New Arduino Yún is based on Atmel’s ATMega32u4 microcontroller

Arduino’s Massimo Banzi has debuted the Yún at Silicon Valley Maker Faire 2013. The new board – designed in collaboration with Dog Hunter – is based on Atmel’s ATMega32u4 microcontroller and also features the Atheros AR9331, an SoC running Linino, a customized version of OpenWRT.

According to an Arduino rep, the Yún will make it easy for makers to connect to complex web services directly from Arduino.

“Historically, interfacing Arduino with complex web services has been quite a challenge due to the limited memory available. [Plus], they tend to use verbose text based formats like XML that require quite a lot or RAM to parse,” the rep explained in a blog post.

“On the Arduino Yún we have created the Bridge library which delegates all network connections and processing of HTTP transactions to the Linux machine.”

Essentially, the Yún can best be described as a combination of the classic Arduino Leonardo (based on Atmel’s Atmega32U4 processor) with a WiFi system-on-a-chip running Linino (a MIPS GNU/Linux based on OpenWRT). Like a Leonardo, the board boasts 14 digital input/output pins (of which 7 can be used as PWM outputs and 12 as analog inputs), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator and a micro USB connector. The Wi-Fi enabled Yún is equipped with a standard-A type USB and a micro-SD card plug for additional storage.

As expected, the Yún ATMega32u4 can be programmed as a standard Arduino board by linking it to a PC with the micro USB connector – and can also be programmed via WiFi as well as reached with SSH.

“Using the Bridge library in your sketches, you can link the 32u4 to Linux, launching programs and scripts, passing them parameters (sensor readings for example) and reading their output, thus creating a strong integration between the creativity of your sketch and the power of Linux.The Yún supports Shell and Python scripts out-of-the-box but you can install a wide range of open source software and tools,” the rep continued.

“To make it even simpler to create complex applications we’ve partnered with Temboo which provides normalized access to 100+ APIs from a single point of contact allowing developers to mix and match data coming from multiple platforms, [including] Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and even FedEx or PayPal.”

The Arduino Yún will be available at the end of June at a $69 price point.

Atmel @ Maker Faire in Silicon Valley

The 2013 Silicon Valley Maker Faire kicked off today, with hackers, modders, makers and veteran DIYs showcasing their creations, many of which are powered by Atmel microcontrollers.

Atmel’s booth – #625 – is drawing large crowds, with entire families clustering around to see the MakerBot: Replicator 2 desktop 3D printer, the Open Source Internet of Things (OSIOT) exhibit, the Puzzlebox Pyramid, Marshmallow Crossbow, Hexbugs and Faraday bikes.

There are literally thousands of cool creations here at the show so stay tuned for more. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures below!

An interview with Tim Leek of Visual Micro for Atmel Studio

By Eric Weddington, Marketing Manager, Open Source & Community

We were looking for ways to support users of the Arduino platform and provide a way for them to transition to C/C++ and custom boards – if and when they wanted. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far. Tim Leek of Visual Micro in the UK was already on the way. He now has a release candidate of his Arduino language plug-in for Atmel Studio! As you can see below, I recently spoke with Tim in-depth about this plug-in:

Eric Weddington:

Can you tell us a little more about the Visual Micro plugin to Atmel Studio? What features does it have?

Tim Leek:

Essentially, the Visual Micro plugin extends Atmel Studio to include every important  feature of the Arduino IDE. If we look behind the scenes, we see the plugin uses the tool chain and rules of the Arduino IDE for the build process, while ensuring Atmel Studio has the knowledge required to provide IntelliSense and many other code design features.

The plugin – which is compatible with all Arduino IDE versions (1.5 in beta) – provides a wealth of additional features for the Arduino IDE and is targeted at all types of Arduino users, ranging from novice to expert. So yes, an Arduino project of any size or complexity may be opened in Atmel Studio, compiled and upload with just a few mouse clicks. New Arduino projects may be created with the same ease.

In addition, Arduino sketch programs can be uploaded using standard USB (or via a hardware programmer), burning of bootloaders, while multiple serial monitors ensure Atmel Studio is a complete Arduino solution. There are many other features such as  additional build reports (memory/dis-assembly), drill down into source for build errors and support for additional compiler -D defines.

Eric:

What makes the Visual Micro plugin to Atmel Studio unique?

Tim:

First and foremost, Atmel Studio, which is designed specifically for Arduino (Atmel) microcontrollers. From a plug-ins perspective, Visual Micro offers a number features that make it  unique, such as total compatibility with Arduino and complete integration into a more powerful IDE.

