Hardware hacking is cool, but it can be daunting to software guys. Microcontrollers mix hardware and software basically allowing software guys to do hardware in software. Lately several products have emerged that make it even easier for software guys to get hardware up and working.
Arduinos are relatively cheap, open source, all-in-one prototyping boards with a strong community behind them. All you need is a USB cable and the Arduino IDE (which is also open source). The Arduino language is easy to learn for anyone with even a basic knowledge of coding. Arduinos can be made into many different security devices including keyboard emulators, RFID readers/writers, combination lock brute forcing robots, magnetic stripe card emulators, and automated cell phone dialers. In a way, an Arduino is kind of like the hardware equivalent of scripting languages. They make development quick and are a good fit for many projects.
In this talk you'll see examples of projects built with Arduinos and information on how they were done. You'll also see some limitations of Arduinos and some alternatives to typical Arduinos. In the end you'll see that anyone can make really cool hardware, even without a degree in electrical engineering.