Atmel @ Maker Faire Day 1

Bay Area Maker Faire 2014 kicked off today, with hackers, modders, makers and veteran DIYs showcasing their creations, many of which are powered by Atmel microcontrollers.

Atmel’s booth – #205 – is drawing large crowds, with entire families clustering around to see a wide range of Atmel-based products, including the MakerBot Replicator 2 desktop 3D printer, Mel Li’s wearable electronics, various Arduino boards, Red Boards, ProtoSnap Pro-Mini, MicroView, FuzzBots, the Phoenar, Touch Board, Hexabugs and uToT Robots.

There are literally thousands of cool creations here at the show so stay tuned for more. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures below! The gallery for Day 2 is available here.

 

 

Video: New PancakeBot spotted at Maker Faire 2014

The very first version of the open source PancakeBot was designed way back in 2010 by Miguel Valenzuela.

The latest iteration of the platform – which debuted at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014 – comprises an acrylic body packed with Adafruit motor shields, an Atmel-based Arduino Mega (ATmega1280 MCU), two stepper motors, a pair of belt drives and a vacuum pump.

Interested in learning more about the Pancake Bot? You can check out the project’s official page here.

Arduino Zero in my hot little hand

A buddy just walked by and showed me the new Arduino Zero that will be showcased at the Bay Area Maker Faire 2014 this Saturday and Sunday.

It’s nice working at Atmel Headquarters where stuff like this happens to me. Better yet, one of our brilliant Norwegian marketing engineers walked by and I asked him about the Zero. I said: “OK, it has a SAM D21 ARM Cortex M0+ chip, but what is that other big chip?”

He said: “Its the debugger chip, the same one we use on our Xplained Pro boards.”

I say: “A debugger, like you can use on our Studio 6 integrated development platform?”

He says “yup.”

Now I happened to have the Arduino IDE running on my screen, and I point to it and say “But the Arduino IDE does not have a debugger interface!”

And he just smiled and walked away.

So there you have it, maybe not right away, but one day soon, you will be able to actually watch the guts of an Atmel chip as it executes your code in an Arduino. You can see registers and memory values, and set breakpoints and all the other things a debugger does. I am a big fan of debuggers, as evidenced by two recent videos I did here and here. You can do it now with our debuggers or our SAM D21 Xplained Pro boards, but only in Studio 6.2. If you prefer the Arduino IDE, you might be able to debug soon using that.

ATtiny45 drives this optical theremin

A Maker by the name of Derek recently created an optical theremin to illustrate the types of devices typically found in hacker and Maker spaces.

As HackADay’s Rick Osgood reports, the solderless Noise-o-Tron kit is powered by Atmel’s ATtiny45 microcontroller (MCU).

“Arduino libraries have already been ported to this chip, so all [Derek] had to do was write a few simple lines of code and he was up and running,” writes Osgood.

“The chip is connected to a photocell so the pitch will vary with the amount of light that reaches the cell. The user can then change the pitch by moving their hand closer or further away, achieving a similar effect to a theremin.”

According to Osgood, Derek designed a simple PCB out of acrylic, with laser cut holes to fit the components and leads twisted together.

“I learned a lot with this project and I think some other people did too. I had kids as young as 5 assemble these boards with guidance, some of them with surprisingly little help,” notes Derek.

“Everyone seemed to like them and I ran out of components for kits. I’m calling it a huge success and I hope that this project is replicated and taken to Maker Faires, expos and ‘learn electronics’ nights.”

Interested in learning more about the solderless Noise-o-Tron kit? You can check out Derek’s blog post here and the relevant Github files here.

Atmel announces Maker Faire lineup

Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth – a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, resourcefulness and a celebration of the Maker Movement. It’s a place where people of all ages and backgrounds gather together to show what they are making and share what they are learning. Over 1,000 Makers will be represented at the upcoming Maker Faire Bay Area, with more than 200 registering as first-time exhibitors.

