Planet Arduino

Last June Arduino partnered with Seeedstudio to manufacture Genuino boards for the chinese market and during Maker Faire Rome Massimo Banzi took part to an interesting panel to promote  4 chinese delegates from business, education, design and research domains presenting their work and discussing what does it mean to be a maker in China. (in the pic from left to right, Lin, Massimo, Alessio, Jin, Chenille & Flamingo).

The panel titled Making beyond the Wall and moderated by Alessio Jacona tried to address the growing maker movement in China which is not so visible to the European community while the hype of manufacture in Shenzhen, the Chinese Silicon Valley, is gaining more and more international media attention.

Flamingo was the first presenter of the session. Indeed he was also the first person to use Arduino boards in China back in 2007. As an evangelist, he taught physical interactions in China Central Academy of Fine Arts and even started the digital firm K1ND Beijing with Ogilvy China, which focus on interactive design with open source technologies for business projects.

He introduced LightBot (watch video on youku) made in collaboration with Jun Huang, an architect based in China. It’s an installation using LEDs as a brush to draw on light-sensitive canvas. The material on the wall glows after being exposed to light, particularly ultraviolet light, and fades away after some time. Lightbox is powered by an Arduino controlling 1024 LED lights installed on the pallet and stepper motors to control the movement.

Then it was the turn for  Jin  introducing Minibuilder and Candy Project (we featured her work in our blog earlier) created during her fellowship at Iaac. With her international background, Jin explained how she realized how the culture of making in China is focusing more on hardware startups with strong potential to accelerate thanks to great manufacturing opportunities. Whereas in the West, people see it more as a hobby or prefer to explore the conceptual development in a lab environment.  Nowadays she is implementing a new VR projects in China.

Later Lin explained his work as a tutor at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing and also his commitment as a community manager of mechanics and robotics in arduino.cn forum, the community of Arduino fans who also participated to Arduino Day. He worked on various projects and applied Arduino in hemiplegia rehabilitation equipment through sensor feedback and in a gearbox to detect malfunctions through vibration, temperature and stress.

Last but not least, Chenille talked about how he wrote the first book about Arduino in China and more recently, translated the third edition of Getting started with Arduino book into Chinese. He’s now working on a brainwave-controlled music player.

The panel was a good chance to present to an european crowd real experiences from the voice of chinese makers and sharing good practices for future collaborations.

Are you based in China and  want to share a project made with an Arduino or Genuino board? Submit it to the blog, we’d like to feature it and tell your story!

Last weekend we were in Rome to take part to the third edition of Maker Faire Rome. With more than 100.000 participants, the event confirmed itself as the biggest Maker Faire outside of US. We thank you all for visiting our booth and express your support to Arduino.cc community.

On Saturday we had a special announcement to make, Intel and Massimo Banzi were on the main stage presenting the collaboration on the Arduino 101 and Genuino 101:

During the three days makers, designers, kids and parents, and many more visited the Genuino Booth and the Maker Store to see the new Arduino’s sister brand Genuino boards, explore the interactive installations and chat with the Arduino team:

Massimo Banzi met  many fans and took part to a lot of selfies :

Browse the gallery of all pictures on Arduino account on Flickr. And see you at Maker Faire Rome 2016!

From October 16th to 18th, most of us will be participating to the third edition of Maker Faire Rome. We’re setting up an amazing booth showcasing Genuino boards, Arduino Create, Casa Jasmina installations, educational projects from Creative Technologies in the Classroom (CTC), the new Genuino Starter Kit and much more!

We’ll be at Maker Faire Rome all three days at our new Genuino booth, right next to the Maker Store where, for the first time, you’ll be able to purchase Genuino Uno and Genuino Mega!

Take a look at the map below to see where we are (in front of Pavillion U) and click on it if you want to download a PDF version.

Here’s a little preview of what’s new at our booth:

Genuino Modules
The Genuino Modules aim at providing the user a breadboard-less experience in building interactive electronic systems. The family of products contains a Hub, a Shield and umpteen number of individual modules. The Hub is a microcontroller board by itself, based on the ATmega32u4. The Shield is an add-on board that can be mounted onto another board (like Uno). The modules can be used by connecting them directly to the Hub, or to another Genuino or Arduino board using the Shield.

