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.

 

Atmel powers Mirobot WiFi robotics kit

Mirobot – created by Ben Pirt – is an Atmel-powered (ATmega328 MCU) DIY WiFi robotic kit designed to help children learn about technology and programming.

“It’s fun to build and easy to start programming it to draw shapes. The chassis is laser cut and snaps together quite easily. Mirobot is robust, but also quite simple. Kids can understand how it works and what it does,” Pirt explained in a recent Kickstarter post.

“There’s no slick plastic casing because I think children are more interested in things when they can see what’s going on inside. With Mirobot, the mechanisms are all easily visible – it’s designed to remove the mystery and help understanding.”

Aside from the ATmega328 MCU, key tech specs include:

• WiFi module that also acts as an access point
• Battery powered with AA batteries
• Two stepper motors for control
• Self-hosted javascript application to control Mirobot from a web page (no software to install)
• Open WebSocket or raw socket JSON-based command protocol
• Easily reprogrammable
• All unused pins brought out to an easily accessible header
• Uses the standard external USB programming connector

Mirobot can be programmed in a number of different ways, including a web-based GUI which is similar to LOGO, albeit with drag and drop.

“Mirobot is a completely open robotics platform – all of the code and designs are open-source so you can modify them to make it do exactly what you want. One of the big benefits of this is that as people make it do new and interesting things, they can be shared with the community to everyone’s benefit,” Pirt added.

“If you want to experiment with the Arduino then you can easily reprogram Mirobot with your own custom code. Want to add some sensors and make it sentient? There’s an expansion port designed for just that.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out Mirobot’s Kickstarter page here and the project’s official page here.

 

Project ARETHA taps solar energy

ARETHA (Air Exchange Thermal Assembly) is a sustainable, Arduino-based platform designed to produce hot water from the sun. Manufactured out of low-cost materials, ARETHA is a relatively easy project to assemble.

“Traditional photovoltaic or thermal solar panels are too expensive for most people in developing countries, especially in small and isolated villages, because of import and production high costs,” an ARETHA rep explained in a recent Indiegogo post.

“On the contrary, ARETHA panel can be made from local material: wood, wool, car radiators, transparent plastic panels or glass.”

ARETHA is controlled by an Atmel-based Arduino board, activating the system pump and fan when the temperature difference between air and water rises over a defined threshold.

More specifically, the board measures temperatures across various parts of the platform by means of various digital sensor chips. Meanwhile, a DataLogger Shield paired with an SD card saves relevant system information, which is then relayed by an Ethernet shield over the Internet for remote monitoring purposes.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Project ARETHA’s official Indiegogo page here.

How Makers are conquering the classroom

Writing for The Journal, Greg Thompson notes that many educators are channeling a natural urge to build with help from Makers – a burgeoning movement that has prompted the establishment of annual Maker Faires and the creation of Maker spaces in classrooms across the country.

According to Pam Moran, superintendent of the Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia, American classrooms of yore regularly fueled a DIY Maker spirit of creativity. “I see the Maker Movement as being a reconnect, both inside schools, as well as in communities, to redevelop the idea that we are creative individuals,” said Moran.

“We are analytical problem-solvers, and we are people who, in working with our hands and minds, are able to create and construct. We are Makers by nature.”

As an example, Moran highlighted a recent 3D printing project, with a student designing a new and interesting case for her iPhone, which the school’s principal promptly posted on Twitter.

“When kids and teachers are given an opportunity to make, to create, all of a sudden you see people becoming passionate about who they are as learners.”

Glen Bull, a professor of STEM Education at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, expressed similar sentiments. “[The current Maker Movement] is buttressed by accessible technology, both in terms of cost and ease of use,” he explained.

“You can go all the way back to the 1950s and find that they had numerically controlled milling machines, but they were expensive. Now you can get reasonably priced 3D printers and computers.”

Meanwhile, Gary Stager, co-author (with Sylvia Martinez) of Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering and Engineering in the Classroom, emphasized that Maker projects don’t necessarily demand that schools buy expensive machines.

“We see teachers and students working with traditional materials combined with new materials — even cardboard construction. There are new conductive materials, conductive tapes where you can paint a picture that actually does something, such as lighting up,” he noted.

