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Physical computing means building interactive physical systems through the use of software and hardware that integrate, can feel and respond to the analog world. Although this definition is broad, in a more general sense, physical computing is a creative framework for understanding the relationship between humans and the digital world. In practice, this term often describes design drawings DIY or objects using sensors and microcontrollers for translate analog inputs to software-based systems or control electromechanical devices such as motors, servos, lighting, or other hardware.

Other physical computing implementations work with voice recognition, which captures and interpret sound waves through microphones or other devices, audio wave detection devices, also computer vision, which applies algorithms to videos detected by some type of camera. Tactile interfaces are also an example of physical computing.

Prototyping (creating quick assemblies with the help of a protoboard and basic electronics components) plays an important role in physical computing. Tools such as Arduino and Fritzing are useful for designers, artists, students, and hobbyists because they help to make prototypes quickly.

Free hardware is called hardware devices whose specifications and schematic diagrams are publicly accessible, either under some kind of payment or free of charge. The philosophy of free software (ideas about freedom of knowledge) is applicable to that of free hardware. It must be remembered at all times that free is not synonymous with free. Free hardware is part of free culture.

Open Source Hardware consists of physical technology devices designed and offered by the open design movement. Both free software and open-source hardware are created under the open-source culture movement and apply this concept to a variety of components. The term usually means that the information on the hardware is easily recognized.

The design on the hardware (i.e., mechanical drawings, schematics, material list, PCB layout data, source code, and integrated circuit layout data), plus of the free software that drives the hardware, are all released with the free and open-source approach. Every year the Open Source Hardware Association organizes the Open-Hardware Summit conference, which is the world's first comprehensive conference on open hardware, a space to discuss and draw attention to this rapidly growing movement.

Since the hardware has direct variable costs associated with it, no definition of free software can be applied directly without modification. In contrast, the term free hardware has been used primarily to reflect the use of free software with hardware and the free release of information regarding hardware, often including the version of schematic diagrams, designs, and assemblies.

Free software is software that is distributed along with its source code and is released under terms that guarantee users the freedom to study, adapt/modify, and distribute the software. Free software is often developed in collaboration between volunteer programmers as part of an open-source software development project.

The users of this type of software are free because they do not need to ask permission and are not bound by restrictive proprietary licenses. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is an organization dedicated to promoting open-source or free software. It was created to encourage a rapprochement of commercial entities with free software. Its main performance is to certify which licenses fit as free software licenses, software, and its technological and economic advantages.

Free software, although this name is also sometimes confused with "free" because of the ambiguity of the term "free," so "free software" and "logical free" are also used) It is the name of the software that respects the freedom of the users on their acquired product and, therefore, once obtained, it can be used, copied, studied, modified, and redistributed freely. According to the Free Software Foundation, free software refers to the freedom of users to execute, copy, distribute, study, modify the software, and distribute it modified.

OSI, like many community members, believes that software is first and foremost a tool and that the merit of this tool should be judged based on technical criteria. For them, free software, in the long run, is economically more efficient and of better quality and should, therefore, be encouraged. In addition, the participation of companies in the free software ecosystem is considered fundamental because they are the companies that enable the increase in the development, implementation, and use of free software.

Arduino is an open electronics platform for prototyping based on free, flexible, and easy-to-use software and hardware. It was developed for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating objects or interactive environments. The Arduino can acquire environmental information through its input pins, for which a complete range of sensors can be used. On the other hand, Arduino can act in the environment by controlling lights, motors, or other actuators.

The fields of action for the control of systems are immense, being able to have applications in the area of 3D printing, robotics, transport engineering, agronomic engineering, musical engineering, fashion, and many others. The microcontroller of the Arduino board is programmed using the Arduino programming language, based on Wiring, and the development environment (IDE) is based on Processing.

The projects developed with Arduino can be run even without the need to be connected to a computer, although they can also be done by communicating with different types of software (such as Flash, Processing, or MaxMSP). Plates can be handmade or purchased assembled from the factory.

You can download the software that can be done for free, and the board designs are available under an open license, so you are also free to adapt it to your needs.

Processing is an open-source programming language, and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts and communities of visual projects to teach basic notions of computer programming in a visual context. The project was initiated in 2001 by Casey Reas and Ben Fry, both former members of the MIT Media Lab Computing Group. One of the objectives of Processing is to act as a tool for nonprogrammers initiated with programming, through immediate satisfaction with visual feedback.

Fritzing is an open-source electronic design automation program designed to help designers and artists move from prototypes (using, for example, test boards) to final products. Fritzing was created under the principles of Processing and Arduino and allows designers, artists, researchers, and amateurs to document your Arduino-based prototype and create printed circuit diagrams for later manufacturing. Besides.., it has a complementary website that helps share and discuss projects, experiences, and reduce manufacturing costs.