There really are a variety of unique features, with some mentioned above. Additional features include blistering fast build times (ex- first build), single-click ability to add a new .cpp and .h source to a project that automatically contain a “ready to use” class with the correct Arduino declarations, a micro explorer help and reference tool, automatic detection of Arduino project structure changes made outside of Atmel Studio and the ability to clone examples for new projects.

Remember, Arduino does not normally provide a debug facility, so users must debug using print statements that are physically added to the sketch source code. However, Visual Micro provides an optional USB debug facility for Arduino which allows the versatility and power of Atmel Studio BreakPoints to be used to debug an Arduino. Simply put, having the ability to easily trace which functions are running on an Arduino, while inspecting variables and expressions of a running Arduino by simply placing Breakpoints in code is a huge benefit that significantly accelerates development.

Meanwhile, the debugger provides a huge range of additional capabilities such as timed breakpoints, conditional breakpoints, “When Hit” text messages, expression watch and the ability to update variables on a running Arduino.

One other notable feature of the debugger is the “extensibility” features of its design. By default, it is supplied with a few open source graphical window controls which displays, for example, Arduino digitalPin states and analog pin graphs in real-time. These controls can be edited and altered by advanced users familiar with C# and registered for use in Atmel Studio Arduino debugging using simple xml files. Visual Micro provides a public interface in the form of a windows assembly that allows the plugin and debugger graphical visualizations to communicate during an Arduino debugging session.

Basically, I set out to create a professional standard, easy to support and easy to use Arduino IDE alternative with a dedicated community forum and wiki. There is still much work to be done and a few rough edges to  polish – but there is certainly unique and growing community at  visualmicro.com

Eric:

How did you first get involved with Arduino devices?

Tim:

I have always liked electronics and engineering, yet both always felt out of my reach. Over the past decade, the internet has helped me expand my knowledge of microcontrollers and electronic circuitry. While I’m not highly technical, my true interest is with making things. For me, the code is simply a means to an end.

I had previously experimented with other microcontrollers in a simple way but found them either overly simplistic or too complex. They seemed  to have huge challenges which took away the fun of the project and required too much time and effort. It is probably worth noting that some years ago I was given a book by Tom Igoe that I really enjoyed called “Making Things Talk,” which taught me how to use an Arduino to implement features for my projects. I could easily understand the Arduino syntax and saw that it supported all of the things that interested me. I bought an Arduino and a couple of shields such as XBee and Button Pad, slowly discovering the huge community and the wealth of Arduino examples and resources.

Eric:

What drew you to using the Visual Studio platform?

When I first started out programming Arduino in the IDE I found that I missed Visual Studio which is very feature rich and, perhaps most importantly, has IntelliSense. People with deep knowledge of the Arduino syntax and intimate knowledge of the library code their project includes might not need IntelliSense but I certainly do.

I have used Visual Studio in my business forever, partly for the same reasons that I use Arduino microcontrollers. Visual Studio is easy to use, well documented, highly flexible, totally reliable and it just works out of the box, the latter being the most important for me. My view, as a Windows user, is that writing a complex document is often best done with Microsoft Word, in the same way that writing a Windows  program is best done with Visual Studio.

For microcontroller development, the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework  (NETMF) is on the face of it, the most natural path for my project work. This is because it uses Visual Studio, is open source and includes a debugger. I discovered NETMF after wanting more than the Arduino IDE so decided to try it out.

NETMF development was easy enough in Visual Studio but for various reasons NETMF didn’t turn out to be the solution for me. For example when coding, I felt too far removed from the hardware. I also found it easier to find Arduino examples and a huge community of help. After these experiences, I located an advanced tutorial on the Arduino playground (wiki) that explained how to configure Visual Studio to show Arduino IntelliSense. After a few tests and a lot of poking around the Visual Studio SDK it became apparent that the Visual Studio platform was capable of being a really great Arduino IDE.

Eric:

Any future plans with the plugin that you can tell us about?

Tim:

Yes, many features to improve productivity, accelerate learning for new users and provide more flexibility for advanced users. There is currently a dedicated and active forum on visualmicro.com which everyone is invited to join. There are also many user interface “wizards” that would make life easier for novices. For example, the creation of “ready to go” Arduino starter projects, easier management of version controlled eeprom, simpler configuration of various debug modes and a wealth of other tools to significantly reduce the Arduino learning curve and make developing more fun.

