Getting Started

To get started, you need an Arduino board and a prior knowledge of how it works. You also need the Arduino IDE, that is a software for developing code with the Arduino language, which can be downloaded from here.

All set? Good! Now follow the steps:

1. Download the TinkerKit library.
2. In your computer, locate the directory where saved sketches are stored. Usually on Windows and Mac is called "Arduino", on Linux is "sketchbook", by default is placed inside the Documents directory. If you are a first time user, and can't locate it, its okay! You can follow these easy steps:
   1. Create a new "blink" program on the IDE.
   2. Hit save.
   3. Go back the "Arduino" folder. There, you have it!
3. Create another directory inside the "Arduino" (or "sketchbook") directory and name it "libraries". If you have already installed other third party libraries this directory probably already exists.
4. Place the unzipped version of TinkerKit.zip inside the "libraries" folder.

Note that the TinkerKit library works only on the Arduino IDE 1.0 version. It does not have a backwards compatibility with the older versions.

Now that your computer is ready to work with Arduino and TinkerKit its time to say "Hello World" using all the components!

The basic starter kit includes the sensor shield for the Arduino UNO and the basic modules:

Leds Button Relay Rotary Potentiometer Linear Potentiometer Tilt Switch Touch Sensor Thermistor Light Sensor Joystick

Everything working? Good!

Now, you can try simple experiments to play with your TinkerKit. The interesting, real-life applications of which you can check in the Projects section.

The following are some examples of how to use the modules of the starter kit:

• Simple Traffic Light with Leds
  with only 3 leds: green, yellow and red.
• Traffic Light control with pedestrian light and button