Getting started with Adafruit’s Atmel-powered FLORA

Adafruit’s Becky Stern and Tyler Cooper have penned a new book about the company’s popular Atmel-powered FLORA platform.

Titled “Make: Getting Started with Adafruit FLORA,” the upcoming book details various wearable electronics projects that can be designed and built using the device.

Indeed, FLORA weighs in at 4.4 grams and measures only 1.75 inches in diameter. Featuring Arduino compatibility, the platform is one of the most beginner-friendly way to create wearable projects.

“This book shows you how to plan your wearable circuits, sew with electronics and write programs that run on the FLORA to control the electronics,” Stern explained in a recent blog post.

“The FLORA family includes an assortment of sensors, as well as RGB LEDs that let you add lighting to your wearable projects.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Adafruit’s wearable electronics platform is built around Atmel’s versatile Atmega32u4 microcontroller (MCU).

The microcontroller boasts built-in USB support, eliminating the need for pesky special cables and extra parts.

According to Adafruit’s Limor Fried, FLORA is extremely “beginner-friendly.” Indeed, the device is difficult to accidentally destroy by connecting a battery backwards, thanks to a polarized connector and protection diodes.

Meanwhile, an onboard regulator ensures even connecting a 9V battery won’t result in damage.

Interested in learning more about Adafruit’s Atmel-powered FLORA? You can check out the platform’s official page on Adafruit here and sign up for book updates here.

A NeoGeo watch for cyberpunks and steampunks

Earlier this month, the AdaFruit crew designed a pair of Atmel-powered goggles dubbed “Kaleidoscope Eyes” and a chic Flora GPS Jacket for cyberpunks, steampunks and yes, even Daft Punks.  Today we’re going to be taking a closer look at an Atmel-powered NeoGeo watch that can be tastefully paired with Adafruit’s futuristic goggles and Flora GPS Jacket for a full cyberpunk/steampunk fashion ensemble.

Designed by Adafruit’s Becky Stern and Tyler Cooper, the NeoGeo watch is based on the wearable Flora platform (ATmega32u4 MCU) and an accompanying GPS module.

“[You can] make your own LED timepiece [that] tells time with a ring of pixels. A leather cuff holds the circuit and hides the battery. [Yes], the watch is chunky, but still looks and feels great on tiny wrists,” Stern wrote in a detailed Adafruit tutorial.

“The circuit sandwich becomes the face of the watch, and you’ll use a tactile switch to make a mode selector. The watch has timekeeping (one LED for hours and one for minutes), GPS navigation (customize your waypoint in the provided Arduino sketch) and compass modes.”

According to Stern, the NeoGeo watch is an intermediate-level project requiring soldering and precision crafting. Key components and equipment include:

• FLORA main board
• NeoPixel ring
• FLORA Wearable Ultimate GPS Module
• FLORA Accelerometer/Compass Sensor – LSM303
• Tactile switch
• Tiny lipoly battery with charger
• Leather watch cuff (Adafruit’s is from Labyrinth Leather)
• Small scrap of fabric
• E6000 craft adhesive
• Binder clips
• Thin-gauge stranded wire
• Double-stick foam tape
• Black gaffer tape
• Multimeter
• Soldering iron (Rosin Core solder), scissors, wire strippers, pliers, tweezers and flush snips

In terms of assembling the circuit, Makers are instructed to kick off the project by soldering small stranded wires to their electronics components, about two inches long each.

“Strip the wire ends, twirl the stranded core to make it more easily pass through the circuit boards’ holes, and solder to the NeoPixel ring’s IN, Vcc, and Gnd pads,” Stern explained.

“It’s best to solder on the back side of this particular board, since the pads are quite close to the leads of the NeoPixels on the front of the board, where a large dab of solder could bridge the two.”

Interested in learning more? Be sure to check out Becky Stern’s detailed NeoPixel tutorial posted on Adafruit here.