For advanced users, more flexibility in the build process. We already have a huge amount of flexibility over the build process but the option for closer integration with Atmel Studio project properties and tool chains will be welcomed by many users. I hope the open source community helps to extend the graphical  visualizations available to the debugger to include many useful controls such as “Temperature Gauge,” “Light Meter,” “LCD display” and other useful controls.

Atmel’s AVR ATmega644 powers this 8-bit retro gaming console

Written by Andreas Eieland

Do you remember reading comic books while waiting for your Amiga 500 to load the latest game, or the joy you felt when the first 8-bit Nintendo hit the streets?

© Bill Bertram 2006, CC-BY-2.5

I still do, and nostalgically remember a time when many of the games and hardware were simpler (streamlined), easy to understand and mod. I guess I’m not the only one who appreciates that the Amiga was equipped with sockets for the biggest components, making them easy to swap in and out.

Clearly I am not alone with my nostalgic thoughts, as a couple of years ago we had a “retro data party” at the Atmel office and people showed up with all kinds of old, dusty machinery. After drinking some beers and borrowing some components from our apps-lab we had almost all of them working and playing our old favorite games.

Now there is someone who has taken this concept a bit further with the creation of an open source 8-bit retro minimalist game console which is based on an Atmel’s AVR ATmega644.

The project is called the UZEBOX. It is easy to put together if you do not want to build the hardware from scratch, and uses a split software approach where sound and video generation are background tasks. Meanwhile, the games end-users develop in C exploit the complete interrupt system and numerous other resources. They have over-clocked the CPU “slightly” from 20 to 28MHz, but at room temperature, and not used in a life critical application like an airbag controller or Airline autopilot, this is really not a big deal.

As you can see above, there are several videos of the games on YouTube, and the UZEBOX crew even has a game design coding challenge going on right now.

Keep the FCC happy with Atmel’s ZigBit modules

So the other day my pal Dave Mathis calls me up to talk about how some people don’t seem to understand the FCC requirements on certain wireless chips. See, a lot of people hear “unlicensed” ISM (industrial scientific and medical) bands and think that means “unregulated.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. What “unlicensed” means is that the end user does not have to register your wireless device to use it. But the FCC does put power level restrictions and harmonic spur requirements on your gizmo. And it is not just for the radio, it is for the whole system including the power supply. So if you have some sloppy switching power supply churning out interference, you will fail your FCC certification, even if you use a wonderful Atmel wireless chip for the radio.

Selling uncertified wireless gear can get you in trouble. The FCC puts a $10,000 fine per gizmo on infringers. That adds up pretty quick. Now it seems like the FCC is ignoring a lot of the wireless systems coming into the country without certification. And you are welcome to take your chances just slapping a chip on a board and hoping you would pass if you ever go to get certified.

Dave tells me the testing costs about $10,000, so it is not cheap. But if you want to be sure you are squeaky clean and legal, just buy a pre-built module. Atmel makes them under the name ZigBit. They are pre-certified so you can sell them without worrying about the FCC busting you. You get an MCU, the radio and power and everything you need for low-volume wireless systems – all in a well-built and tested module.

Bot-Logic Hexapod is Arduino-compatible and open source

A hexapod robot is a flexible, mechanical vehicle that navigates on six legs and is often used to try out various biological theories about locomotion, motor control and neuro-biology.

Unfortunately, many basic hexapods can’t sense they’ve reached the edge of a surface without additional, costly hardware. Servos may also burn out when weight is unevenly distributed between legs, while the energy required for servo operation can overload the typical hexapod power supply, causing the host controller to reset or fail.

Enter the Bot-Logic Hexapod, an easy-to-assemble hexapod kit and controller that enables servos to double as sensors, meaning legs and grippers can set and check applied force, allowing the ‘bot to sense surface edges and uneven servo loads.

Key Bot-Logic Hexapod specs include a switching power supply board, integrated SD card interface, on-board 2X16 LCD display, three-axis accelerometer and 12-pin expansion connectors (up to three expansion boards per ‘bot). The Bot Logic crew is also working on a number of modules, including Bluetooth, Gyro, GPS receiver and a basic prototype board.

Currently, the Bot-Logic components are available in various configurations, from basic shield-level scaling up to full kit level. Specifically, an Educational Bot-Logic Shield is priced at $169 and includes a Bot-Logic LEO Shield (control board only) for Arduino UNO and Leonardo. Next up is the Advanced Bot-Logic (DUE) Shield (control board only) with a $239 price tag for Arduino MEGA and DUE.

