After viewing all interesting stuff built using Arduino, I finally bought one myself from eBay this month.
Arduino is an open platform based on Atmel AVR microcontrollers. You can build various things out of it, from a simple temperature sensor to a working robot, it is just up to your imagination.
The hardware provides both digital/analog I/O. So that you can control various things.
A free IDE is provided for all major OSes. The language used is a based on C/C++ with a powerful library for a lot of stuff like controlling stepper motors / servos, getting values from keypads, displaying texts in LCD etc. You can also extend it with other modules called shields.
My plan is to build a portable jukebox for hymns using a piezo buzzer/speaker and a CNC drilling machine for building PCBs. I have already bought small of the parts and started to learn how to put things together. I will post the photos of the end products when they are done.
