Posts | Comments

Planet Arduino

Archive for the ‘Arduino AtHeart’ Category

Emoro_blogpost_B

We’re excited to welcome Croatian startup Inovatic ICT and its EMoRo Kit to our AtHeart program!

EMoRo (Educational Mobile Robot) is an Arduino-compatible robot designed to encourage logical thinking and technical curiosity in a fun, engaging way. The solder-free DIY kit consists of a robust aluminum chassis along with easy-to-connect components like servos, sensors, and relays. It also supports other construction sets like LEGO Technic, Eitech, and Fischertechnik.

Based an ATmega250 board, EMoRo can be programmed using the Arduino IDE and upgraded with the addition of interchangeable modules, such as Bluetooth for Android device control, an LCD display, push buttons, and an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass for navigation. Built-in safety features include step-down regulators, thermal shutdowns, under-voltage lockouts, and cycle-by-cycle over-current protections–all of which make the EMoRo rugged enough for beginners, yet versatile enough for advanced Makers.

According to Boris Jakov Anic-Kurko, Inovatic ICT Managing Director: 

EMoRo originated as a result of our vision to create a tool that would introduce the world of robotics to children and spark their interest in technology and programming. With that vision in mind, we have decided to use the programming platform Arduino, as the world’s most used and popular programming platform when it comes to programming small educational robots.

Interested in EMoRo for your next robotics competitions or as a tool in your STEAM class? You can now buy a kit here

goblin2_A

We are happy to announce another new member in the Arduino AtHeart Program! GOBLIN 2 from Mexican startup VERSE Technology is an Arduino-friendly development board with powerful wireless capabilities and broad compatibility with industrial protocols like RS-485.

Designed for both IoT professionals and Makers alike, GOBLIN 2 features an ATmega328P MCU and SIM5320A module at its core, providing dual-band HSDPA and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity, along with high accuracy 16-channel GPS. The SIM5320A enables GOBLIN 2 to connect with web servers through any cellular network, and includes a header for keyboards, microphones, and speakers. 

GOBLIN 2 is equipped with six analog and 10 digital ports (half of them work as PWM), and offers 24V, 5V and 3.3V voltage outputs. The board is powered by a LiPo battery, which can be charged through micro-USB or solar cell thanks to its built-in battery management system. 

According to VERSE Technology CEO Aaron Benitex:

“We are developing technology to monitor and control the billions of present and future Internet of Things-ready devices. GOBLIN 2 is a board that allows our users to measure parameters like temperature, humidity, position, and others in remote locations. We have designed it in a way that it can easily work with industrial sensors and other applications such as telemetry, weather, GPS systems, and more.”

GOBLIN 2 can be programmed using the Arduino IDE as well as Atmel Studio. Simply upload your code to the board via micro USB, and begin exploring the IoT. Want to learn more? Check out VERSE Technology website

unlimitedhand

We are excited to announce that UnlimitedHand is now an officially licensed Arduino AtHeart product. Created by Japanese startup H2L, the wearable controller straps around your forearm like an Ace bandage and allows you to actually touch and feel things within the gaming world.

UnlimitedHand consists of a 3D motion sensor, an array of muscle sensors, a multi-channel electronic muscle stimulator, and a vibration motor, which together, enable you to interact with objects and characters in VR. It does this by syncing the movement of a user’s hand and fingers with its virtual counterpart, and contracting the muscles on the wearer’s forearm to simulate haptic feedback.

With UnlimitedHand, not only will you be able to experience the ricochet of a gunshot or pet animals, but also hack various customized gestures thanks to its full compatibility with the Arduino IDE.

According to H2L:

Arduino, with their commitment to open-source, has reached out with their technology to muster a great force of Makers and inventors. This omni-present community has no doubt supported us in many ways during the development of UnlimitedHand. By joining the program, we can now present our results back to the community.

UnlimitedHand–which surpassed its Kickstarter goal in less than a day–is now available for purchase on Amazon and its website, as well as in retail stores throughout Japan.

ir_attachment_6207

Industruino PROTO–now available on our online storejoined the AtHeart Program back in 2015 with hopes of combining industrial automation components and the simplicity of Arduino.

This robust DIN-rail mountable, Leonardo-compatible controller enables you to take your existing Arduino projects and swiftly transform them into permanent installations. The prototyping area and screw connectors allow you to install your own circuitry and reliably connect to accessories.

In the video below, Industruino co-founder Loic De Buck discusses these key features and more with Davide Gomba. (You can also find an extended version here.)

The team recently created an excellent tutorial showing how you to build an Arduino-based electricity consumption monitor with the Industruino PROTO platform. You can use it to measure AC power of your appliances, including a water cooker, TV, laptop charger, or anything else plugged into a wall socket. Alternatively, you can even use it in your electricity cabinet to evaluate the power consumption throughout your entire house (at least one phase).

