Rewind: Atmel @ World Maker Faire 2015

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Maker Faire New York, Maker Faire New York — a show (and tell) so good we had to say it twice.

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Ah, Maker Faire. The only place that can you find everything from a 30-foot-tall, flame-throwing robot and a life-sized game of Mousetrap to a pancake printing machine and a floating head choir that sings when you press their keys.

Over the weekend of September 26th and 27th, tinkerers, modders and hackers of all ages flocked a jam-packed Atmel booth housed inside the always popular Maker Pavilion. There, we showcased a number of gizmos and gadgets that have successfully made its way “From the MakerSpace to the MarketPlace.” Meaning, this particular batch of startups have demonstrated what it takes to bring an idea from mere prototype to full-blown product, many by way of crowdfunding. Among those on display included the Kickstarter sensation and wrist-friendly Keyboardio, the credit-card sized gaming system Arduboy, 14-year-old Quin Etnyre and his Qduino Mini, former Pixar engineer Erin Thompson’s Modulo boards, Microduino’s super LEGO-like modules, and Zippy Robotics’ soon-to-launch Prometheus PCB milling machine. Oh, and who could forget big names like Bosch, Arduino and the one-and-only Massimo Banzi, too?

When it came to projects driven by our mighty AVR and Atmel | SMART MCUs, it didn’t stop at our booth either. In fact, countless others throughout the fairegrounds proudly showed off their embedded creations, with some of them even paying a special visit to our tent like PancakeBot, Zymbit, Dr.Duino and eight-year-old CEO Omkar Govil-Nair with his Arduino-based O Watch, to name just a few. On top of all that, several Atmel team members — Bob Martin, Henrik Flodell, Sander Arts and Artie Beavis — took the World Maker Faire stage to talk prototyping, Arduino, debugging, STEM and how to take your product mainstream.

So with another incredible event in the books, let’s take one last look back before flipping the page to Rome!

Casa Jasmina opens its (smart) doors

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Located in Torino, Casa Jasmina is a first of its kind smart apartment.

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Several months after its announcement at Maker Faire Rome, the (presumably smart) doors of Casa Jasmina have officially been opened. A collaborative effort between Massimo Banzi and futurist Bruce Sterling, along with some support from Arduino, the smart apartment is a first of its kind in combining Italian contemporary interior and furniture design with an array of open source electronics, many of which built around Atmel microcontrollers.

Unlike other so-called “homes of the future,” this Arduino-powered space — which takes its name from Sterling’s wife Jasmina Tešanović — will be more than a livable showcase. In fact, it will serve as a hybridized IoT research lab as it monitors its inhabitants’ responses to the ambient elements inside and will soon become a publicly available, short-term rental property on Airbnb.

The June 6th opening of Casa Jasmina coincided with the second annual Torino Mini Maker Faire, featuring a number of public areas, discussions, appearances, and impressively, an exhibit area with over 50 Maker projects. Among those on display included Jesse Howard, Aker, Opendesk, and Open Structure. Aside from the initial batch of IoT creations, the abode boasted several electrical products from the Energy@Home consortium, Internet of Things artwork from the Torino Share Festival, and the first wave of prototypes from Casa Jasmina’s ‘Call for Projects.’

Among the ambient objects found throughout the living quarters are a wireless lamp designed out of Tetra Pak packaging, an LED lamp made from a milk carton and an Arduino Leonardo (ATmega32U4)-driven piece of artwork that emits different patterns of colored lights in response to fluctuations in background radioactivity.

With several industry heavyweights and dedicated communities surrounding the project, Casa Jasmina will certainly continue to attract some interesting innovations, guests and intelligent things to populate the apartment. Looking ahead, it will even play home to various residencies, talks and workshops.

Italy couldn’t have been a better home to the world’s first connected, open source apartment. According to a new report, the European nation’s Internet of Things market is expected to reach €1.55 billion ($1.75B) this year, with smart home products leading the way. Not only did one in four respondents already admit to having an intelligent object in their house, nearly half (46%) say they are willing to purchase an Internet-enabled gadget or service in the near future.

