Atmel @ 2013 World Maker Faire: Day 1

Yesterday, Atmel kicked off the 2013 World Maker Faire in NYC with a star-studded analyst panel. Today, the Faire officially opened its doors, with hackers, modders and DIY Makers showcasing their creations, many of which are powered by Atmel microcontrollers (MCUs).

Atmel’s booth in the Arduino Pavilion is drawing  huge crowds, with entire families and Makers of all ages eagerly gathering around to see a number of uber-cool exhibits and demos including:

* Hexbug/hovercraft hacking:  Atmel employees are hacking traditional Hexbugs and hovercrafts using Arduino boards.

* MakerBot: We’re showcasing the wildly popular AVR-powered 3D printer and providing 3D samples over the weekend.

* Pensa: This company uses Arduino boards to make their flagship DIWire, a rapid prototyping machine that bends metal wire to produce 2D and 3D shapes.

* Infinity Aerospace: The ArduLab – powered by Atmel’s versatile ATMega 2560 microcontroller – is a highly capable experimentation platform ready for space right out of the box. Sensor mounting is straightforward, with unique functionality addressing the technical challenges of operating in space.

Additional exhibitors at the Atmel World Maker Faire booth include Fuzzbot (robots), Evil Mad Scientist and Colorado Micro Devices.

Don’t forget to follows us at @makerfaire, @atmel and @arduino!

Kilobots, small vibrating robots use the ATmega328

Thanks to pals at Evil Mad Scientist, I learned about these small self-powered autonomous robots called Kilobits. Brought to you by Harvard University, the little gizmos are run by an Atmel ATmega328.

The little robots move on the little wire pins. There are two vibrating motors, like in a pager. They are arranged in “quadrature” so to speak. One will rotate the robot clockwise, and the other will rotate the robot counterclockwise. If you run both motors, the robot will move forward.

The robots can communicate with an IR (infrared) transceiver. This allows them to exhibit swarm behavior like insects. Check out this video of the Kilobots doing their thing.

Harvard is doing this to study complex self organizing behavior. This may help psychologists and economists understand complex human behavior that just appears, like the open-source movement, the Dabbawala lunch delivery system in India, and how day workers outside of the Home Depot settle on rates and seniority.

The hi-zoot Harvard Kilobots are preceded by the Make community Vibrobot. Evil Mad Scientist did a great vamp with their BristleBot, which uses the head of a toothbrush.

While created for research, to their credit, Harvard made this is an open-source project that is just perfect to be picked up by the Maker Movement. NY Maker 2013 starts Saturday, the Atmel team is setting up and the Evil Mad Science people will be at our booth to show off their cool Atmel-powered kits.

Atmel to host analyst panel @ World Maker Faire

The 2013 World Maker Faire opens its doors on September 21st in the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI). We’ll be there at the Atmel booth in the Arduino pavilion, showcasing a number of exciting new companies that have developed innovative applications using Arduino boards powered by Atmel AVR and ARM microcontrollers.

Atmel is slated to host a public media/industry analyst panel on Friday, September 20th, on the Maker Community and education. Members of the panel include Atmel’s Reza Kazerounian, co-founder of Arduino Massimo Banzi, Atmel Maker and Hexbug guru Bob Martin, university engineer professor Annmarie Thomas, EDN’s Executive Editor Suzanne Deffree, 12-year old CEO and maker Quin (Qtechknow), and MAKE Books Senior Editor Brian Jepson. The panel will be moderated by Windell H. Oskay of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.

Tune into our live Twitter feed of the panel starting at 11:30 am ET on September 20th under #Atmelmakes or visit our recently launched microsite for more details. For those of you attending the Faire, Atmel’s booth will be taking center stage at the show with a number of uber-cool exhibits and demos including:

• Hexbug/hovercraft hacking: Watch Atmel employees hack traditional Hexbugs and hovercrafts using Arduino boards.
• MakerBot: We’ll be showcasing the wildly popular AVR-powered 3D printer and providing 3D samples over the weekend.
• Pensa: This company uses Arduino boards to make their flagship DIWire, a rapid prototyping machine that bends metal wire to produce 2D and 3D shapes.
• Infinity Aerospace: The ArduLab – powered by Atmel’s versatile ATMega 2560 microcontroller – is a highly capable experimentation platform ready for space right out of the box. Sensor mounting is straightforward, with unique functionality addressing the technical challenges of operating in space.

Additional exhibitors at the Atmel World Maker Faire booth include Fuzzbot (robots), Evil Mad Scientist and Colorado Micro Devices. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the Atmel booth, so don’t forget to follow us at @makerfaire, @atmel and @arduino!

Interested in attending Atmel’s panel? Be sure to email us at pr@atmel.com. Also, be sure to join us when Bob Martin presents Prototyping is as Easy as Uno, Due, Tres.

The Ardruino Uno is an excellent lab tool for technicians and h/w engineers who have a specific design in mind. In this presentation, we will show how Atmel’s MCU apps lab uses the Uno to test harnesses for LED lighting stress testing, SBC reset response and power supply stress testing on a regular basis for the weather station prototype.

