Rewind: 50 boards you’ll want to know about from 2015

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Here’s a look at a bunch of boards that caught our attention over the last 12 months. Feel free to share your favorites below! 

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“Hardware becomes a piece of culture that anyone can build upon, like a poem or a song.” – Massimo Banzi

Arduino Zero

A 32-bit Arduino powered by the Atmel | SMART SAM D21.

Arduino Wi-Fi Shield 101

An IoT shield with CryptoAuthentication that enables you to wirelessly connect your Arduino or Genuino with ease.

Arduino MKR1000

A powerful board that combines the functionality of the Zero and the connectivity of the Wi-Fi Shield.

Atmel | SMART SAM L21

A game-changing family of Cortex-M0+ MCUs that deliver power consumption down to 35 µA/MHz in active mode and 200nA in sleep mode.

BTLC1000

An ultra-low power Bluetooth Smart SoC with an integrated ARM Cortex-M0 MCU and transceiver.

Atmel | SMART SAMA5D2

An ARM Cortex-A5-based MPU that offers great features integrated into lower pin count packages, making it ideal for applications where security, power consumption and space constraints are key considerations.

Atmel | SMART SAM S70/E70

An ARM Cortex-M7-based MCU with a floating point unit (FPU) that’s ideal for connectivity and general purpose industrial applications.

ATmegaS128

A space-ready version of the popular ATmega128.

Adafruit Feather

A new line of development boards that, like it’s namesake, are thin, light and let your ideas fly. Expect Feather to become a new standard for portable MCU cores.

Adafruit METRO 328

An ATmega328-driven processor packed with plenty of GPIO, analog inputs, UART, SPI and I2C, timers, and PWM galore – just enough for most simple projects.

Arduino GEMMA

A miniature wearable board based on the ATtiny85.

Adafruit Bluefruit LE Micro

A board that rolls the versatility of the ATmega32U4 and the wireless connectivity of the SPI Bluefruit LE Friend all into one.

SparkFun Stepoko

An Arduino-compatible, 3-axis control solution that runs grbl software.

SparkFun SAM D21 Breakout

An Arduino-sized breakout for the ATSAMD21G18.

Bosch Sensortec BMF055

A compact 9-axis motion sensor, which incorporates an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer along with an Atmel | SMART SAM D20 ARM Cortex M0+ core.

BNO055 Xplained Pro

A new extension board, which features a BNO055 intelligent 9-axis absolute orientation sensor, that connects directly to Atmel’s Xplained board making it ideal for prototyping projects for IoT apps.

SmartEverything

A prototyping platform that combines SIGFOX, BLE, NFC, GPS and a suite of sensors. Essentially, it’s the Swiss Army knife for the IoT.

Qduino Mini

A tiny, Arduino-compatible board with a built-in battery connector and charger built-in, as well as a fuel gauge.

Tessel 2

A dev board with a SAM D21 coprocessor, reliable Wi-Fi, an Ethernet jack, two USB ports and a system that runs real Node.js/io.js.

LattePanda

A Windows 10 single-board computer equipped with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Cherry Trail processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and an ATmega32U4 coprocessor.

LightBlue Bean+

An Arduino-compatible board that is programmed wirelessly using Bluetooth Low Energy.

Makey Makey GO

A thumbdrive-shaped device that can transform ordinary objects into touch pads.

Hak8or

An uber mini, DIY board based on an Atmel | SMART AT91SAM9N12 that runs Linux via a USB drive.

Modulo

A set of tiny modular circuit boards that takes the hassle out of building electronics.

Microduino mCookie

A collection of small, magnetically stackable modules that can bring your LEGO projects to life.

The AirBoard

A compact, open source, wireless and power efficient dev board designed to learn, sketch and deploy prototypes out in the field.

Autonomo

A matchbox-sized, Arduino-compatible MCU powered by a small solar panel.

Helium

An integrated platform that brings the power of the cloud to the edge of the network, enabling you to observe, learn and capture actionable insights from existing physical ‘things’ in your environment.

Sense HAT

An add-on for the Raspberry Pi equipped with a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a temperature sensor, a barometric pressure sensor and a humidity sensor, as well as a five-button joystick and an 8×8 RGB LED matrix — all powered by an LED driver chip and an ATtiny88 running custom firmware.

Ardhat

A HAT with an Arduino-compatible processor that responds quickly to real-time events, while letting the Raspberry Pi do all of the heavy lifting.