“These materials draw people in in ways they don’t expect. One person might be interested in building a robot, but another might be interested in building a glove with a sensor on it.”

According to Thompson, Charlottesville City Schools, also in Virginia, has invested in creating spaces and purchasing equipment such as 3D printers that support Maker activities for middle- and high-school students.

“We renovated our science lab at the middle school, and we are renovating an atrium space. In our high school, we took a portion of the media center,” Gertrude Ivory, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the nine-school district, told The Journal.

“We’ve taken about one third of the library space, carved that out, and added two levels with the classroom — plus spaces for collaboration between students and teachers… We have other projects where students publish or print their artwork and sell postcards. We have something for students with disabilities that exemplifies the Maker concept. They make pastries and sell them throughout the school.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the full text of Greg Thompson’s “The Maker Movement Conquers the Classroom” here on The Journal.

Going retro with Zorkduino

Zork is considered one of the earliest interactive fiction computer titles, with roots drawn from the original genre game, Colossal Cave Adventure.

According to Wikipedia, the first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 using the MDL programming language on a DEC PDP-10 computer. The authors – Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling – were all members of MIT’s Dynamic Modeling Group.

Recently, an experienced modder by the name of Rossum decided to rekindle fond memories of long nights playing Zork on his Atari 800 by building the aptly named Zorkduino.

The Atmel-based, Arduino-powered platform generates both audio and video. As expected, Zorkduino is built to be hooked up to a TV and keyboard. 

Key components include:

• Atmel-based Arduino Uno, Pro, or Pro Mini.
• SD card or micro SD card + breakout board (from Adafruit, eBay etc).
• RCA A/V Cable (eBay).
• 470ohm, 1k and 100k resistors.
• Breadboard, wires, etc.
• WebTV or MsnTV IR Keyboard or PS2.
• IR receiver TSOP38238,TSOP4838 or equivalent.

So, how does the retro gaming platform work? Well, as HackADay’s Brian Benchoff reports, Rossum capitalizes on the onboard hardware of the Arduino.

“Video is generated by using SPI mode on a UART at top speed – 8 MHz. This just shifts out pixels from the video buffer on an SD card,” writes Benchoff.

“The keyboard is handled like any other PS/2 keyboard project on the Arduino, [while] audio is generated by toggling a pin at 1000Hz for a keypress and 3600Hz for SD card access.”

As a bonus, Rossum includes an number of additional games on the SD card, including Leather Goddesses of Phobos, along with the ability to run Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Interested in learning more about the Zorkduino? You can check out Rossum’s original blog post on the subject here and the project’s official HackADay page here.

Atmel looks back at Q1 2014 wins and launches

Yesterday, Atmel execs detailed the company’s Q1 2014 highlights. Key launches, collaborative projects and product wins spanned multiple markets, including:

Winning with maXTouch (smartphones) – LG’s G Pro 2, G2 Mini and L Series 3 L90; Verizon’s Lucid 3, Xiaomi’s RedRice 5.5″, Gionee’s Elife S5.5 and ZTE’s Grand S Lite.

Winning with maXTouch (Android and Windows 8 tablets) – Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 4 10.1,” Galaxy Tab 12.2,” Galaxy Note 12.2″ and HP’s EliteBook 1000 G2.

Collaborating with Corning – Developing ultra-thin, next-generation capacitive touchscreens using Gorilla Glass and XSense.

Working with Mentor Graphics – Accelerating development of next-gen IoT devices using Atmel’s ARM-based Cortex M3 and M4 based microcontrollers under the auspices of the Embedded Nucleus Innovate Program.

Launching maXTouch 1066T and 1068T – Extending product leadership in the large screen capacitive touch market with devices targeted at 7″ – 8.9″ high performance tablets.

Introducing the new automotive maXTouch S lineup – Targeting touchscreens up to 14″ in center consoles, navigation systems, radio interfaces and rear-seat entertainment systems.

Debuting the SmartConnect platform – Integrating Atmel’s ultra-low power microcontrollers (MCUs) and wireless connectivity solutions into turnkey solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Introducing new low-power ARM Cortex M0+ microcontrollers (SAM D21, D10 and D11) – Offering Atmel’s peripheral event system, support for capacitive touch button, slider and wheel user interfaces, multiple serial communications modules, along with a full-speed USB interface, as well as additional pin and memory combinations.

