HackADay features Atmel-powered Phoenard

Back in February, Pamungkas Sumasta’s Phoenard won Atmel’s AVR Hero design challenge.

According to Sumasta, Atmel’s 8-bit AVR MCUs provide “the best small footprint controllers available in the market – especially when they are coupled with Arduino support.”

Recently, the Phoenard was featured on HackADay, along with a short video interview shot at Atmel’s Maker Faire Bay Area (2014) booth.

“We really like the form-factor but its hackability is where it really shines. Sumasta showed off the menu system which is quite snappy and makes it simple for you to add your own applications,” writes HackADay’s Mike Szczys.

“Software isn’t the only thing you can customize, as there’s a connector at the bottom of the phone. Sumasta showed off a breadboard attachment which was hosting LEDs of various colors. Their intensity can be altered using a simple slider app on the touchscreen.”

Atmel kicks off Simply AVR Design Contest (stage 2)

Back in September 2013, Atmel launched the first stage of its AVR Hero Maker Faire Contest, which challenged Makers, designers and engineers to develop new AVR-powered devices and platforms with commercial potential. 

Winners for the first stage of the contest included Sumit Grover and Rahul Kar (two runner up prizes) from India and Juan Luis Gonzalez from Mexico.

The grand prize winner? Pamungkas Sumasta from Indonesia, who designed a slick Inertial Mobile Phone Unit.

Earlier this week, Atmel launched stage two of its Simply AVR Design Contest. Targeted at engineers, Makers and DIY hobbyists, the contest invites participants to create ground-breaking microcontroller-based designs using Atmel’s wildly popular AVR MCU lineup.

The Simply AVR winner (first prize) will receive $1,500 in cash as well as coverage on Atmel’s social media channels: Twitter, Facebook and Bits & Pieces. Each of the four runner ups will claim a $500 cash prize, along with coverage on Atmel’s various social media channels.

Interested in submitting your design or voting for others? Click here to sign up and vote.

And the AVR Hero Design Contest winners are…

Back in September 2013, Atmel kicked off its global AVR Hero design contest for Makers, with 
participants submitting videos of creative designs based on AVR microcontrollers (MCUs). 
Five winners were ultimately chosen by the public on Facebook and in China between September 17, 2013 and January 31, 2014.

Winners for this year’s contest included Sumit Grover and Rahul Kar (two runner up prizes) from India and Juan Luis Gonzalez from Mexico. The grand prize winner? Pamungkas Sumasta from Indonesia, who designed an Inertial Mobile Phone Unit based on AVR-Arduino.

When told he had been chosen as the grand prize winner of Atmel’s AVR contest, Sumasta was delighted.

“I am extremely excited to have won the grand prize for this design contest,” Sumasta exclaimed. 

”Atmel’s 8-bit AVR MCUs provide the best small footprint controllers available in the market, especially when they are coupled with Arduino support. Atmel AVRs continue to be my MCU of choice.”

“Congratulations to our five winners for providing thought-invoking, popular AVR-based designs,” said Sander Arts, Vice President of Marketing, Atmel Corporation.

“These innovative designs demonstrate the simplicity of Atmel’s AVR MCUs, which go beyond the core to help differentiate individual projects. Our AVRs continue to spark the imagination for professional engineers, makers and students in consumer and industrial applications because of its specialized peripherals, real-time performance, high integration and low power.”

Interested in learning more about the AVR Hero Design Contest Winners? You can check out Sumit Grover’s project here, Rahul Kar’s projects here and here and Juan Luis Gonzalez’s here.