Eslov
The Eslov project is Genuino’s open-source, smart modular development platform made of a hub that connects to a computer, and a series of smart blocks. Each block features different functions, from analog sensors (like LDRs or potentiometers), to gyroscopes, accelerometers or even digital servo motors.
The different blocks automatically identify themselves in the Visual IDE when plugged to their hub. You can then virtually connect the blocks to one another by drawing pipes between sensor and actuator blocks. Without programming a single line of code, it’s possible to build complex prototypes like a seismic detector, a pet tracking device, or your own fitness band. Each block comes with a default firmware ready to run as part of the Eslov platform, but it is also possible to use it in combination with any of the existing Genuino or Arduino boards as a smart device connected via I2C.

Arduino Create 
Arduino Create is a platform that simplifies making a project as a whole, without having to switch between many different tools to manage the various aspects of whatever you are making.
You can write code and upload sketches to any Arduino & Genuino board directly from the browser, store all your sketches online, and access them from any device. The web-based software (IDE) offered by the Arduino Create platform is always up-to-date, including the latest Libraries and Cores, without having to install anything. Boards around you are automatically available in one single dropdown. You can add Schematics and Layout PNGs to your sketches, so that you have in one place all the core elements of your project.

During the three days you can also play with some cool interactive installations, among which:

Colour Theremin
The theremin is a musical electronic instrument that plays monophonic melodies by hand gestures. In this version, Colour Theremin creates a color ‘symphony': its intensity and shade are controlled by the movements of hands. The installation is based on a FastLED library by Daniel Garcia and Mark Kriegsman and it’s running on a Genuino Uno, an LCD shield, two ultrasound sensors, one pot for speed and 122 WS2812b pixels.

(S)passoUno
A DIY Live Stop Motion Tool heavily based on the work of Alexandre Quessy’s ToonLoop (2009), edited and used in Arduino and Processing workshop by Davide Gomba and Mirco Piccin.
(S)passoUno offers the player the possiblity to easily create a custom animation positioning objects on a lasercut board. Add a frame by pressing the Big Red Button, erase the last frame by pressing the Big Black Button, choose a sequence, add colors, add symmetry effects and enjoy the result!

(s)passo uno

Ready to celebrate the maker movement with us? Add the following events to your agenda:

• Friday, 16th October at 11.00am - During the Opening Conference “Life with the Machines” taking place at Aula Magna of Sapienza, Massimo Banzi will have a keynote and an important announcement.
• Saturday 17th October at 4.30pm – Massimo Banzi and Bruce Sterling will talk about “Casa Jasmina, the IoT for real people” at Room 10 of the Maker Faire (check map above).

Share your pictures and thoughts on social media channels using the hashtag #MFR15 and #Genuino

Get your discounted ticket to Maker Faire Rome (promo valid until October 14th –  h.18).

From October 16th to 18th, most of us will be participating to the third edition of Maker Faire Rome. We’re setting up an amazing booth showcasing Genuino boards, Arduino Create, Casa Jasmina installations, educational projects from Creative Technologies in the Classroom (CTC), the new Genuino Starter Kit and much more!

We’ll be at Maker Faire Rome all three days at our new Genuino booth, right next to the Maker Store where, for the first time, you’ll be able to purchase Genuino Uno and Genuino Mega!

Take a look at the map below to see where we are (in front of Pavillion U) and click on it if you want to download a PDF version.

Here’s a little preview of what’s new at our booth:

Genuino Modules
The Genuino Modules aim at providing the user a breadboard-less experience in building interactive electronic systems. The family of products contains a Hub, a Shield and umpteen number of individual modules. The Hub is a microcontroller board by itself, based on the ATmega32u4. The Shield is an add-on board that can be mounted onto another board (like Uno). The modules can be used by connecting them directly to the Hub, or to another Genuino or Arduino board using the Shield.

Eslov
The Eslov project is Genuino’s open-source, smart modular development platform made of a hub that connects to a computer, and a series of smart blocks. Each block features different functions, from analog sensors (like LDRs or potentiometers), to gyroscopes, accelerometers or even digital servo motors.
The different blocks automatically identify themselves in the Visual IDE when plugged to their hub. You can then virtually connect the blocks to one another by drawing pipes between sensor and actuator blocks. Without programming a single line of code, it’s possible to build complex prototypes like a seismic detector, a pet tracking device, or your own fitness band. Each block comes with a default firmware ready to run as part of the Eslov platform, but it is also possible to use it in combination with any of the existing Genuino or Arduino boards as a smart device connected via I2C.