Unveiling new $79 SAMA5D3 Xplained evaluation kit – Providing a low-cost, fast prototyping and evaluation platform for microprocessor-based design built around Atmel’s SAMA5D3 ARM Cortex-A5 processor-based MPU.

Xplaining 8-bit development– Offering a development board for Makers and engineers based on Atmel’s 8-bit AVR technology.

Launching the ATPL230A – Introducing a Power Line Communications (PLC) modem designed to implement the physical layer of the PRIME standard (Power Line Intelligent Metrology Evolution).

Rolling out Atmel Studio 6.2 – Upgrading the popular integrated development environment for Atmel AVR and ARM based microcontrollers.

Ramping up with LIN – Extending Atmel’s automotive in-vehicle networking leadership position with the launch of next-generation, low-power local interconnect networking (LIN) systems.

EE Times features Atmel’s next-gen touch controllers

Writing for the EE Times, Max Maxfield notes that Atmel is a major player in the touchscreen tech arena, especially in the large format screen space. Indeed, Atmel boasts a wide range of ultra-low-power single-chip touchscreen controllers for screens ranging from 1.5 to 15.6 inches. Earlier this week, the company expanded its popular maXTouch T lineup of touchscreen controllers with the mXT106xT2 family of devices.

“These devices include the high-end touchscreen features associated with state-of-the-art smartphone-sized products, but they target the larger format market with products whose screens are in the 7- to 8.9-inch range,” Maxfield explains.

“The mXT1066T2 and mXT1068T2 controllers support both mutual-capacitance and self-capacitance sensing. By intelligently switching back and forth between the two and using a hybrid approach, designers can achieve optimal power consumption and noise immunity, even in high humidity and moisture environments, while supporting bare finger and gloved operation.”

As Maxfield points out, mXT1068T2 controllers also supports hover operation in which the user’s finger can be up to 20mm above the touch surface. Indeed, hover adds another dimension to the user-touchscreen interface by allowing the touchscreen to detect, track and interact with a floating finger without physical contact.

“Currently, only single-finger hover is supported, but one can easily imagine how useful this would be if using a tablet to read a recipe when one’s hands are covered in food. In the future, multi-fingered hover control might allow the user to ‘grab’ objects and rotate them,” says Maxfield.

“Hover is one element in an increasingly sophisticated realm of human-machine interfaces (HMIs) that also include gesture recognition. In the not-so-distant future, people will interact with electronic systems using a mixture of voice control, gesture recognition and touchscreens, including hover technology.”

Last, but certainly not least, Maxfield notes that the mXT106xT2 lineup features a peripheral touch controller (PTC) capability that enables capacitive sensing of up to 12 channels via a dedicated hardware block in the mXT chip.

The new devices in the maXTouch T Series are currently in production, with the 8.3” screen size evaluation kit slated to ship in May.

Interested in learning more about Atmel’s popular maXTouch T lineup of touchscreen controllers? You can check out the product’s official page here.

Atmel’s ATPL230A PLC modem targets smart energy apps

Atmel has introduced the ATPL230A, a Power Line Communications (PLC) modem designed to implement the physical layer of the PRIME standard (Power Line Intelligent Metrology Evolution).

According to Atmel exec Kourosh Boutorabi, the ATPL230A offers OEMs a seamless and cost-efficient solution for smart metering platforms.

“Expanding on Atmel’s unique and highly flexible SAM4Cx platform, ATPL230A addresses the fifth pillar of [our] existing platform, the physical communication layer,” Boutorabi explained.

“Atmel’s ATPL230A can be paired with dual 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 RISC processors to deploy an unprecedented level of integration and accuracy for single and multi-chip architecture options for system integrators and OEMs.”

The ATPL230A also boasts a class D line driver for PLC signal amplification, providing optimized signal injection efficiency by up to 62 percent. Combined with low power sipping, this feature enables improved thermal behavior, extends long-term reliability and reduces overall power consumption. Meanwhile, new transmission modes and frequency band extensions facilitate robust power line communications.