We at Atmel are once again proud to be a Silversmith Sponsor of Maker Faire Bay Area. We’re also hosting the following star-studded lineup of Makers and presenters at the Atmel booth (#205) who will:

Mel Li, PHD – Demonstrate wearable electronics and DIY laboratory automation, both powered by Atmel MCUs and Arduino boards.

Trevor Zylstra, SparkFun COO – Showcase Red Boards, the ProtoSnap Pro-Mini and wildly popular MicroView.

Quin Etnyre, CEO of Qtechknow – Host the “QTechKnow Olympics” robotic challenge with Arduino, XBee and FuzzBots.

Pamungkas Prawisuda Sumasta, AVR Hero contest winner – Discuss “Phoenar,” a new way of learning to program AVR uC and prototyping electronics on a Mobile phone. The demonstration will include an Atmel-based board equipped with a number of add-ons to highlight several applications including breadboard on-the-go, monitoring heart rates, pedometer and controlling a robot.

Super Awesome Sylvia – Demonstrate various Atmel-powered devices and projects. 

Matt Johnson, Founder of Bare Conductive – Highlight the Touch Board, a capacitive touch prototyping platform powered by an Arduino Leonardo (Atmel ATmega32u4 MCU).

Bob Martin, Atmel’s Wizard of Make and Warp Drive Propulsion Engineer – Hack Hexabugs and demonstrate uToT Robots.

Dan Ujvari, Atmel Sr. Field Applications Engineer – Showcase 3D printing using an Atmel-powered MakerBot Replicator.

Maker Faire Bay Area 2014 will kick off at the San Mateo Event Center in San Mateo, CA, on Saturday, May 17, from 10am to 8pm and Sunday, May 18, from 10am to 6pm. 

Tickets are on sale now at http://makerfairebayarea2014.eventbrite.com at advance pricing. Advance ticket sales ($17.50 – $32.50 for a full day pass) take place between March 17 and May 16. Tickets can also be purchased on-site at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014 on May 17 and 18, 2014 ($25.00 – $40.00 for a full day pass). All Makers can be found on the Maker Faire web site at http://makerfaire.com/meet-the-makers.

Can’t make it to the Faire? You can follow @Atmel live on Twitter for event updates, or join the conversation by tweeting #AtmelMakes.

 

Why Shenzhen is the factory of the world for Makers

Writing for the UK-based Guardian, Georgina Voss notes that hosting a Maker Faire in Shenzhen, which some describe as the “factory of the world,” makes quite a lot of sense.

Indeed, Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE Magazine and creator of Maker Faire, recently confirmed that the first official Maker Faire held in Shenzhen earlier this month successfully celebrated the emergence of the Maker Movement in China, while recognizing the significance of the city as a global capital for DIY culture.

“The city’s history rippled into Maker Faire Shenzhen, which sat in the shadow of high-rises. As expected, many of the classic Maker Faire features were in place: soldering workshops, talks by ‘Makers’, people looking awkward in Google Glass,” Voss explains.

“Yet Maker Faires are often characterized by lots of DIY projects and arts-tech mash-ups and these were conspicuously lacking. Instead, most stalls were occupied by fully realized electronics products – brainwave-controlled drones, robots, lots and lots of 3D printers – either ready for market, or in their beta stage and shipping later in the year.”

According to Voss, the region’s strengths in consumer electronics may also be particularly well-suited to the potential outputs of ‘Maker to Market’ outputs, starting with simplified prototypes built on open hardware technologies such as Arduino boards.

“Several hardware start-up accelerators have also set up shop in the city, including Haxlr8r and PCH’s Highway 1, and they acknowledge that […] regional innovation systems exist: participants spend time in Shenzhen to learn about the manufacturing and supply chain networks in the city, before being returned to the Bay Area to pitch for funding,” says Voss.

“The easy-to-use, flexible and low-cost technologies which underpin [accelerators] – open hardware microcontrollers and 3D printers, for example – have their own materiality and their own geography.”

Voss also points out that all of the factors which define Shenzhen as a competitive industry hub make it particularly attractive to Makers, including cheap and available raw materials, manufacturing skills and facilities, as well as clear entry points into supply chains.

