Wikipedia describes the Maker Movement as a “contemporary culture or subculture representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture.” Typical interests pursued by Maker culture include engineering-oriented projects such as electronics, Arduino-based robotics, 3D printing with Atmel-powered printers like the MakerBot or RepRap and the use of CNC tools. Larry Magid, a technology journalist who writes […]
At Atmel, we’ve known for a while now that embedded computing is the future, but it’s nice to see the mainstream media catching on! ABC recently made it down to Maker Faire in San Mateo, where the crew spent a significant amount of time hanging out at the Atmel booth, talking Internet of Things and, […]
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 […]
Tio is a new way for kids to play, learn and explore their imagination. What do you get when you combine plastic blocks, magnetic wheels and a mobile app? A car that can drive and race around your living room, a merry-go-round that can revolve and flash coded messages, a robot that can lift and carry objects, and a […]
… and it costs less than $300. If you’re like most of us, chances are you’ve played around with a 3D printer at some point. But as you know all too well, the market only has a few affordable options for the everyday enthusiast: there are the sub-$500 plastic units with non-accesible parts, and then there are RepRaps with […]
Sensor deployment made as simple as cutting and attaching strips of tape. Developed by students from MIT Media Lab’s Responsive Environments group, SensorTape is a sensor network in the form factor of masking tape. Inspired by the emergence of modular platforms throughout the Maker community, it consists of interconnected and programmable sensor nodes on a flexible electronics substrate. In other words, it’s pretty […]
And just like that, we have a new world record! With their eyes set on the Guinness Book, Jay Flatland and Paul Rose last month unveiled an automated machine capable of solving a Rubik’s Cube in 0.9 seconds. However, their glory was short-lived as fellow Maker and industrial engineer Adam Beer introduced a robotic contender, named Sub1, that has officially sorted the […]
KeKePad is a plug-and-play platform that replaces conductive thread with tiny connectors and thin cables. Like most Makers, Michael Yang enjoyed using the Arduino Lilypad for his wearable and e-textile projects. However, he discovered that conductive thread has a few drawbacks: it is expensive, it has no insulation and its resistance is quite high. Plus, in order to achieve a tight connection, the wires need to […]
Every Friday, we take a look at some of the smartest, most innovative projects that caught our attention on Kickstarter and Indiegogo over the last seven days. Rook This is the world’s first in-home drone that you can fly from anywhere in the world. Eighty Nine Robotics has flown right by its $20,000 goal on Indiegogo. Sinclair Vega+ […]
Instamic wants to do for microphones what the GoPro did for cameras. Many analog years ago, digital recorded audio won the popularity contest. Nowadays, whether it’s from your mobile phone, infotainment system or personal audio device, every sound you hear is from digitally encoded bits. Digital audio has eliminated all of the analog audio’s distortions and noise-related problems. Quite […]