“Most Maker objects today have been for the laboratory, or they have been for the university, or they have been for design school. They haven’t really been made for a domestic purpose. They aren’t for family, they aren’t for young children, they’re not for the elderly, for the cat, for the dog, for the houseplant. They are mostly there for the geek who is buying the hardware and is in command of the user base. I think its time for the Maker scene to expand out of its limits and try to talk to a wider demographic,” Sterling revealed in a recent interview.

Casa Jasmina welcomed its first guests on June 6, 2015 and will run for two years. Want to follow along with the initiative’s progress? Head over to its official page here.

Rewind: A look back at some of the original Arduino prototypes

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While the shapes, colors and sizes of the earliest Arduinos may have varied, one thing has remained the same: Atmel at its heart.

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During Memorial Day weekend, the first Arduino to be made in the U.S. was hand built by Limor Fried alongside Massimo Banzi in Adafruit’s New York City headquarters. The initial board off the production line — which seems appropriate to have been an Uno (meaning “one” in Italian) — comes just a few days after Banzi’s announcement at Maker Faire Bay Area of the company’s manufacturing partnership with Adafruit, the availability of the highly-anticipated Zero, as well as the launch of its new sister brand Genuino.

With the theme of “firsts” in mind, we couldn’t help but reflect upon the earlier years of Arduino and some of its prototypes. And upon conducting some research, we stumbled upon a photo album showcasing many of them. While their sizes, colors and shapes may have varied, one thing remained constant: they all had an Atmel chip at its heart. (As you can see, many of which powered by an ATmega8-16PU.)

So without further ado, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Arduino Prototype 0

At the time, the board was called “Programma 2005” as an evolution of the “Programma 2003.” (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Extreme v1

The first version of the SMD Arduino. Only 200 of these boards were produced. (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Bluetooth Prototype

The first prototype of the Arduino Bluetooth unit. The module was never easy enough to use for beginner Makers, and as a result, only a couple were ever manufactured. (Source: M. Banzi)

Custom Arduino Board – Lamp Controller

This custom Arduino features an iPod-like wheel sensor, an SMD Arduino, on-board RGB LEDs and three DSI outputs. (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Prototype 1

There it is: The first useable prototype ever created. As you can see, back then it was called “Wiring Lite” and used as a low-cost module for wiring users. (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Extreme v2

The second iteration of the Arduino USB board. (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Ethernet Prototype

(Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Bluetooth Proto 4

The pre-production prototype of the Arduino Bluetooth module. (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino NG

Revision C of the Arduino NG did not have a built-in LED on pin 13. Instead, it featured two small unused solder pads near the labels “GND” and “13.” (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Ethernet and PoE Prototype

In the album, this board was labeled “Secret Prototype.” Not longer after, Massimo would go on to spill the beans in its comment section. (Source: M. Banzi)

Arduino Zero

The Zero boasts an Atmel | SMART SAM D21 ARM Cortex-M0+ core, enabling the board to run much faster and pack more of a punch than its 8-bit counterparts.

Want more? You can browse through the entire photo album here.

Here are some fun facts to celebrate Arduino Day!

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Just in case you need to sharpen your Arduino trivia skills…  

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Saturday is Arduino Day, a worldwide celebration of the open-source board along with the countless gizmos and gadgets made with it. Originally envisioned for students and artists to quickly prototype projects, you can now find Arduino powering just about everything from DIY wearables and robots to clever hacks and successfully-funded startups. Yet, before the days of mainstream popularity, the fan-favorite platform had humble beginnings — which you can see from its first iteration below.

As we prepare to “officially” celebrate its 10th anniversary, here are some fun facts that you may not already know…

Atmel could be found at the heart of the earliest boards, including the initial prototype, which was powered by an ATmega8.

Bar-duino? The company was dubbed after a local watering hole where some of its founders used to meet, which happened to be named after Margrave of Ivrea and King of Italy from 1002 to 1014.

Arduino was initially intended to serve as a teaching tool that would introduce students at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea to the world of electronics and provide them with an easy way to prototype projects.

Co-founder Massimo Banzi did study electrical engineering, but like he recently told ReadWriteWeb, he actually dropped out of college “because it was boring, and he was doing much more exciting stuff outside.”