Wino

A cost-effective, Arduino-compatible board with built-in Wi-Fi.

pico-Platinchen

A little board designed for wearable devices that features a BNO055, an ATmega328P and a CR2032 coin-cell battery.

 XeThru X2M200 and X2M300

A pair of adaptive smart sensor modules that can monitor human presence, respiration and other vital information.

LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo

An Arduino Yún-friendly platform powered by an ATmega32U4 and MediaTek MT7688 SoC.

Piccolino

A small, inexpensive controller with an embedded OLED display and Wi-Fi connectivity that you can program using existing tools like the Arduino IDE.

ZeroPi

A next-generation, Arduino and Raspberry Pi-compatible dev kit for robotic motion structure systems and 3D printers that boasts an Atmel | SMART SAM D21 at its core.

CryptoShield

A dedicated security peripheral for the Arduino and was made in collaboration with SparkFun’s previous hacker-in-residence, Josh Datko. This shield adds specialized ICs that perform various cryptographic operations which will allow you to add a hardware security layer to your Arduino project.

ZYMKEY

An add-on board that makes it easy to secure your Raspberry Pi and Linux applications.

Flip & Click

A two-sided, Arduino-like board with an AT91SAM3X8E for its heart.

ChipWhisperer-Lite

An open source toolchain for embedded hardware security research including side-channel power analysis and glitching. The board uses a Spartan 6 LX9, along with a 105 MS/s ADC, low-noise amplifier, an Atmel | SMART SAM3U chip for high-speed USB communication, MOSFETs for glitch generation and an XMEGA128 as a target device.

KeyDuino

An Arduino Leonardo-like board with built-in NFC that lets you replace your keys with any smartphone, NFC ring or proximity card.

Neutrino

An inexpensive, open source and shrunken-down version of the Arduino Zero that boasts a 32-bit ATSAMD21G18 running at 48MHz and packing 32K of RAM.

WIOT

An open source, Arduino-compatible board with an ATmega32U4, ESP8266 Wi-Fi module and lithium-ion battery support.

Obscura

An ATmega32U4-powered, 8-bit synthesizer that enables you to create NES, C64 and Amiga-style chiptune music by simply connecting a MIDI device.

Zodiac FX

An OpenFlow switch that is powerful enough to develop world-changing SDN apps yet small enough to sit on your desk. Based on an Atmel | SMART SAM4E, the unit includes four 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports with integrated magnetics and indicator LEDs along with a command line interface accessible via USB virtual serial port.

Goldilocks Analogue

A board that brings sophisticated analog and audio input, output and storage capabilities to the Arduino environment.

NodeIT

A super small and expandable IoT system for Makers.

Pixel

A smart display that features an Atmel | SMART SAM D21 MCU operating at 48MHz and packing 32K of RAM, along with a 1.5” 128×128 pixel OLED screen and a microSD slot.

SDuino

An Arduino crammed inside an SD card.

… and how could we not mention this?

The WTFDuino!

Do you feel like today’s MCUs are too simple and sensible? Well, one Maker decided to take a different approach by “undesigning” the Arduino into a banana-shaped processor whose form factor is impossible to breadboard and whose pins are incorrectly labelled.

 

30 smart crowdfunding campaigns you may want to back this week

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Every Friday, we’re taking a look at some of the smartest, most innovative projects that caught our attention on Kickstarter and Indiegogo over the last seven days. 

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Trident

This underwater drone can swim and maneuver its way through the water in dolphin-like fashion. OpenROV has already well surpassed its goal of $50,000 on Kickstarter.

Dobot

This affordable, Arduino-powered robotic arm can be controlled in seven different ways with industrial-grade precision. Dobot has already well surpassed its $36,000 goal on Kickstarter.

Angee

This all-in-one, autonomous security system provides you with a 360° view of your home — along with voice recognition, at-the-door identification, motion-detecting rotation, advanced learning and cordless portability. Angee is currently seeking $250,000 on Kickstarter.

KNK Force

This computerized plotter boasts two cutting heads and a true Z-axis. KLIC-N-KUT is currently seeking $50,000 on Kickstarter.

Ivee

This voice-activated assistant, similar to the Amazon Echo, will turn any home into a smart home. Ivee is currently seeking $50,000 on Indiegogo.

ZymKey

This tiny piece of hardware delivers trusted data services between open Linux devices, like the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone. Zymbit is currently seeking $15,000 on Kickstarter.

