Arduino Shields

Arduino shields are “add-ons” that increase the functionality of an arduino. For my virtual pet project to be completed in the future, I wanted to include the ability of a pedometer, to count/track steps, so that the creature could respond once the user reached a certain number. However, I was not able to find definite information on whether a pedometer attachment would count as a shield, and so I began to look at the Sparkfun Spectrum Shield, which splits an audio input into 7 bands per channel. The information gathered from the amplitude of the frequency of sound can be programmed to have a reaction in LEDS, create sound visualizers, detect patterns in music or add sound activation to a microcontrolled project. It is available on the sparkfun website, along with a schematic which details how to attach the shield to the arduino, but it does involve soldering headers. There are audio jacks which are connected between the shield and and output to that the arduino can react to the audial stimuli.