“The ‘Maker’ identity can be framed by flattened shared qualities and values, working with technologies whose provenance is not always transparent. But nothing in technology is so simple or so isolated,” she concluded.

“Maker Faire Shenzhen shines a light on the externalities and ecosystems of making itself: the political regimes which regulate; the infrastructures which support it; the forms of work that drive it; and the culture and history that shape it.”

The full text of “Making in China: Maker Faire Shenzhen Highlights the Global Politics of the Maker Movement,” written by Georgina Voss is available on The Guardian here. Readers may also want to check out “Atmel looks back at Maker Faire Shenzhen” which can be read here.

Atmel looks back at Maker Faire Shenzhen

Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE Magazine and creator of Maker Faire, notes that Maker Faire Shenzhen, held the first weekend of April 2014, celebrated the emergence of the Maker Movement in China and recognized the significance of Shenzhen as a global capital for DIY culture.

“Maker Faire Shenzhen was the first full-scale Maker Faire in China. An estimated 30,000 people walked the tree-lined streets to interact with makers, participate in workshops and listen to presentations,” Dougherty explained in a recent Makezine article.

“[The event] was a showcase for 300 makers who manned 120 exhibits. Organized by Eric Pan and his team at Seeed Studio, Maker Faire Shenzhen was a public demonstration of the robust productivity of China’s makers. The Maker Movement could play a major role in China in transforming both China’s view of itself and the world’s view of China as a center of innovation.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel attended the Faire from April 6-7. Our booth – #4 – was located right next to Center Stage.

In addition, Sander Arts (@Sander1Arts), VP of Corporate Marketing at Atmel, gave a detailed presentation about Atmel microcontrollers, the IoT and Makers.

Sander’s well-attended presentation garnered a significant amount of attention in the local press from a number of journalists, including those writing for CNET, Ifanr, LeiPhone, PowerSystemsDesign (China) and 01EA.

“Various Maker teams demonstrated their projects, ranging from 3D printers to open-source vehicles, VR and wearable devices at Maker Faire 2014 in Shenzhen, highlighting the extensive possibilities of the Internet of Things,” wrote Cui Qiwen, Ifanr.com.

“As the robust brain behind all these maker projects, Atmel was also present at the convention.”

Xia Hang of LeiPhone, expressed similar sentiments.

“… Atmel accounts [for a] significant role that drives and inspires various projects in different categories such as LED, 3D printing and Arduino. Atmel’s MCU-based Arduino development platform enables more entry-level [projects],” Hang explained.

“Through Maker communities, Atmel has constructed close relationships with Makers in mainland China, not only by providing technology support, but also offering opportunities to present their maker projects through holding AVR Hero Contests. [As Sander says], ‘we are the Makers’ enablers, but the power is with you.'”

Meanwhile, CNET’s Tao Jingjie confirmed that Atmel maintains a close relationship with Makers via its AVR-based 8-bit MCUs and ARM-based 32-bit MCUs/MPUs.

“Atmel powers Makers to convert innovative ideas into actually commercialization-possible products, including LED projects, 3D printing projects, Arduino projects, and so on,” said Jingjie.

“It also held the global AVR Hero design contest, in which the products [that won] the award will achieve funding from Atmel [along with help] to enter the market in the future.”

Interested in learning more about the Maker Movement in China? You can check out our article archive on the subject here.

Arduino in a cardboard box

If you went to Maker Faire New York, you saw Atmel’s tables had flashing LEDs on the edge.

The tables Atmel had at NY Maker Faire had LED strips built into them.

Those strips were powered by these custom “Arduinos in a box.” The cardboard box was perfectly in keeping with cardboard tables, made by chairigami.

We created a battery-powered Arduino to run the LED lights on the cardboard tables.

Inside the box is an Atmel-powered Arduino, as well as the battery pack used to run the board and LED strip.

This side has the D-sub connector used to connect to the LED strips. There is also a power connector if you don’t want to run on the internal batteries.

The boxes have a cut-out for the USB connector, should you need to do some emergency programming on the show floor.