Thinking Cleaner

This Wi-Fi module can be added onto your iRobot Roomba 700/800 to make it smarter and more aware. Thinking Cleaner is currently seeking $95,931 on Kickstarter.

FLUID

This gadget clamps onto your pipes to help you conserve water, save money and detect leaks by monitoring usage in real-time. FLUID is currently seeking $95,000 on Kickstarter.

CUJO

This unit will protect all smart home devices from the most sophisticated virtual intrusions, such as malware and phishing attempts. CUJO has already surpassed its goal of $30,000 on Indiegogo.

The RealThing

This full tube, completely analog, modelling guitar amplifier can be controlled from your smartphone, tablet and MIDI board. Klonz Labs is currently seeking $79,002 on Kickstarter.

The Barman II

This Bluetooth cocktail-mixing platform enables you to make drinks with just the touch of a screen. EBC Services is currently seeking $34,400 on Kickstarter.

InvizBox Go

This portable Wi-Fi privacy device can connect to public Wi-Fi and act as a Tor or VPN gateway. InvizBox is currently seeking $113,377 on Kickstarter.

Sondors Electric Bike

This inexpensive, versatile electric bike boasts a powerful 350W motor, all-terrain tires and can reach speeds of up to 20mph. Storm Sondors has already well surpassed its goal of $75,000 on Kickstarter.

Chameleon Electric Bicycle

This customizable, e-bike scooter sports some Tron-esque LED lights, a smart solar case, a Bluetooth controller and an 84V battery pack. Aldo Baiocchi is currently seeking $50,000 on Indiegogo.

ANDBOT

This humanoid, who wants to become less of a robot but more of a companion, is capable of handling daily activities and protecting your household. Advanced Robotics is currently seeking $150,000 on Indiegogo.

Soundbot II

This lightweight, compact Bluetooth speaker can recharge wirelessly. Soundbot is currently seeking $20,000 on Kickstarter.

PupPod

This intelligent learning system for dogs allows them to solve problems and earn treats. PupPod is currently seeking $25,000 on Kickstarter.

WhittleCNC

This low-cost, high-quality CNC machine will help bring your ideas to life right from your desk or in the field. Zachary Adams is currently seeking $10,000 on Kickstarter.

Nibble

This pocket-sized development platform is equipped with Wi-Fi, an OLED display, microSD, an IR transmitter, a two-channel piezo speaker and a LiPo battery. Simone Picchioni is currently seeking $31,760 on Kickstarter.

Kaia

This sensor automatically analyzes the air in your home and provides you with real-time and historical analytics to help improve your indoor environment. MakeFutureStuff is currently seeking $150,000 on Kickstarter.

B.R.O. Ball

This Bluetooth, waterproof speaker is designed to function as an audible gadget that plays music and a football that you can toss around. Invincible Audio is currently seeking $75,000 on Kickstarter.

STELLIGHT

These bike lights offer customizable, app-enabled blink patterns to best suit your mood or purpose. Grabo is currently seeking $60,000 on Kickstarter.

SMRT Mouth

This smart mouth guard provides real-time biometric monitoring to athletes of all ages. SMRT Mouth is currently seeking $50,000 on Indiegogo.

MONO

This sleek 3D printer includes a seven-inch touchscreen with a user-friendly interface for Makers. Mono Industries is currently seeking $13,611 on Kickstarter.

Power Clip

This super portable, multi-functional device attaches to your keychain and does everything from charge your phone to find your lost keys to store your extra data. Nicholas Tachmintzis is currently seeking $50,000 on Indiegogo.

Evapolar

This desktop personal air conditioner not only chills, but also humidifies and purifies the air around you. Evapolar is currently seeking $100,000 on Indiegogo.

Turtle Mail

This Wi-Fi-connected, wooden mailbox for kids delivers and prints out messages from family, friends and even fictional characters. AE Dreams is currently seeking $30,000 on Kickstarter.

Yori

This telepresence robot allows you to interact with its surroundings, rather than just passively participate, using its extendable limbs. Yori is currently seeking $58,000 on Indiegogo.

CORE: Roam

This wearable, lightweight speaker is equipped with Bluetooth, a built-in microphone and LEDs for nighttime activity. Zachary is currently seeking $11,500 on Kickstarter.

Talon

This smart ring lets you play games and control apps using simple gestures. Titanium Falcon is currently seeking $300,000 on Indiegogo.

