Deadline for Simply AVR Design Contest extended

Back in March, Atmel launched the second stage of its Simply AVR Design Contest, which challenged Makers, designers and engineers to develop clever, ground-breaking microcontroller-based designs using its popular AVR MCUs. After seeing a number of amazing designs come through over the last few months, we have decided to extend the deadline by two weeks — giving Makers inspired from Maker Faire New York and Rome a final chance to submit their 8-bit ideas!

The Simply AVR first prize winner will receive $1,500 in cash, as well as some social media stardom across each of Atmel’s industry-leading channels. Each of the four runner-ups will claim a $500 cash prize, along with some coverage as well. Not too shabby!

So, why AVR? Atmel’s 8-bit microcontrollers offer Makers ease-of-use, low power consumption, and high level of integration all at their fingertips. Based on a single-cycle RISC engine that combines a rich instruction set, the incredibly-popular MCUs deliver close to 1 MIPS per megahertz and are optimized for minimum code size and maximum computing performance. Ideal for a broad range of applications — including industrial control, ZigBee and RF, medical and utility metering, communication gateways, sensor control, white goods and portable battery-powered products — AVR accelerates the time it takes to bring an idea to life.

Looking for some last-minute inspiration? This video from Analog Aficionado Paul Rako may help do the trick.

Whether you’re in the process of completing or still brainstorming your next design, don’t forget to enter your project today! Deadline is October 17, 2014.