A Historical Overview of Arduino Development and Its Impact – Makings of an Italian Masterpiece

Abstract

The Arduino platform represents a significant achievement in the landscape of open-source electronics and microcontrollers by breaking barriers and providing an accessible ecosystem for individuals to engage with data acquisition and control technologies interacting with the physical world. Its emergence has facilitated widening access to electronics and programming, generating a powerful global community of creators including educators, students, and professionals. In logistics research and practice, Arduino serves as a control and prototyping platform for various logistics systems, such as automated guided vehicles and inventory systems. Arduino is frequently chosen due to its low cost, ease of programming and relatively low power consumption, which is especially attractive in teaching and low-margin industries. This article aims to provide a comprehensive historical overview of the platform’s development and use as well as its origins and the evolution of its hardware and software, exploring the growth of its community and its impact. This article also presents its diverse range of applications, including logistics and teaching, while analyzing its influence on the Maker Movement, summarizing its current state and possible future directions.