Did you happen to miss last week’s notable campaigns? If so, you can check them out here. Also, if your project is powered by Atmel MCUs and you’ve been featured on our blog, be sure to download the respective badges here for use in your ongoing marketing efforts. 

Secure your Raspberry Pi and Linux applications with ZymKey

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ZymKey makes it easy to secure your IoT applications and manage them in the real world.

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More times than not, developers are faced with two bad options: either deliver a substandard product quickly, or reinvent the wheel and miss the market altogether. Luckily, one Santa Barbara-based startup has come up with a solution, not just a band-aid but a true fix to the all too common conundrum. Introducing ZymKey, a tiny, low-cost piece of hardware for authenticating and encrypting data between Internet of Things devices.

The key integrates silicon and software into a simple, ready-to-go package that will automatically work with Raspberry Pi and other Linux gadgets. What’s nice is that the ZymKey integrates seamlessly with Zymbit’s existing IoT platform, which includes Zymbit.Connect software, the Zymbit.City community and the Zymbit.Orange secure IoT motherboard that was on display back at Maker Faire Bay Area. Together, Zymbit enables IoT professional developers and Makers innovate faster with the confidence of data security and integrity.

“The Internet of Things will reach its full potential when real people like you and I begin to connect our devices and share data streams,” explained Zymbit CEO Phil Strong. “Then we can work together to solve real problems that impact our everyday lives. Funding our Kickstarter campaign is not just about building the ZymKey, it’s about enabling an entire community of people to collaborate around secure data streams and ideas.”

Ideally, Zymbit will make it easy to not only collect but to share data in a trusted manner. The platform embraces open technologies and gives people the freedom to innovate quickly without having to compromise security or performance. Aside from that, the so-called Zymbit.City will serve as a forum for those with common interests to collaborate on ideas powered by such verified and authenticated information.

ZymKey works by attaching to IoT Linux platforms like the Raspberry Pi. When combined with Zymbit’s Linux APIs, it offers true authentication and cryptographic services of remote devices, as well as a real-time clock and accelerometer to timestamp security events and detect physical tampering, respectively. For its Kickstarter launch, ZymKey is available in two versions: a header-mounted crypto key for the RPi and a USB stick that plugs into the port of a Linux board, including BeagleBone, UDOO and Dragon.

For the RPi model, the low-profile hardware attaches directly to the Pi’s expansion header while still allowing Pi-Plates to be added on top. Lightweight firmware drivers run on the RPi core interface with software services through Zymbit.Connect. Meanwhile, the USB version adds more functionality and is usable on any Linux unit with a USB host.

“Great security has to be designed end to end. From silicon to software, from point of manufacture through end-of-life. ZymKey brings all this together and makes it easy to manage your applications and devices out in the real world, without compromising security,” the team explains. “ZymKey integrates speciality silicon with firmware drivers on the host device and the corresponding software services in the cloud. The result is a robust and secure communication workflow that meets some of the highest standards in the industry.”

Both ZymKeys are embedded with an ATECC508A CryptoAuthentication IC for bolstered security, while the USB version also features an Atmel | SAM D21 Cortex-M0+ core. Once connected to the Zymbit platform, you will have the unprecedented ability to transparently manage all of your remote devices from a single console — upgrade over the air, configure admin rights, and so much more. Additionally, you will be able to publish, subscribe and visualize secure data. Each ZymKey comes pre-packed with dashboard widget that make it simple to customize and share with others.

So whether you’re connecting one Linux gizmo in your garage to a public forum or have tens of thousands of Raspberry Pis deployed throughout the world, ZymKey seems to be an excellent option for everyone. Interested? Head over to its Kickstarter page, where the Zymbit team is seeking $15,000. Delivery is slated for December 2015.

Enhance Raspberry Pi security with ZymKey

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In this blog, Zymbit’s Scott Miller addresses some of the missing parts in the Raspberry Pi security equation. 

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Raspberry Pi is an awesome platform that offers people access to a full-fledged portable computing and Linux development environment. The board was originally designed for education, but has since been embedded into countless ‘real world’ applications that require remote access and a higher standard of security. One of, if not, the most notable omissions is the lack of a robust hardware-based security solution.

At this point, a number of people would stop here and say, “Scott, you can do security on RPi in software just fine with OpenSSL/SSH and libgcrypt. And especially with the Model 2, there are tons of CPU cycles left over.” Performance is not the primary concern when we think about security; the highest priority is to address the issue of “hackability,” particularly through remote access.

