
• RGB led. RGB LED is a bright LED with red, green, and blue elements for color mixing.
• 2 TinkerKit Inputs. 2 TinkerKit inputs for connecting TinkerKit touch modules using 3-pin connectors.
• 2 TinkerKit Outputs. 2 TinkerKit outputs for connecting TinkerKit actuator modules with 3-pin connectors.
• TFT display connector. Connector for connecting a TFT display for an additional color LCD screen, SD card or other devices using the SPI protocol.
• Reset pushbutton. There is a reset button in the upper left corner of the board that you can use to restart the board.
• LEDS. There are four status LEDs:
  ON [green] indicates whether the board is receiving power
  L [yellow] is connected directly to the microcontroller, accessible via pin 13
  RX and TX [yellow] indicate data being transmitted or received via the USB connection.

To utilize the total number of available sensors, the board uses an analog multiplexer. This means that a single analog input of the microcontroller is used by all input channels (except for the 3-axis accelerometer).

The package includes:

1. Arduino Esplora board - 1 pc.
2. USB A - USB B micro cable - 1 pc.
3. Rubber cap for the joystick - 1 pc.

Weight: 0.053 kg