The Arduino USB board was the first to officially bear the Arduino name in 2005, which would go on to have several revisions including the Extreme, NG, and Diecimila.

Many well-known companies that stemmed from the DIY community first got their start using an Arduino. This long list includes 3DRobotics and MakerBot. In fact, Chris Anderson shared with Forbes in an early interview, “We used the Arduino platform to change something which in this case was a bottom-up approach to the aerospace industry.”

As of last year, there were more than 1.2 million Arduino boards in the wild, not to mention probably just as many counterfeits — up from just 300,000 in 2011.

There were over 217 Kickstarter projects (and counting) built on the Arduino platform in the last 12 months alone.

Every three months, the Arduino.cc website experiences four to five million users, of which three to four are regular visitors.

Arduino has inspired countless young Makers to pursue a career in engineering, some of whom have gone on to launch their own businesses and become crowdfunding successes — all before the age of legally being able to drive. (Way to go, Quin!)

He likes big boards and he cannot lie! Sir Mix-A-Lot himself has given props to to Arduino’s ability to lower the barrier of entry into the electronics space.

Channeling their Maker spirit, a number of major brands have implemented Arduino in an assortment of projects, ranging from Samsung and General Electric, to Dole and Nescafé, to Adidas and Converse.

The boards’ distinctive designs have even been recognized by MoMA, where Arduino is now a permanent fixture in its collection.

Arduino has enabled Makers to conduct experiments spanning from under the sea to out of this atmosphere, all through the use of underwater ROVs and open satellite platforms.

In 2014, more than 240 user groups, Makerspaces, hackerspaces, fab labs, schools, studios and educators throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia came together to celebrate the inaugural Arduino Day.

Even Facebook ‘likes’ Arduino! During the F8 Developers Conference, Parse announced a lineup of SDKS for the Internet of Things. The first is an Arduino SDK targeted for the Arduino Yún.

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Having been there since its inception, and now looking ahead, we can’t wait to see what’s next for the open-source, Atmel based platform. Happy Arduino Day, Makers!

Casa Jasmina is bringing the Internet of Things home

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The aim of the project is to combine digital fabrication tools and open-source electronics to create a connected apartment.

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During his MakerCon keynote speech last fall, our dear friend Massimo Banzi announced that Arduino was planning to unveil the first-ever open-source apartment. Shortly thereafter, the company’s co-founder officially revealed the launch of the rental property at Maker Faire Rome, aptly named Casa Jasmina. Now, the team has shared that its location will be inaugurated on February 20th, in coordination with the celebration of the office and Fablab Torino’s 3rd birthday!

In collaboration with futurist Bruce Sterling and Lorenzo Romagnoli, the exciting new project will be located in Arduino’s Torino, Italy headquarters. (Which by the way, did you know was actually an abandoned car factory?) Hosted by Toolbox Coworking, the apartment will serve as a test ground for the latest developments from the Maker community, equipped with furniture from OpenDesk, a plethora of Atmel based devices as well as other hardware creations.

“We will explore the boundaries in the field of open-source, connected home showcasing the best of open-source furnitures, connected objects, and white goods hacks,” Arduino stated in a recent blog. “Shortly [thereafter], anyone will have the opportunity to experience living in a open-source connected home… Casa Jasmina will be available for rent on Airbnb.”

Unlike other so-called “homes of the future,” this Arduino-powered space will be more than a livable showcase. In fact, the inhabitants’ responses to the elements inside will be registered for the project’s research.

Collaborator Bruce Sterling shared his thoughts on the new project by stating that he has known for a long time that the Italian city would become the center of digital manufacturing: “What’s needed is now is not more gadgets… [but to] figure out how to move this from the hobby level to a level of professionalism, and how to establish making with Italian characteristics.”

When discussing the new domestic Italian landscape, Sterling adds that “the Internet of Things is no longer a theory. It features genuine industrial consortia, proliferating standards, and exciting new capacities in sensors, data, and analytics. The IoT is coming into the home, and that most definitely includes the Italian home.”

