Celebrate with us and our friends at SparkFun later this week.
As Makers, there’s one special occasion that we just can’t help but love: Arduino Day! It is a 24-hour celebration — both official and independent — where hobbyists, tinkerers and even some experienced engineers from all over the world come together to share their DIY experiences. This year, the second annual ‘holiday’ is slated for Saturday, March 28, 2015.
In 2014, more than 240 user groups, Makerspaces, hackerspaces, fablabs, schools, studios and educators throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia got involved in planning activities, workshops, and events for a wide-range of audiences and skill sets. Those needing a refresher can tune-in to Massimo Banzi’s official announcement from last year here.
“You can attend an event or organize one for your community. It doesn’t matter whether you are an expert or a newbie, an engineer, a designer, a crafter or a Maker: Arduino Day is open to anyone who wants to celebrate Arduino and all the things that have been done (or can be done) with it,” the team writes. “The events will offer different types of activities, tailored to local audiences all over the world.”
As far as official events are concerned, the company has organized five of them in Torino, Malmo, Bangalore, Boston and Budapest. Meanwhile, a number of local events have also been put together by the diehard ‘duino community. Among those is our meet-up in Niwot, Colorado with our friends at SparkFun Electronics, where we’ll be kicking off the festivities a day earlier on Friday, March 27. There, Atmel’s gigantic Tech on Tour Mobile Trailer will be parked in front of SparkFun’s headquarters packed with the latest (and greatest, if we may add) Maker, IoT, secure and connectivity demos.
Meet Atmel’s resident ‘Wizard of Make’ Bob Martin to talk about your latest DIY designs or ask questions around Atmel MCUs, which as you know, have been at the very heart of most Arduino boards since they hit the streets back in 2005. In fact, an ATmega8 was the chip of choice to power the very first prototype, long before the team coined the Arduino name after a local bar in Ivrea.
In addition to young Makers and educators, it’s no surprise that the open-source electronics platform has even become increasingly popular among the well-seasoned crowd. Even the most experienced engineers, designers and architects are welcomed to join our celebration!
Learn more about the festivities Atmel and SparkFun have planned. And, don’t forget to register! Ready to tinker? You can purchase some discounted boards to get started.