What do you mean by “hackability?”

Hackability is a term that refers to the ease by which an attacker can:

• take over a system;
• insert misleading or false data in a data stream;
• decrypt and view confidential data.

Perhaps the easiest way to accomplish any or all of the aforementioned goals is for the attacker to locate material relating to security keys. In other words, if an attacker can gain access to your secret keys, they can do all of the above.

Which security features are lacking from Raspberry Pi?

Aside from not having hardware-based security engines to do the heavy lifting, there’s no way to secure shared keys for symmetric cryptography or private keys for asymmetric cryptography.

Because all of your code and data live on a single SD card, you are exposed. Meaning, someone can simply remove the SD card, pop it into a PC and have possession of the keys and other sensitive material. This is particularly true when the device is remote and outside of your physical control. Even if you somehow try to obfuscate the keys, you are still not completely safe. Someone with enough motivation could reverse engineer or work around your scheme.

The best solution for protecting crypto keys is to ensure the secret key material can only be read by standalone crypto engines that run independently from the core application CPU. This basic feature is lacking in the Raspberry Pi.

Securing Raspberry Pi with silicon and software

With this in mind, Zymbit has decided to extract some of the core security features from the Zymbit.Orange and combine them into a tiny device that embeds onto the Raspberry Pi, providing seamless integration with Zymbit’s remote device management console. Meet the ZymKey!

ZymKey for secure remote device management

ZymKey brings together silicon, firmware drivers and software services into a coherent package that’s compatible with Zymbit’s secure IoT platform. This enables a Raspberry Pi to be accessed and managed remotely, firmware to be upgraded and access rights to be administered.

Secure software services

Zymbit’s Connect libraries enhance the security and utility of Raspberry Pi in the following ways:

• Add message authentication to egress messages to the Zymbit cloud by attaching a digital signature, which proves that the data originated to a specific Raspberry Pi/Key combination. (Meaning that it was not forged or substituted along the way).
• Assist in providing security certificates to the Zymbit cloud.
• Authenticate security certificates from the Zymbit cloud.
• Optionally help to encrypt/decrypt the content of messages to/from the Zymbit cloud.

Data that is encrypted/authenticated through ZymKey will be stored in this encrypted/authenticated form, thereby preserving the privacy and integrity of the data.

In addition to its standard attributes, developers can access lower level features through secure software services, including general cryptography (SHA-256 MAC and HMAC with secure keys, public key encryption/decryption), password validation, and ‘fingerprint’ services that bind together specific hardware configurations.

Stealth hardware

ZymKey’s low-profile hardware plugs directly into the Pi’s expansion header while still allowing Pi-Plates to be added on top. Lightweight firmware drivers run on the RPi core and interface with software services through zymbit.connect. It should also be noted that a USB device is in the works for other Linux boards.

At the heart of the ZymKey is the newly released ATECC508A CryptoAuthentication IC. Among some of its notable specs are:

• ECC asymmetric encryption engine
• SHA digest engine
• Random number generator
• Unique 72-bit ID
• Tamper prevention
• Secure memory for storing:
  • Sensitive key material – an important thing to point out is that private keys are unreadable by the outside world and, as stated above, are only readable by the crypto engine.
  • X.509 security certificates.
  • Temporary items: nonces, random numbers, ephemeral keys
• Optional encryption of transmitted data across the I2C bus for times when sensitive material must be exchanged between the Raspberry Pi and the ATECC508A

Life without ZymKey

Raspberry Pi can be used with the Zymbit Connect service without the ZymKey; however, the addition of ZymKey ensures that communications with Zymbit services are secured to a higher standard. Private keys are unreadable by the outside world and usable only by the ATECC508A, thus making it difficult (if not practically impossible) to compromise.

Each ZymKey has a unique set of keys. So, if, on the off chance that a key is compromised, only that key is affected. Simply stated, if you have several Raspberry Pi/ZymKey pairs deployed and one is compromised, the others will still be secure.

Once again, it is certainly possible to achieve the above goals purely through software (OpenSSL/libgcrypt/libcrypto). However, especially regarding encryption paths, without ZymKey’s secure storage, key material must be stored on the Raspberry Pi’s SD card, exposing private keys for anyone to exploit.

Stay tuned! The ZymKey will be making its debut on Kickstarter in the coming days.