When: Sunday, September 22, 2013, 12:30PM – 1:00PM ET
Where: Make: Electronics Stage

Developing high-resolution resins for 3D printers

Polymer maven Jemmel Belkacem has over 10 years R&D experiences in UV curing polymer, 3D printing and material characterizations. Currently, Belkacem is working to develop high-resolution resins for 3D printers using UV curing technology known as stereolotography (laser and DLP systems).

“[Over] the last [few] years I developed a new photo-polymer resins for 3D printing,” Belkacem explained in a recent Indiegogo post. “I succeeded [in] creating the first photo-polymer resins formulation, [with] the [goal] to make 3D-resins for everyone. I want to [market] an affordable resins with high-resolution and good mechanical properties.”

Belkacem says he focused on producing acrylate resins, which he prefers due to its polymerization characteristics (curing-speed), mechanical properties (tough and flexible) and post-processing ease (iso-propanol cleaning and short UV post-curing).

“For this, it is important that the spectral emission profiles of the UV-Visible light curing unit match with the absorption characteristics of the photoinitiator. We will adapt the photoinitiator to the wavelength emitted by UV light source of all 3D-printers on the market using Laser & DLP systems,” he continued.

“Our resins will have an optimal deep penetration with the lowest energy to avoid the stress polymerization and reduce the shrinkage of the parts. From my experience in the 3D printing field, it seems that a good viscosity is less than 700 cPs to avoid losses and problems processing. Therefore, I plan to start with a low viscosity resins around 400 cPs.”

Interested in learning more? Belkacem’s next-gen resin project is on Indiegogo where he is seeking crowd-sourced funds to complete the initiative.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the DIY Maker Movement has used Atmel-powered 3D printers like MakerBot and RepRap for some time now. However, 3D printing recently entered a new and exciting stage in a number of spaces including the medical sphere, architectural arena, science lab and even on the battlefield.

Be sure to join us at the 2013 World Maker Faire in NYC, where Makerbot’s 3D printers will be showcased in Atmel’s official booth along the Arduino pavilion. Additional demos and exhibits in the Atmel booth include Hexbug, Pensa (DIWire), Infinity Aersospace (Ardu Lab), Fuzzbot, Evil Mad Scientist and Colorado Micro Devices.

Come see Atmel @ the 2013 World Maker Faire!

The long-awaited 2013 World Maker Faire kicks off September 21st in the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI). We’ll be there at the Atmel booth in the Arduino pavilion. Will you? Don’t worry if you can’t make it to out to the Big Apple, because you can still follow all the goings on via Twitter – just look for the hashtags @makerfaire, @atmel and @arduino.

For those of you attending the Faire, Atmel’s booth will be taking center stage at the show with a number of uber-cool exhibits and demos including:

• Hexbug/hovercraft hacking: Watch Atmel employees hack traditional Hexbugs and hovercrafts using Arduino boards.
• MakerBot: We’ll be showcasing the wildly popular AVR-powered 3D printer and providing 3D samples over the weekend.
• Pensa: This company uses Arduino boards to make their flagship DIWire, a rapid prototyping machine that bends metal wire to produce 2D and 3D shapes.
• Infinity Aerospace: The ArduLab – powered by Atmel’s versatile ATMega 2560 microcontroller – is a highly capable experimentation platform ready for space right out of the box. Sensor mounting is straightforward, with unique functionality addressing the technical challenges of operating in space.

Additional exhibitors at the Atmel World Maker Faire booth include Fuzzbot (robots), Evil Mad Scientist and Colorado Micro Devices. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the Atmel booth, so don’t forget to follow us at @makerfaire, @atmel and @arduino!

Atmel is also slated to host a public media/industry analyst panel on Friday, September 20th, on the maker community and education. Members of the panel include Atmel’s Reza Kazerounian, Co-founder of Arduino Massimo Banzi, Atmel maker and Hexbug guru Bob Martin, university engineer professor Annmarie Thomas, EDN’s Executive Editor Suzanne Deffree, 12-year old CEO and maker Quin (Qtechknow), and MAKE Books Senior Editor Brian Jepson. The panel will be moderated by Windell H. Oskay of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.

Tune into our live Twitter feed of the panel starting at 11:30 am ET on September 20th under #Atmelmakes or visit our recently launched microsite for more details. Interested in attending? Please email pr@atmel.com. Also, be sure to join us when Bob Martin presents Prototyping is as Easy as Uno, Due, Tres.

The Ardruino Uno is an excellent lab tool for technicians and h/w engineers who have a specific design in mind. In this presentation, we will show how Atmel’s MCU apps lab uses the Uno to test harnesses for LED lighting stress testing, SBC reset response and power supply stress testing on a regular basis for the weather station prototype.

When: Sunday, September 22, 2013, 12:30PM – 1:00PM ET
Where: Make: Electronics Stage