The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 15 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.

The Arduino Mega is compatible with most shields designed for the Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimila.The Arduino MEGA 2560 is designed for projects that require more I/O lines, more sketch memory and more RAM. With 54 digital I/O pins, 16 analog inputs and a larger space for your sketch it is the recommended board for 3D printers and robotics projects. This gives your projects plenty of room and opportunities maintaining the simplicity and effectiveness of the Arduino platform.

The Arduino Mega 2560 is programmed using the Arduino Software (IDE).