The challenge is to measure an AC of a relatively high voltage (220-240V) with a direct current 5V Arduino MCU.

This may seem dangerous, but we will use a non-invasive Current Transformer (CT),  so our Arduino remains galvanically isolated from the high voltage AC.

This prototype is based on the excellent open source project OpenEnergyMonitor. It uses parts of the its standard emonTx hardware and software to report the AC apparent power consumption, based on measurements of a Current Transformer as in the picture on the left. The original project also allows to measure 3 phase and/or real power, but for our prototype here we are only measuring the current of one phase, not its voltage which would require an AC/AC adaptor.

Want to make one yourself using the Industruino PROTO? You can find all the necessary documentation, including schematics and code, on the Industruino blog!

ir_attachment_6280

 

Our good friends over at Primo Toys have just rolled out their Montessori-approved, Arduino AtHeart coding toy for children ages 3 and up. The Cubetto Playset, which you may remember from its incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, is a screenless system powered by a revolutionary coding language made of colorful blocks that lets kids write their first computer programs.

The playset consists of a friendly wooden robot named Cubetto, a physical programming console, a set of expandable coding blocks, a collection of illustrated maps, and an activity book. It’s the first programming toy of its kind to work without a digital interface or display, enabling children to explore the world of coding through storytelling, adventure and collaboration–even before they can read or write.

By placing the blocks in different patterns on the control panel, kids can create sequences of instructions that program the robot’s movement. In the process, they develop computational thinking skills that help them understand the basic principles of coding–all of this, in a very age-appropriate way that respects a child’s natural way of learning.

The London-based startup, which was founded by Filippo Yacob and Matteo Logli, is a graduate of the PCH Highway1 accelerator and has had the support of high-profile names including our very own Massimo Banzi and Randi Zuckerberg.

Cubetto is now available for purchase on its website for $225, or $245 when bundled with the Cubetto Activity Pack, which offers four additional world maps and matching story books. Check it out here!

A new season, a new partner! We’ve had our sights set on 4D Systems’ touchscreen product for quite some time, and we’re excited to finally introduce that this Arduino and Genuino-compatible product is joining the AtHeart program. The 4Duino-24 is a 2.4-inch, 240×320-pixel Intelligent Display Module with Wi-Fi capabilities.

“For years Arduino/Genuino users have been taking advantage of our Intelligent Display Modules for adding graphical user interfaces with touch capability to their applications. With the 4Duino-24 we wanted to make something a bit more special and combine some of the more popular shields and the ATmega32U4 into a compact easy to use package. We are delighted to become part of the AtHeart program and very much look forward to seeing a full variety of applications running on the 4Duino-24.” – Markku Riihonen, Products and Business Development Manager, 4D Systems.

Perfect for your next creative IoT project, the 4Duino-24 runs on an ATmega32U4 MCU and is powered by the 4D Systems PICASO Graphics Processor that offers an array of display functionality and options for any designer and Maker. The 4Duino-24 also includes the popular ESP8266 module, which is pre-programmed with the AT command set firmware enabling the 4Duino to have Wi-Fi functionality right out of the box.

Beyond that, the 4Duino-24 is equipped with an onboard microSD connector and headers in the layout of an Arduino, including power pins (5V, 3.3V, GND and VIN), 20 digital I/O pins—seven of which can be used as PWM outputs, while 12 pins have analog input capabilities.

The 4Duino-24 can be programmed using the standard Arduino IDE or the 4D Workshop4 IDE and its three new 4Duino-based development environments with the added dimension of graphics. Creating Arduino GUIs doesn’t get any easier!

Ready to get started? You can watch 4D Systems’ 10-minute video below, as well as check out its product page here. The 4Duino-24 is available as starter kit and standalone module at the price of $79 USD/€69.90 (+tax).

Let’s face it, developers and programmers love their hoodies. That’s why last fall, a few members of the FirstBuild team built a connected sweatshirt capable of displaying text and tweets with a specific hashtag.

The hoodie is equipped with a Blend Micro board and a 16 x 32 LED matrix panel with a plastic overlay that’s sewn into a cutout on the front of the shirt. The system connects with a smartphone over Bluetooth to reveal the message, though in the future its creators hope to add animated GIFs.

Power is supplied through a USB battery placed inside a wearer’s pants or the hoodie’s pocket, in which case a USB cable can simply run from the Blend Micro. Ready to turn some heads as you walk down the street? You can check out FirstBuild’s entire project step-by-step here.



  • Newsletter

    Sign up for the PlanetArduino Newsletter, which delivers the most popular articles via e-mail to your inbox every week. Just fill in the information below and submit.

  • Like Us on Facebook