Meanwhile, basic kit-level backers will receive a package that allows the use of any builder-supplied MG996R-compatible servos and servo mounting hardware, along with the utilization of any battery pack within the specification of the servos selected. A further breakdown is as follows: $269 Basic Quadrapod Kit, which includes injection-molded plastic parts, Bot-Logic LEO shield and Arduino Leonardo. The Basic HexaPod Kit will cost you $359 and is packaged with injection-molded plastic parts, Bot-Logic DUE shield, Arduino Mega 2560.

The final tier is for full kit-level backers, which includes servos, servo mounting hardware and everything else needed except the 6Volt battery pack. Specifically, the Full Kit is priced at $419 and comes with injection-molded plastic parts, servos, Bot-Logic LEO shield, Arduino Leonardo. The Kit4 offers up injection-molded plastic parts, servos, Bot-Logic DUE shield, Arduino Mega 2560.

Additional information can be found on the official Bot-Logic Hexapod Kickstarter site.

Atmel hearts Makers, and here’s why

The Maker movement is growing and starting to make its mark on business, the economy and everyday life.

While the movement may have started small, pushing up from the grassroots, Makers are increasingly thinking “big,” beginning to focus on broader based needs, from improving consumer products that could hit the mass market, to designing medical devices to fill industry niches, to revolutionizing STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education.

The fundamentally social nature of the Maker space is inspiring people to launch innovative products easily and cheaply. In so doing, it is empowering a new generation of small/medium businesses and entrepreneurs. Even the corporate world and investor communities are starting to sit up and pay attention to makers and ask what role they might play in their success.

3D printing and easy-to-use robots are spawning a new era of social, collaborative manufacturing, which while still in its nascent stages, is growing exponentially and piquing the imagination of millions.

The Economist recently dubbed the burgeoning phenomenon “The Third Industrial Revolution” with the Boston Consulting Group noting that in areas such as transport, computers, fabricated metals and machinery, 10-30% of the goods that America now imports from China could be made at home by 2020, boosting American output by $20 billion-55 billion a year.

In a recent study of makers themselves, 46 percent of those polled said their commercial making activity was or would be their job, while 20% said they currently held “Maker” jobs.  83 percent were already employed and 31 percent had job titles in technical areas involving science or engineering. Two-thirds work in private industry. In addition, 56 percent of makers said they had applied for a patent or trademark.

Meanwhile, one in five makers said they had been approached by a commercial enterprise about an idea or prototype, which shows that the level of commercial enterprise interest is increasing.

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, chipmakers are eyeing the maker movement as a possible development community for the internet of things, tapping in to the passion and creativity to revitalize their own research and development efforts. The manufacturing sector, in particular, could benefit from the entrepreneurial spirit and creative instincts of the makers, who find fixes to problems at a fraction of the cost.

Most chipmakers have produced inexpensive development boards for this very purpose, seeding them out among makers and keenly following their progress. While Raspberry Pi and Beagle Board have gained momentum among makers, however, it’s still Arduino that captures the hearts and minds of the majority.

Atmel, of course, makes the processor that sits on this incredible open source circuit board and is therefore at the very center of the whole Maker revolution.

At their basic level, Atmel’s microprocessors provide a minimal amount of computing power, with digital inputs and digital outputs. Many have an analog to digital converter built into the chip, allowing for sensors to be attached. At the higher end, some come with HDMI out, Ethernet, and WiFi built into the chip.

Of course, hardware is just the building blocks. On the software side, Arduino provides a Java-based Integrated Development Environment that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The code is based on C, and multiple libraries are included to interface seamlessly with various add on shields.

Credit: Funwithdc.com

For many makers, Arduino is the easiest and fastest way to go from platform to prototype, and the best part is that you don’t have to be an engineer to use it.

Like open source-software before it, open source hardware is making its presence felt, even in the corporate world, being championed by a maker movement happy to blaze a trail before business models have yet to set. Like the early champions of Linux, these frontrunners can be thought of as pioneers, to be ignored and dismissed at corporate peril. After all, isn’t the basis for Android Open Source?

If you want to see what all the Maker buzz is about, why not stop by the San Mateo Maker Faire this weekend (18/19 May), or follow @Atmel and Twitter hashtags #MakerFaire #AtmelMakes and #Whatwouldyoumake for regular updates from the show!