To help accelerate the design process for engineers, Atmel is currently offering the ATPL230A evaluation kit which can be used to test the ATPL230A’s smart metering capabilities with embedded PLC.

Interested in learning more about Atmel’s Smart Energy Platform? You can check out our recent deep dive on the subject here.

Building the IoT with Mentor Graphics and Atmel

Atmel has joined Mentor’s Embedded Nucleus Innovate Program, an embedded initiative that helps promote development of the rapidly evolving Internet of Thing (IoT).

Specifically, the Mentor Graphics Corporation is offering businesses earning under $1M (in annual revenue) a free license for the Embedded Nucleus RTOS and Sourcery CodeBench toolset. Both software packages run on Atmel’s ARM-based SAM3x and SAM4x microcontrollers (MCU).

Mentor Graphics’ collaboration with Atmel is expected to accelerate the development of medical, industrial, smart energy and consumer applications – helping to power the next generation of devices for the IoT.

“We see tremendous value in the Nucleus Innovate Program with our high-performance MCUs which provide optimized connectivity for IoT development,” explained Atmel VP Steve Pancoast. 
”Mentor’s Nucleus RTOS and Sourcery CodeBench tools supporting our advanced devices will help small businesses realize the potential of their innovative ideas.”

According to Pancoast, a board support package (BSP) will be available for Atmel’s SAM3X ARM Cortex M3 MCUs and SAM4X Cortex-M4 MCUs in the context of Mentor’s initiative. Indeed, Atmel’s device families, combined with the Mentor Embedded RTOS and tools, are ideal for applications that require high-performance connectivity, power efficiency and high memory densities. To be sure, the program offers devs a complete embedded environment for Atmel-based system designs.

“Our Nucleus Innovate Program with Atmel will give small businesses a competitive edge in developing leading-edge products, including applications for IoT,” said Scot Morrison, general manager of runtime solutions, Mentor Graphics Embedded Software division. “We want to be at the forefront of helping these businesses realize their design ideas without having to worry about the capital required to use best-in-class MCUs, RTOS and embedded software development tools.”

According to Morrison, the Nucleus Innovate Program is ideal for applications where small footprint, high-performance and low power are critical.

“Easy-to-use demonstrations and configurations help shorten development time for medical, industrial, automotive and consumer applications—from days to minutes. The Nucleus Innovate Program for Atmel MCUs is a one-year license agreement and includes one BSP,” he added.

Interested in learning more about Mentor Graphics? You can check out the company’s official embedded software page here.

Retro gaming DuinoCube goes live on Kickstarter

Developed by Simon Que, DuinoCube is described as a portable platform that allows Makers and gamers to develop their own retro titles using the popular open-source Arduino environment.

Essentially, DuinoCube comprises two shields: GFX (audio and graphics) and the Atmel-based UI (file system, extra memory, on-board controller chip). Currently, DuinoCube is compatible with the Arduino Uno, Mega and Esplora.

“When you combine a GFX shield and UI shield with an Arduino board, you get a DuinoCube. The UI Shield goes on top of the Arduino and the GFX Shield goes on top of the UI Shield,” Que explained in a recent Kickstarter post.

“With DuinoCube, your Arduino becomes a retro gaming system with the capabilities of classic game systems like the SNES and Gameboy Advance. DuinoCube is highly portable so you can show your friends the games you’ve made.”

Key platform technical specs include:

• 

320×240 VGA graphics (higher resolutions expected soon).
• 256 independent objects (sprites).
• 4 independent tiled layers.
• 18-bit color in four palettes, each with 256 colors.
• Hardware scrolling.
• Hardware collision detection.
• Stereo audio output.
• MicroSD card file system.
• USB gamepad support.

Powered by Atmel’s ATmega328P microcontroller, the UI shield for the Uno/Mega is equipped with an SD card, extra RAM, USB host and controller chip.

Similarly, the UI shield for the Esplora features Atmel’s ATmega328P, SD card, extra RAM, controller chip and Uno-style headers.

“The UI Shields can [also] be used as a generic file system, or as a USB host controller for the Arduino Uno/Mega version,” Que confirmed. “[Plus], the GFX Shield can be used as a generic FPGA shield [by] reprogramming the FPGA with an Altera USB Blaster cable.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out DuinoCube’s official Kickstarter page here.