A ‘Shield’ is a circuit board that uses a set of pins to connect directly to some (or all) of the pins on a microcontroller, usually to add extra functionality or to avoid using excessive wires or a separate breadboard. The term is mainly used when talking about Arduinos. These can also be termed ‘daughter boards’ or ‘modules’.

In general electronics, the term ‘shield’ can also mean a conductive layer that prevents capacitive coupling to whatever you are trying to protect with the shield.

At MakerClub, we will be producing a range of additional shields for our Hornet microcontroller, including sensor packed weather stations and home automation specials.