Arduino Create 
Arduino Create is a platform that simplifies making a project as a whole, without having to switch between many different tools to manage the various aspects of whatever you are making.
You can write code and upload sketches to any Arduino & Genuino board directly from the browser, store all your sketches online, and access them from any device. The web-based software (IDE) offered by the Arduino Create platform is always up-to-date, including the latest Libraries and Cores, without having to install anything. Boards around you are automatically available in one single dropdown. You can add Schematics and Layout PNGs to your sketches, so that you have in one place all the core elements of your project.

During the three days you can also play with some cool interactive installations, among which:

Colour Theremin
The theremin is a musical electronic instrument that plays monophonic melodies by hand gestures. In this version, Colour Theremin creates a color ‘symphony': its intensity and shade are controlled by the movements of hands. The installation is based on a FastLED library by Daniel Garcia and Mark Kriegsman and it’s running on a Genuino Uno, an LCD shield, two ultrasound sensors, one pot for speed and 122 WS2812b pixels.

(S)passoUno
A DIY Live Stop Motion Tool heavily based on the work of Alexandre Quessy’s ToonLoop (2009), edited and used in Arduino and Processing workshop by Davide Gomba and Mirco Piccin.
(S)passoUno offers the player the possiblity to easily create a custom animation positioning objects on a lasercut board. Add a frame by pressing the Big Red Button, erase the last frame by pressing the Big Black Button, choose a sequence, add colors, add symmetry effects and enjoy the result!

(s)passo uno

Ready to celebrate the maker movement with us? Add the following events to your agenda:

• Friday, 16th October at 11.00am - During the Opening Conference “Life with the Machines” taking place at Aula Magna of Sapienza, Massimo Banzi will have a keynote and an important announcement.
• Saturday 17th October at 4.30pm – Massimo Banzi and Bruce Sterling will talk about “Casa Jasmina, the IoT for real people” at Room 10 of the Maker Faire (check map above).

Share your pictures and thoughts on social media channels using the hashtag #MFR15 and #Genuino

Get your discounted ticket to Maker Faire Rome (promo valid until October 14th –  h.18).

This week New York City is the city of Makers, with Makercon conference and World Maker Faire coming up on our agenda!

You can begin on September 24th, with Massimo Banzi taking part to the session TECH: Cheaper, Faster, Better of Makercon (at 3.30pm local time) to discuss the future of maker development platforms – particularly microcontroller boards – and they paths toward being more powerful, less expensive, and more accessible to a broader range of Makers than ever before.

In the meanwhile, watch the video from 2014 edition:

On the weekend, September 26th and 27th, we’ll be joining Atmel booth in Zone 3 for the 6th annual World Maker Faire. We’ll be exhibiting some of our latest products and cool projects made with Arduino.

Here’s a memo of presentations made by Arduino team:

Saturday h.1.00 PM to 1.30 PM Center Stage – NYSCI Auditorium
State of Arduino by Massimo Banzi

Saturday 3:15 PM —3:30 PM Center Stage – NYSCI Auditorium
Who Are You Making For?  by Tom Igoe
Tom will share a few stories of makers whose work has inspired him in and out of the classroom, and discuss how their stories and motivations led to the things they’ve made.

Saturday 11:30 AM — 11:45 AM  Zone 3 – Make: DIY
Getting Started with Arduino (3rd edition) by Michael Shiloh
Co-author with Massimo Banzi of ‘Getting Started with Arduino’, Michael takes you through the microcontroller’s latest iterations.

Sunday 11:15AM – 11:30 AM Zone 3 – Make: DIY
Getting Started with Arduino (3d edition) by Michael Shiloh
Co-author with Massimo Banzi of ‘Getting Started with Arduino’, Michael takes you through the microcontroller’s latest iterations.

I caught up with [Massimo Banzi] at the Shenzhen Maker Faire to talk about manufacturing in China, the current and future of Arduino, and how recent events may shape the Open Hardware landscape.

