MicroView: Chip-sized Arduino with built-in OLED Display
kickstarter.com
kickstarter.com
When kids on the team seem reluctant to start programming, I always bust out the smiley face demo: they push a button and the smiley face smiles. It's ridiculously simple, but that's part of the appeal - they see that it's simple and they want to know how to do it themselves. If I were to show them an Arduino blinking out a message in Morse code using an LED, they assume that it's over their head and could care less how it was done, but when I show a simple demo using the Mindstorms display everyone's captivated.
Each Mindstorms brick costs $200-$250, and parts can add hundreds of dollars to this cost. Since the price of the MicroView is 4-5 times smaller, there can be 4-5 times more people captivated by them - not to mention how school districts that have fewer funds can now introduce students to programming as well.
If you're interested in more advanced mindstorms, check out robotC and similar alternatives. They offer a lot more freedom with coding, so for the more advanced kids, it offers actual code, and a variety of very cool functions.
The kids that are interested in coding usually get started when I show them Eloquent Javascript - I suppose its introduction is more simple and captivating than most other books.
• 64x48 monochrome OLED
• In a forward facing case suitable for exposing to users. You'll still need to enclose the back.
• Tiny. Looks to be about 2.54cm square, depending on the size of his fingers. Not Arduino form factor.
• ATmega328P (32k flash, 1K EEPROM, 2k RAM)
• 12 I/O pins, 3 with PWM, 6 can be analog inputs, 5V logic
• Serial pins, no USB (but you can make ghetto if you need to with a couple resistors) There is a USB sled available for programming.
• 3.3V to 16V power input. No external components required.
• 600% funded, 25 days to go. Estimated delivery is August.
> if you think you can communicate enough information with a few LEDs
We actually started with that concept and made an Arduino compatible called the Magpie (basically an Uno with an LED on every IO pin see: http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/magpie-100-arduino... ). Whilst the Magpie was a step forward it wasn't quite good enough, hence building the MicroView.
Never used an Arduino before and like the idea of having a screen to use, so ordered one to play around with.
Good luck with the project!
Edit: Just realised, I'm a long time lurker on KickStarter, but this is my first backing!
>Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited. Hardware and Product Design projects can only offer rewards in single quantities or a sensible set (some items only make sense as a pair or as a kit of several items, for instance). The development of new products can be especially complex for creators and offering multiple quantities feels premature, and can imply that products are shrink-wrapped and ready to ship.
We might be considered a sensible set, or we might not. We're reaching out to Kickstarter now.
Rather than components, they'd be like 'appliances' in a data center.
A teeny-tiny little data center that was itself an appliance. neat!
I'd be interested to see one with an Atmega32U4 so that you didn't need the USB backpack. Having native USB would make things a lot more compact.
Also it looks like it's going to possibly block the second port on the Pi depending on which one you use.
A huge point of the MicroView is that it's finished in a way that allows beginners to just plonk it into a breadboard and get up and running with Arduino. It's a bridge so they can ultimately get to the point where they can go to ebay and stitch parts together.
Re: Atmega32U4
We are aware of the Atmega32U4 but, we really wanted to build an Arduino in a chip form-factor. We'll be taking into consideration the Atmega32U4 for future versions.
A large part of the $45 is FREE Worldwide Shipping.
Pricing is always going to be a delicate balance. On the one side you want things to be simple for beginners - and in this regard Arduino is right up there - but on the other hand it needs to be affordable. To be clear, I think this is a great looking product and I'll probably get one.
One of my hangups with the Arduino ecosystem in general is that you can buy the core for $20 or so, but you're stung when you buy any of the shields to go with it. This has kept me to using plain AVRs or 'minimalist' Arduino boards with just the bootloader. It got to the point where I taught myself PCB design because it was cheaper to make my own breakouts and buy the components from Farnell/Digikey.
Does the 32U4 really limit you that much? It comes in a QFN44 which is ridiculously small - I have a Sparkfun Pro Micro which fits into a breadboard with room to spare (and could be shrunk further if you removed the silkscreen labels). USB would possibly add a bit to the length, but it would fill a niche.
We are speaking of a $5 cost. Ok, let's get a margin and double this figure.
Even counting for Premium Worldwide shipping, I can't reach the listed price.
This is what I think of almost every 'hot new thing' on kickstarter, and they invariably smash through their targets without batting an eyelid, as this one has done (over 6.5x goal with 25 days left). Price aside for a moment, it looks great.
Code can be shared easily. Users can debug others code over the internet. The same cannot be said with hardware, at least to the same degree. Schematics and the physical implementation of a circuit are not the same thing. Having the peripheral hardware on compatible PCBs fixes that problem.
For this though, I'm more interested in the OLED screen than the Arduino.
You mean, bare AVRs? ;)
(And a separate USB-to-UART and AVR ISP devices, as one-time purchase or even DIY project. Actually, I use Arduino solely as those two and do all prototyping - including MCU - on a breadboard.)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/527051507/hexbright-an-...
I would have liked to make a watch out of this, but something that big would look obnoxious. Great idea nonetheless, I really enjoy seeing all these ready-to-work solutions for the maker community.
Excuse the messy desk.