Hardware Innovation Workshop kicks off the run-up to Maker’s Faire

Maker’s Faire can probably best be described as the ultimate DIY electronics show. Held at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds, the event is a huge science fair for the general public, where Do-It-Yourselfers take center stage and roam around unleashed (usually on their segways), wearing propeller beanies and flashy LED pins.

Atmel will be attending the festivities, so be sure to check us out at booth #625 where we’ll have MakerBot demos and an “IoTorium” – an emporium of awesome Internet of Things devices. We’ll also be showcasing PuzzleBox’s brain-controlled helicopters, alongside the cool riders from Faraday Bikes, smart watches and hackable Hexbugs.

In the meantime, we thought you’d enjoy a quick rundown of the Hardware Innovation Workshop, which kicked off the Maker Fair festivities last night. A number of startups were on the premises showing off their impressive wares, including Spark Devices, Dash Robotics, Nano Satisfi and Lockitron.

The Spark Core is an Arduino-compatible, Wi-Fi enabled, cloud-powered development platform designed to simplify the development of Internet-connected hardware.

The device, which recently tipped up on Kickstarter, managed to hit its initial funding goal within 75 minutes and has thus far raised $276,420 – with 17 days to go.

Meanwhile, Dash is the world’s first foldable, programmable, origami robot that you can build yourself. Inspired by nature, the lightweight Dash runs like the world’s fastest animals and fits in the palm of your hand.

NanoSatisfi strives to offer affordable access to space exploration with the baseline ArduSat (Arduino – satellite). Essentially, Nano Satisfi is the first open platform allowing the general public to design and run their own space-based applications, games and experiments – all while steering onboard cameras and snapping pictures.

The baseline model of the satellite uses Arduino Nanos mounted on a custom PCB, although the NanoSatisfi crew is also eyeing the most recent Arduino models like Leonardo, Due and Megas.

And last, but certainly not least, the aptly named Lockitron allows users to secure their doors from anywhere in the world with their smartphones, while allowing instant access to be shared with family and friends via a two-button app.

Lockitron can be controlled by API endpoints, or programmed directly thanks to its Arduino-compatible ATMega microcontroller.

Arduino making a mark at Maker Faire

I don’t usually make a big deal of my upcoming weekends, but when I get the chance to hang out in a human-size mouse trap, buzz around a giant Hand of Man robot, or get my code on competitively in a variety of hacker races, it’s worth talking up a bit.

Before you wonder whether I’ve managed to contract an unhealthy dose of hallucinogenic corporate cube fever, don’t panic! I’m referring to the upcoming Maker Faire, to be held at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds on the 18/19 of May.

Maker Faire, created by Make magazine back in 2006, stitches together the arts and crafts with engineering and science.

It’s a huge science fair for the general public, where Do-It-Yourselfers are free to roam around unleashed (usually on their segways) wearing propeller beanies and flashy LED pins without anybody judging them. Much.

Tinkerers little and large take center stage at Maker Faire, showing the world their zany contraptions and electrifying experiments, while trading tips and tricks for others who want to follow in their low power footsteps.

And Atmel, I’m proud to say, is all over it.

Why? Because in many ways, Atmel powers the maker movement, with its tech at the heart of so many maker designs. It helps, of course, that Atmel microprocessors are the chips of choice for the Arduino platform, both in their AVR flavor and ARM varieties.

Arduino has democratized hardware in a way that allows anyone – young or old, engineer or not, rich or poor – to scratch their own itch and create anything they can imagine.

As Arduino’s founder, Massimo Banzi, puts it, “You don’t need anyone’s permission to create something great.”

Indeed, with Arduino even finding its way into every single MakerBot 3D printer, creativity now really knows no bounds.

At Maker Faire, Atmel will be right across from our friends and partners at Arduino (Booth #625 and #619 for the location sticklers) and along with a pretty slick booth design made up entirely of cardboard furniture (Chairigami!!), we’ll have quite a bit going on.

For starters, we’ll have some MakerBot demos and an “IoTorium” (which I’m assuming is an emporium of awesome Internet of Things devices).

Speaking of awesome “things”, the folks from PuzzleBox will be pitching up in Atmel’s booth with their brain-controlled helicopters, alongside the cool riders from Faraday Bikes who will be peddling their electric bicycle wares.

We’ll also have some cute hackable Hexbugs crawling around and for those keeping an eye on the time, some smart watches from Secret Labs (shhhh!).

The Maker movement is a passionate one, and Atmel’s pretty passionate about being a part of it. If you can’t make it to Maker Faire, no sweat. You can follow all the goings on via Twitter. Just look for the hashtags @makerfaire, @atmel, @arduino.

Hope to see you there!

 

Imagining the Future — DIY Style

By Eric Weddington

It’s the beginning of February already. The New Year has started with a bang, with barely enough time to reflect on the past year. However, there have been some exciting things in 2012 that I can’t wait to see continue on in 2013…

Engineers can be a funny group. On one hand they’re the makers of a wide range of technology. But because engineers are, in general, interested in getting the details right, sometimes they can get caught up in the details, with a focus on what should be the “right” way of doing something. One of the privileges of being involved in the open source community has been attending the Maker Faires, put on by Make: magazine, in the Bay Area in May, and in New York in September. The Arduino microcontroller board is a big part of  these Maker Faires, powering all sorts of projects. It’s become popular because it enables people who are not engineers to get involved in making stuff with electronics, allowing them to add smarts to all sorts of things.

What I’ve discovered is that it doesn’t magically turn these people into engineers. They see the Arduino as a tool that they can use to turn their ideas into reality. They don’t get caught up in the details of what is the “right” way, or the “wrong” way, to implement a solution according to their engineering training. They keep their eyes firmly on their goal. They’re too busy creating! During the last year, I have been amazed at all the cool, weird, wonderful ideas that have been thought up and implemented by many in this Maker community. I wouldn’t have thought up half the stuff that I have seen done with an Arduino and our AVR processors. A DIY X-ray CT scanner controlled by an Arduino. FireHero, which has an Arduino controlled propane “puffer” interfaced to a GuitarHero controller. A winner of the California Science Fair used an Arduino to measure foot pressure for diabetics. All manner of quadcopters and UAVs. Desktop 3D printers. Clothing design. And the list goes on. It’s exhilarating to see what’s been done and to think about what people will imagine next! Yes, it’s going to be a fun 2013!