The futurist lists goes on to list five basic approaches to this constantly-connected era:

1. Thing centered: In this model, every object has its own Internet connectivity and they all talk to each other independently. It’s like the old-school Internet, but with things instead of websites.
2. Gateway centered: There’s a home control box or a router which serves as a boss for all the anarchic things, enforces a standard on them, and protects them from security attacks.
3. Mobile centered: The real action inside in the operating system of a powerful personal smartphone, which acts as the handheld remote-control for everything.
4. Cloud centered: The household Internet of Things is run by offshored professionals who have advanced data analytics and can manage all domestic objects and services for a fee.
5. Industrial fog: Everything is run locally, but with an urban, automated factory-style model that includes building management software and smart city services.

“What’s missing in these five models of the IoT? A user-centered model, a citizen-centered model, an open-source collaborative model. That’s the prospect that interests us at ‘Casa Jasmina,’” he adds. “My role in Casa Jasmina is that of curator. In the blizzard of new things that constitutes the Internet of Things, I have to figure out what belongs on the premises. Casa Jasmina an actual, functional apartment directly above the lasers, routers and 3D printers of the famous Torino FabLab. It will have guests in it; people will sit in the chairs, sleep in the beds. I will personally test every last ‘thing’ that goes in there.”

According to the team, the first household item for the open apartment is a pet iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner named “Pietro Micca.” This device was selected, not because it’s high-tech but because the Roomba line is 10 years old, well-established and a living reality of domestic home automation.

“That’s what we want to see and display in Casa Jasmina — the ‘normal life’ of about 10 years from now,” the futurist urges.

Arduino says that the first batch of connected things for the apartment will be produced in a workshop, with the support of designer Jesse Howard, on February 22nd and 23rd.

“The workshop is suitable for designers, artists, hackers, and everyone interested in Arduino and open-source design and in order to stress the idea of open design, participants will be asked to reinterpret, modify and redesign an open source lamp proposed by Jesse.”

The lamp will be embedded with an Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) that will be used to make it interactive, enabling a user to turn it on or off remotely, change its color, use to visualize data and connect the lamp to another. So, what can we expect to see make its way into the open-source living quarters? As our friends note, the list includes:

• A terrace garden
• A study area including a bookshelf, effective task lighting, and cultural materials
• Artworks including electronic art displays
• A guide to Torino
• A functional kitchen
• Children’s toys and furniture
• Temperature control, water control, electricity monitors, building-management services
• Household appliances
• Party supplies

Interested in learning more? Discover how you can collaborate with the team by visiting its official page. Meanwhile, be sure to tweet all about your ideas using the hashtag #CasaJasmina and check out Arduino’s latest blog update here.

Internet of Trees: Making smart birdhouses with Arduino

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If we can have smart homes, why can’t birds? 

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In collaboration with a pair of fellow students, Maker Valentina Chinnici recently devised a project entitled “Internet of Trees” during a recent workshop led by Arduino’s Massimo Banzi in Boisbuchet, France.

The connected birdhouse features a pair of Arduino Yùn (ATmega32U4), an Adafruit NeoPixel strip, a makeshift infrared weight sensor, two nests, and of course, some remote Wi-Fi.

According to Chinnici, the idea was to redesign a traditional object — such as an outdoor wooden birdhouse — and connect it to an indoor nest-shaped lamp. In the event that a bird entered the house, it would communicate to the ATmega32U4 embedded lamp via Wi-Fi. Moments later, the bird’s presence would be denoted by an illuminated light (red, yellow or green) based on its size and weight.

While she had worked with Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and Leonardo (ATmega32u4) boards prior to this project, this was Chinnici’s first time using a Yún, which was a requisite in the “Internet of Trees” course.

In order to build a weight sensor, Chinnici attached an infrared sensor at the base of the birdhouse. Additionally, the Maker constructed a scale of sorts using a second wood base held up by four cork mini bases mounted with springs, which were placed into each of the corners.

“The concept was to create connected devices to bridge nature and humans. The first [few] days were dedicated to the basics of Arduino, and the last days to the development of the connected devices. We came up with the idea of building a birdhouse, so we split into smaller sub-groups and started to work on our projects collaboratively,” Chinnici explained.

