The Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino is an innovative way to get started with Arduino programming. With a bundle of included sensors pre-wired, a low price of $20, and an easy-to-use Grove connector system, it grows with you as you learn.

What's in The Box?

Inside the sleek box you'll find:

• The all-in-one Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino circuit board
• Set of Grove system cables
• Micro-USB cable

While that doesn't sound like a lot, the Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino board actually consists of 10 built-in sensor and output modules, as follows:

• Pushbutton
• Rotary Potentiometer
• Air pressure sensor
• Temperature and humidity sensor
• Light level sensor
• Sound sensor
• 3-axis accelerometer
• LED
• Buzzer
• OLED display

Admitedly, not all of these modules may be as interesting to you as others, but they still serve as a good introduction to Arduino programming and keep the kit low-cost. They're all pre-wired, so you don't even need to plug them in.

In the center of the all-in-one kit is the Seeduino Lotus, an Arduino compatible ATmega328P board with 12 Grove connectors built in.

The pin format and board size are identical to an Arduino Uno, so if you wanted to fit this into a project case designed for an Uno, or to use an Uno-R3 format shield, you can. You can use it exactly as you would a standard Arduino Uno. It even identifies as one within the Arduino programming environment. This makes it very eas to follow along with any of the thousands of existing tutorials out there that are designed for an Uno device.

Getting Started with Grove Beginner Kit

The board itself is recognized as an Arduino Uno so there are no third party board extensions needed, but you will need a serial device driver for the CP2102N USB communication chip.

You will of course also need the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) software, which you can download from the Arduino foundation.

You'll probably also want to download the full project guide and sample code, which you'll find on the SeeedStudio site. This serves as a tutorial to introduce all the basics of Arduino, and features ten projects to make use of all the included sensors, as well as two fun bonus ones that revolve around reactive light and sound.

Since all the included modules are pre-wired to the board, there's no need to fiddle around with cables. Just the micro-USB cable is needed to get started.

In fact, the board is preloaded with a demo for each sensor, too. Long press the pushbutton in the bottom left to exit the current demo, and use the rotary potentiometer to scroll through available demos. Press the button again to select and see what it does.

If I have one minor criticism of the Grove Beginner Kit, it's that I would have liked to see the project files, serial driver, and Arduino IDE included in the package on a small USB drive. Or to really take the all-in-one concept up a notch, the USB stick could be built into the board, and snapped off on first use.

Wait– did I just say "snapped off"? That's right.

Break It Apart!

Here's the real beauty of the Grove Beginner Kit.

Once you've outgrown the all-in-one board and want to start replacing the built-in sensors with other modules or using the Seeduino Lotus board on its own, you can simply break it off the board. Just use a craft knife or small pair of snips to cut the stamp holes that the modules to the all-in-one board, then snap them out. You're even left with a handy mini ruler when you're done!

Once disconnected, you'll need to use the Grove connector cables to make use of the included modules again.

What is Grove, Anyway?

The Grove system uses a standardised four-pin DuPont connector, and you'll find a Grove system version of nearly every type of sensor or output module out there. Grove modules are self-contained, meaning you don't need to solder in any resistors, transistors, or other components before you can make use of them. Those are already built in to the sensor module, making it the best option for quickly prototyping an idea, or concentrating on the software side of things.

Before you start plugging things in though, you should learn which type of connection they require. For instance, some use I2C (IIC), some use a digital IO, and some use analog. While the connector is the same, the type of ports they can plug in to are not.

Refer back to the original board if you're not sure (they're all labelled), or look up the Grove module on the SeeedStudio wiki.

The SeeedStudio Lotus board has six digital, three analog, and two I2C Grove connector points, as well as one UART. Alternatively, you can connect non-Grove sensors to the standard Arduino Uno set of pins. However, bear in mind that most of these are shared by the Grove connectors, as indicated (D2 through D7, A0, A2, and A6). You can mix and match Grove modules and other sensors fine too, as long as you don't overlap which pins they use.

The Best Arduino Beginner's Kit

The Arduino language is already pretty easy to pick up, but the Grove Beginner Kit makes it even easier by getting rid of the fiddly cabling. And as you continue on your Arduino learning path, the Grove Beginner Kit grows with you, by literally breaking away parts and allowing to plug in other modules instead.

The Seeeduino Lotus at the heart of the Grove Beginner Kit may not be an original Arduino device, but it certainly looks like one, acts like one, and combines the best features of the classic development board with a set of Grove connector pins. You're not limited to Grove modules though; if you want to use Arduino shields, or sensors with jumper cables, you can.

And at $20, you really couldn't argue on price. Who'd have thought the best Arduino beginner kit wouldn't actually be an Arduino at all?

Of course, while we think this is the best Arduino starter kit out there, it's not great if your aim is to strictly learn electronics. The nature of the Grove system means that even things as simple as adding a resistor to an LED are hidden from the user. If you want to learn more of the hardware side of things, and not jump straight into programming, look elsewhere.

Customize Your Own Grove Beginner Kit, with Geppetto!

So you've made a prototype of a super temperature sensing widget thing with a screen and control dial modules. Awesome job! But now you realize you want the whole thing on a single circuit board instead, and in a round shape. Now, you can do that.

SeeedStudio have now launched an online design tool in collaboration with Geppetto, which allows you to customize your very own unique Grove Beginner Kit board. Just select the modules you want using the simple drag and drop interface, and send it over to the SeeedStudio engineering team, along with any special requirements.

They'll check your design for problems, then send you the finished product. Sounds expensive, right? Not really. It can cost as little as $50, including shipping, though of course, the price varies depending on the number of components you start adding in.

Learn all about ordering your own custom board on the SeeedStudio wiki.