A nice touch is the Velcro strip on the back of the battery pack that holds it to the side of the box. You can see the “ECO” (engineering change order) where the USB hole was on the same side, but that got changed in the prototyping stage. Every product tells a story.

Be sure to check out the Atmel booth at Maker Faire Bay Area (Silicon Valley), World Maker New York (in Queens), and in just a few weeks (April 6-7, 2014) we will be at Maker Faire @ Shenzhen (China).

White House to host upcoming Maker Faire

The Obama Administration has announced that the White House will be hosting its very first Maker Faire later this year.

According to administration officials Tom Kalil and Jason Miller, the event will be an opportunity to highlight both the remarkable stories of Makers and commitments by leading organizations to help more students and entrepreneurs get involved in making things.

“By democratizing the tools and skills necessary to design and make just about anything, Maker Faires and similar events can inspire more people to become entrepreneurs and to pursue careers in design, advanced manufacturing, and the related fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM),” Kalil and Miller explained in an official White House blog post.

“The Administration is already partnering with companies, non-profits, and communities to make the most of this emerging movement. The Defense Advanced Projects Agency, or DARPA, collaborated with the Veteran’s Administration to support the creation of a TechShop in Pittsburgh, where members can access cutting-edge tools for making, and provided memberships for thousands of veterans.”

Meanwhile, with funding from the Department of Labor, the AFL-CIO and Carnegie Mellon University are partnering with TechShop Pittsburgh to create an apprenticeship program for 21st-century manufacturing and encourage startups to manufacture domestically. 

Similarly, with support from Americorps and leading companies and foundations, the Maker Education Initiative is working with schools and youth-serving organizations to provide students with access to Making.

“Later this year, the Administration will launch an all-hands-on-deck effort to provide even more students and entrepreneurs access to the tools, spaces, and mentors needed to Make,” Kalil and Miller continued. 

”There are many ways in which, in addition to the contributions of thousands of individual Makers, companies, universities, mayors and communities, and foundations, and philanthropists can get involved… Working together, we can prove that in America, the future really is what we make of it.”

Interested in learning more? You can get involved in President Obama’s initiative by sending pictures or videos of your creations or a description of how you are working to advance the Maker Movement to maker@ostp.gov, or on Twitter using the hashtag #IMadeThis.

Atmel @ Maker Faire Rome 2013

Just weeks after taking center stage at the 2013 World Maker Faire in NYC, Atmel is getting ready to kick off Maker Faire Rome 2013 at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Italy.

Be sure to stop by our booth, where we’ll be showcasing the latest in Atmel-powered tech including:

• Hexbug/hovercraft hacking: Watch Atmel employees hack traditional Hexbugs and hovercrafts using Arduino boards.
• 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.
• Quin from QTechKnow:  Quin will be displaying his Fuzzbot robots.

Also be sure to check out our AVR Hero Maker Faire Contest online. As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel is challenging Makers, designers and engineers to develop new AVR-powered gadgets and gizmos with commercial potential.

So if you think you have what it takes to be a Master Maker/AVR hero, submit your masterpieces today! We’ll feature the projects and the people will vote. Along with great fame, respect and worshipful gazes, we’ll also be giving amazing prizes to go with your new title. 

What will you get? Well, our Master Maker winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, one-year discount on Atmel products, four tickets to upcoming (local) Maker Faires and some cool Atmel swag!

Each of the four runners up will receive a $500 cash prize, two tickets each for upcoming Maker Faires and awesome Atmel swag. We’ll also advise winners and the four runner ups on how to launch their respective projects on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, all while granting access to Atmel experts who can help facilitate the transition from prototype to product.

So, how does the contest work? Well, after a period of public voting (September 9, 2013 – December 31, 2013) a panel of Atmel judges will select the top entries based on:

• Idea quality – Is it original, creative and substantially different? How so?
• Design quality – How complete is your design? Is it robust, repairable and resilient? Is it pretty? Easy to use? Do you have a working model?
• Market potential – How would you get your masterpiece to the masses? Will they demand it? What would you need? How much would it cost? And, is it scalable?

Interested in learning more about our contest? Click here to submit your AVR project today!