Interested in learning more about the “Internet of Trees?” You can access the entire breakdown of the build here. In the meantime, the project is currently a finalist for Postscapes’ #IoT Awards.

CNN talks Arduino and open source hardware

As many of you are well aware by now, Atmel can be found at the very heart of most Arduino boards on the market today. Evident by the sheer volume of DIY projects surfacing on sites such as Instructables and Hackaday to Kickstarter and Indiegogo, the open-source platform has become an iconic symbol (not to mention enabler) of the ever-growing Maker Movement.

The fan-favorite Arduino enables Makers of all levels to create interactive objects that can sense and control the physical world, and subsequently, has made way for a worldwide community of hobbyists, tinkerers and designers to gather around the highly-popular boards. And, Atmel was there from the outset, providing simple yet powerful MCUs for the hardware side of the equation.

Writing for CNN, Peter Shadbolt recently explored the backstory of Arduino, dating back to its origins inside a bar in Ivrea, Italy — coincidentally, the birthplace of Italian technology and home to the world’s first PC.

“While the company has never recovered its leading position, a humble startup aims to put Ivrea back on the world innovation and design map,” Shadbolt pens.

“Called Arduino, after the local bar where the five founders met to discuss their project, the company produces simple open-source electronics platforms that allows enthusiasts and professionals to build interactive projects.”

Indeed, as 
Atmel MCU Applications Manager Bob Martin recently noted, our 8- and 32-bit MCUs have been the chips of choice for the Arduino team since the boards first hit the streets for DIY Makers way back in 2005 (as seen in the first prototype below).

More specifically, our resident Wizard of Make attributes the success of ‘duinos to its easy-to-use, free cross-platform toolchain and its simple do-it-yourself packages with Atmel MCUs. These factors helped initially steer the Arduino team to select 8-bit AVR family MCUs – and today, even some of our Atmel | SMART ARM-based chips as well.

As CNN notes, nearly a decade after Massimo Banzi and his team debuted their first board, more than 700,000 are now in the hands of Makers today, powering everything from drones to 3D printers.

Arduino boards are also extensively used in the educational community, with STEM teachers in secondary schools choosing the versatile platform to teach kids the principles of programming and computational thinking.

Co-founder David Cuartielles told CNN that Arduino is not only an educational tool, but also “a way of exploring new ideas with new people” — a mantra which resonates well with the Maker Faire crowd.

“It’s been an emerging phenomenon since the late 1990s,” Cuartielles explained to CNN. “Different schools around the world have tried to bring electronics to designers and artists to get them to come up with more creative uses for technology.”

Aside from the countless young Makers turning to its introductory 8-bit boards, it’s no surprise that Arduino has become increasingly popular with well-seasoned designers, architects and engineers as well. After all, they are finding it extremely easy to experiment with conceptual designs and prototypes in a much more cost-effective, efficient manner.

This ease in prototyping has led a number of them to go on and create successful startups, many of which launch crowdfunding campaigns on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

“I wouldn’t be risking very much if I said that a lot of the products you see on Kickstarter use Arduino boards in the prototyping phase to control various aspects of the project,” Cuartielles said.

During his interview, the Arduino co-founder singled out one of the projects in which he finds most interesting: ArduSat. For the first time ever, the open platform mission enabled the general public to run their own space-based applications, games and experiments.

“You will be able to rent a timeslot to manipulate the machine so you can simulate your experiment on land with an Arduino board and you can simulate it in space on the satellite,” he added.

Shadbolt went on to highlight the natural marriage between Arduino and LEGO, both of which are commonly referred to as the Maker Movement’s building blocks.

“Lego is very interesting in a sense that it provides mechanical access to the world. It lets you build almost anything within some constraints — you can’t, for instance, build something that’s perfectly round with Lego. Arduino is at the same level but with electronics. It allows you to control things at a low level really, really well.”

The interview concludes with a discussion around the development of more sophisticated, complex Arduino boards while maintaining that customary ease-of-use.

“The more simple you make it for the user, the more complex it becomes at the back end,” Cuartilles said. “For example, the Arduino Yún [ATmega32U4] — one of our latest products –basically allows you to connect anything to WiFi or anything to the ethernet.”