The big news from Arduino at SZMF is a new partnership with Seeed Studio to manufacture theGenuino. This is an official Arduino board manufactured in China for the Chinese market. Knowing that the board is official and connected to the founders is key point to get makers to adopt this hardware. [Massimo] makes a good point about the ideal of “Proudly Made in China” which I could see as a selling point for the burgeoning maker market there. This may be a growing principle in China, but in an ocean of clone boards it sounds like a tough path forward. On the other hand, their booth was mobbed with people putting in new orders.

[Massimo] belives the current Arduino strife has actually served to move the project forward. He cites the schism between arduino.cc and arduino.org for catalyzing manufacturing partnerships with both Adafruit Industries and Seeed Studios. This has resulted in official Arduino hardware that is not made only in Italy, but made in the region the hardware will be used; NYC for US orders, Shenzhen for China orders.

Our discussion wraps up with a plea from [Massimo] for the Hackaday community to be a little less fickle about projects using Arduino. That one makes me chuckle a bit!

Casa Jasmina, Torino’s Open-Source Connected Apartment, opens its doors on Saturday during Mini Maker Faire in Torino. The unique example of connected apartment with open-source ideals, promoted by Arduino and curated by the futurist and science fiction writer Bruce Sterling, is hosted by Toolbox Coworking in a old industrial building already shared by Officine Arduino (the Italian Arduino headquarter), and Fablab Torino.

During the opening, Casa Jasmina will be available publicly for the first time, hosting some local Maker furnitures, an Italian selection of Valcucine kitchen appliances, household works by International Open Source designers (OpenDesk, Jesse Howard, Aker, Open Structure), and a small display of various connected objects and artifacts from the Energy@Home consortium, Torino Share Festival, and designs and prototypes from the first Casa Jasmina “Call for Projects”.

In the forthcoming months, Casa Jasmina will host residency programs, workshops and talks. This “house of the future” is not restricted to technicians but is meant for people interested in everyday life under near-future conditions and will be available on AirBnB for futurist weekends in Torino.

During the day at the Faire from 10am to 7pm,  you can explore over 50  makers’ projects, listen to many talks and  to the presentation of Casa Jasmina project by Bruce Sterling, enjoy a kids’ area with activities and a lab for the little ones.

Casa Jasmina  guided tours are starting from 11.30 am. Check the program.

Yes, we made it! You have some more days to complete your application for Maker Faire Rome – The European edition, and be with us next October. So far, we received many interesting, challenging, surprising projects and we don’t want to miss yours: defeat the procrastinator hiding in you and submit you project now!

Projects will be selected by a jury and will participate free of charge. If your project is accepted:

• you can exhibit your project: we’ll give you for free a booth with table and chairs inside the halls, which will be filled with visitors who are curious and interested in meeting you
• you can make a presentation in public: we’ll give you for free a room or a stage where you can talk about your project or tell your story or deal with the issues that you want to propose
• you can hold a workshop: we’ll give you for free a workshop area where you can do interactive demonstrations and engage participants -adults and / or children- in practical activities
• you can perform in public: we’ll give you for free a space or a stage  to perform in your
  creative, technological, robotic, musical, pyrotechnic performance.

Thursday May 28th at noon The Computer History Museum is hosting an open lecture by Massimo Banzi, co-founder of the Arduino project. He will cover the historical origins of Arduino, including discussion of the process of designing tools which make digital technology accessible to people who are not experts, and the essential role of the larger Arduino ecosystem that supports this remarkable computer platform.

The Computer History Museum, located in Mountain View (California), is a nonprofit organization  exploring the history of computing and its ongoing impact on society in the last 40 years. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of computer history, it hosts the largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world and many virtual exhibition you can explore directly online.

If you like vintage images and history of computing, check the “visible storage” collection below.

The main image of this post is a picture by Massimo Banzi showing the first useable Arduino prototype. Still called “Wiring Lite”, used as a low cost module for wiring users. David Cuartielles joined at this point (the flying resistor is his first contribution to the design) from this point on the project becomes Arduino. 

Over the Memorial Day weekend the first Arduinos were to be made in the USA were hand built by Limor in the Adafruit offices in New York.

Read more on MAKE

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