Atmel’s Tech on Tour mobile trailer hits the road

Atmel’s Tech on Tour (ToT) crew has tirelessly crisscrossed the globe for many years, offering hands-on technical training for a wide range of company products. This month, Atmel kicked off a new ToT era with a tricked-out mobile trailer that will be hitting the road this month.

The versatile mobile training center allows visitors to interact with a plethora of next-gen Atmel tech, including AVR and ARM based microcontrollers, automotive and crypto solutions, microprocessors, Internet Of Things (IoT) products, wearable devices, 3D printers, touch sensors and XSense.

In addition to hands-on training, Atmel will leverage the fact that it is at the heart of the Maker Movement and well positioned at the center of IoT innovation. From my perspective, the IoT will be led by a rising generation of tinkerers, inventors and innovators. These are dedicated people who are working out of universities, garages and small companies. We will go and meet them.

Our mobile Tech on Tour trailer provides a familiar setting for customers, engineers and Makers, as well as designers, students, professor and executives. We want to meet people in the market working on projects like electronics, robotics, transportation, alternative energy and sustainable agriculture. That is why we are offering hands-on training and access to soldering irons, along with a chance to brainstorm about the future together.

To be sure, the ToT trailer is quite a scalable platform, functioning not only as a mobile training center, a showroom and conference center, but also as a trade show booth, entertainment center, content creation platform, executive meeting center, recruitment platform, tech support center and employee engagement engine.

On top of that, we are partnering with all global distribution partners, customers, third parties, Makers, government officials and universities to bring Atmel to the market. We are very excited about the concept and the pull from the market and distribution partners has been very promising.

Note: You can request a ToT stop at your location here.

Video Diary 2: Atmel @ CES 2014

Atmel-powered products took center stage at CES this year, as conference attendees checked out the latest devices and platforms for MakerSpaces, garages and living rooms.

Atmel also unveiled and showcased a number of new products at CES 2014, including the AvantCar console concept, ARM-based SAM G lineup, the second-gen maXStylus and a low-cost ZigBee Gateway.

As you can see, Atmel’s various technology zones attracted quite a bit of attention, especially the company’s MakerSpace which was well-stocked with Arduino boards, 3D printers and other Atmel-powered devices.



Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi even stopped by for a chat to talk about the Atmel-based boards, while a MakerBot rep discussed the advantages of using Atmel microcontrollers and microprocessors in the company’s 3D printers. 

Watch the videos above and make sure to check out part one of our video diary here, as well as our CES 2014 pictures here and here.

Video Diary: Atmel @ CES 2014

It’s day two of CES 2014! Atmel is showcasing a number of devices, technologies and platforms for MakerSpaces, garages and living rooms. Check out the videos below to see what we’ve been up to!

Atmel tech reps at CES 2014 talk microcontrollers (MCUs), autotmotive technology, Arduino, Makers, biometric security, encryption, key fobs, tablets, 3D printers and medical devices.

Atmel is at the heart of the DIY Maker community – powering nearly every desktop 3D printer and Arduino board on the market today, along with a number of wearable platforms and devices. In this video, we interview a wide range of personalities about the rapidly growing movement, including Atmel’s Reza Kazerounian, Matt Richardson of Make Magazine and Michael Shiloh of Arduino.

Atmel’s latest touch solutions explained at CES 2014.

Atmel’s Bob Martin, Manager, MCU Central Applications Group, talks about the evolution of CES over the years, with a specific emphasis on the DIY Maker community.

Atmel Community Manager, Sylvie Barak, welcomes you to 3D print your ideas at CES 2014. Tweet #AtmelCES and come on by MP25958.

An inside look at 3D printing with the Atmel-powered MakerBot Replicator 2 at CES 2014. Tweet #AtmelCES.

After a long day at CES 2014 this on/off (0/1?) demo was pretty addictive – providing hours of endless entertainment for our tired crew.

Atmel @ CES 2014: Day 1 in pictures

Atmel is showcasing its cutting-edge technology powering the latest devices in living rooms, garages and Makerspaces.

As you can see in the pictures below, Atmel’s technology zones are filled with CES attendees who visited our booths to see the hottest smartphones, tablets, Ultrabooks, smart TVs, gaming, lighting and thermostats – all powered by Atmel’s latest innovations.

We’re also showcasing AvantCar, the industry’s first futuristic touch-centric curved automotive console powered by Atmel’s XSense and maXTouch, as well as Atmel’s ZigBee Light demo.

Since Atmel is at the heart of the DIY Maker community, we are hosting a MakerSpace at CES 2014 with Arduino boards, 3D printers and the latest DIY creations based on Atmel AVR and ARM-based MCUs.

So be sure to stop by our various technology zones and say hello!

15-year-old Angad Daryani builds 3D printers

A 15-year-old home-schooled teenager is single-handedly changing the way India looks at 3D printing. Indeed, Angad Daryani runs his own company and sells a variety of DIY kits, ranging from portable speakers to Atmel-powered ReRap printers. 

“I had no satisfaction that I knew things, I couldn’t apply anything I had learned to real life,” Daryani recently told DNA India. “I quit the formal pattern of studying and am now being home-schooled.”

Daryani says he built his first humanoid robot at 8, along with a remote controlled hovercraft he made in sixth grade by watching YouTube videos. He has also designed an e-book reader for the visually impaired (the Virtual Brailler), which converts written text to braille as it scans across a text.

Daryani’s latest project is the modded RepRap SharkBot, which he describes as “the fastest and most robust desktop 3D printer that can print any material except metal.”

The young Maker said he was inspired to design his own 3D printer, slated to launch in January 2014, after noticing that DIY Makers and engineers were importing printers for desktop use. In the meantime, Daryani continues to offer standard DIY RepRap kits.

“We are wasting foreign currency by importing these things. I want to change that,” Daryani explained. “There’s a movement called Rep Rap which allows people to build [an Atmel-based] 3D printer using stuff they can find at a hardware store. I sell the RepRap Prusa i3.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel AVR XMEGA and megaAVR MCUs can be found in the majority of 3D printers on the market, including the popular MakerBot and RepRap. It should also be noted that the lucrative 3D printing space is set for “explosive growth” in 2014 and 2015. To be sure, Gartner analysts expect worldwide shipments of 3D printers to increase by 75 percent in 2014, followed by a near doubling of unit shipments in 2015.