Interested in reading more? You can access the entire CNN writeup here. Meanwhile, those looking to kick off their next Arduino-based project may want to check out our comprehensive breakdown of the boards.

More details revealed around the Arduino Materia 101

As recently reported on Bits & Pieces, Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi gave the world a sneak peek of the company’s first 3D Printer, the Arduino Materia 101. First shared on the Arduino Twitter account and introduced on the Italian television show Che tempo che fa, the white and teal device will be presented next weekend at Maker Faire Rome.

While their entry into the 3D printing space may seem like an interesting one, it is not entirely shocking. In fact, a number of machines are driven by Atmel megaAVR and AVR XMEGA MCUs — the same chip used to power a majority of Arduino boards.

Writing for MAKE Magazine, Mike Senese notes that the open source 3D printer is the largest piece of hardware that our friends over at Arduino have launched to date.

“It’s an interesting move for the company, but not an entirely disconnected element, as many of the printer developments in the 3D community have used [megaAVR powered] Arduino boards for control. Moreover, it further indicates how bigger companies are starting to release 3D printers,” he writes.

After quite a bit of buzz over the past couple of days, Arduino has revealed the full specs of the newly-unveiled Materia 101 3D printer, which was developed in collaboration with Italian 3D printer manufacturer Sharebot:

• Printer Size: 310 x 330 x 350 mm
• Printer Weight: 10 kg
• Printing Technology: Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
• Build Volume: 140 x 100 x 100 mm +/- 5mm
• X and Y Resolution: 0.06 mm
• Z Resolution: 0.0025 mm
• Filament Type and Size: 1.75 mm, PLA.
• Extrusion diameter: 0.35 mm
• Experimented filaments: Cristal Flex, PLA Thermosense, Thermoplastic Polyuretane (TPU), PET, PLA Sand, PLA Flex
• LCD display 20 x 4 with encoder menu

The electronics board will be compatible with Arduino Mega 2560 (ATmega2560) with open source firmware.

UPDATE (10/16/2014): Arduino has announced that they have made the Materia 101 available for pre-order from their online store. The printer will be priced at $727 in kit form, and $887 fully-assembled.

While you wait for your printer, the team has shared several documents and resources around the product, including its detailed manual and Github repository with all the source files.

Arduino shares a sneak peek of its future 3D printer

Earlier today, Arduino gave the world a sneak peek of its own branded 3D printer, the Arduino Materia 101. First shared on the Arduino Twitter account and introduced by co-founder Massimo Banzi on Italian national television, the white and teal device will be presented next weekend at Maker Faire Rome.

Fellow Arduino co-founder David Cuartielles later confirmed the company’s latest innovation by tweeting…

Based on initial glance, it appears that the printer is equipped with an LCD screen, a control knob and a switch on the front plate, with a matching filament spool holder attached to its right side.

Writing for MAKE Magazine, Mike Senese notes that the machine is the largest piece of hardware that our friends over at Arduino have launched to date.

“It’s an interesting move for the company, but not an entirely disconnected element, as many of the printer developments in the 3D community have used [megaAVR powered] Arduino boards for control. Moreover, it further indicates how bigger companies are starting to release 3D printers,” he writes.

According to 3discover.it, the printer is a collaboration between Arduino and Italian 3D printer manufacturer Sharebot. Judging by the first images of Massimo Banzi’s announcement on the Italian TV channel RAI 3, the Arduino Materia will be based on Sharebot’s open source architecture and leverage the company’s familiarity with FFF technology.

For now, we’ll have to wait for its official debut at Maker Faire Rome…

This is just the latest piece of exciting news from Arduino in recent weeks. Just last weekend, Atmel and Arduino announced the launch of the Arduino Wi-Fi Shield 101, a shield that enables rapid prototyping of Internet of Things (IoT) applications on the highly-popular open-source platform; while if you recall back in May, the team debuted the Arduino ZERO development board – a simple, elegant and powerful 32-bit extension of the platform originally established by the popular Uno.

Preview: World Maker Faire New York 2014

Are you excited? We sure are! Atmel is getting ready to take center stage at the 5th Annual World Maker Faire 2014 in New York City on September 20th and 21st. Undoubtedly, this year will be amazing as an expected 750+ Makers and 85,000+ attendees head to the New York Hall of Science to see the latest DIY gizmos and gadgets. Once again a Silversmith Sponsor of the event, Atmel will put the spotlight on everything from Arduino to Arduino-related projects.

Our team is en route to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, where you will soon find us setting up booth #EP24. (Program guide available here.) During this weekend’s show, we will be showcasing a wide range of projects, platforms and devices from the Makers and companies inspiring today’s DIY Movement.

Even better, you don’t need to wait until Saturday for the making to begin! On the evening of Friday, September 19th, Atmel and Arduino will be hosting a Maker Meet & Greet at the New York Hall of Science. Starting at 6:30pm, join the one-and-only Massimo Banzi and Atmel’s Reza Kazerounian for live demos, Q&A with guests, a paella dinner and… wait for it…. a special announcement! Space is limited and RSVP is required. Those interested may send a request to pr@atmel.com.

So, what else will you find in booth #EP24?

Bob Martin, also known as Atmel’s Wizard of Make and Warp Drive Propulsion Engineer, will be demonstrating uToT Robots and hacking Hexbugs.

Dan Ujvari, Atmel’s MakerBot Magician and Senior FAE, will be showcasing some of his latest creations from a MakerBot desktop 3D printer.

Arduino will be highlighting some of its latest boards, as well as exploring basic principles of electronics and programming. Booth visitors will have the chance to experience firsthand how easy it is to make LEDs blink, turn motors and make buzzers buzz.

Quin Etnyre, 13-year-old CEO of QTechknow, will be hosting his robotics challenge, “The Qtechknow Olympics.”

SparkFun will be joining us in our booth to run a number of soldering workshops, where participants will have the chance to solder new PTH SparkFun interactive badges! Once soldered, these badges will become a trivia game. The participant can put the badges into three small interactive stations which have electronics-based trivia questions on them. If the questions are answered correctly, the stations add points to the badges. Each point adds a new color to the LED on the top of the badge. Points add up to discounts at SparkFun.com!

littleBits, who just announced the launch of the “app store” for hardware store bitLab, will show off a number of their latest electronic building blocks — perfect for young Makers and those looking to hop onboard the DIY train.

AVR Man, the Maker community’s favorite superhero will be in attendance for the first time EVER!

Look who’s talking! Don’t miss Saturday’s Curiosity, Imagination and Motivation: The Natural Inclinations of Young Makers panel discussion on the MAKE: Live Stage at 5:30pm. Atmel’s Bob Martin and Daniel Ujvari will explore the how the STEM initiative and Maker Movement are influencing young Makers and helping to create tomorrow’s industry innovators. The panel will feature Arduino’s Massimo Banzi, Qtechknow’s Quin Etnyre, and littleBits’ Ayah Bdeir.

… and wait, there’s more! We’ll be giving away a number of Atmel Xplained Mini Pro Evaluation Kits all weekend.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Tweet a pic of you and @TheAVRMan using the hashtag #AtmelMakes.
Step 2: Once your tweet is favorited by AVR Man, come on by the Atmel booth.
Step 3: Submit your contact information and away you go with a free kit. (While supplies last.)

Aside from kits, you can walk away with an Atmel Maker Bag, flair, stickers or even a pair of Atmel Maker Converse (which are amazing… and available for purchase).

World Maker Faire will kick off at the New York Hall of Science on Saturday, September 20th, from 10am to 7pm and Sunday, September 21st, from 10am to 6pm. Can’t make it to the Faire? You can always follow @Atmel live on Twitter for the latest updates, trends and happenings from the show. Tweet #AtmelMakes!

A braille printer, a retro robot, a marshmallow canon, or perhaps even a prototype of the next big IoT device? If you’re feeling inspired this weekend go and make something, don’t forget to submit your 8-bit idea for a chance to win $1,500 in cash, social stardom and of course, some Atmel swag.

In anticipation of this weekend, here’s a look back at last year’s Faire. We can’t wait to see what unfolds this year!