Mecanum wheels allow your robot to not only travel forward and backward, but also side to side. Using rollers set on a 45° rotational axis parallel to the main rotational axis of the wheel, it allows sideways movement as well as forward and backward movement!
The Core Skills project should give beginners a good idea when a product might be beyond their current abilities, and give you an idea of what skills you might need to tackle your next project.
For beginners, the MicroView is one of the easiest-to-use Arduino platforms available — it’s perfect for anyone looking for an education in electronics, programming, or Arduino. The integrated display really helps to visualize what the microcontroller is doing (you might say it gives you a view into the microcontroller). The MicroView will even ship with built-in tutorials to help folks get started; and the Geek Ammo team has built a set of cross-platform, interactive tutorials that teach you how to create 11 different circuits. The MicroView is also great for experienced electronics users. It uses an ATmega328P chip —…
Vernier Software and Technology has been a leader in data collection and analysis for educators world-wide. They were amongst the first companies to design and promote the use of computers, sensors, and data collection in K-12 classroom laboratory experiments.
In this 3 part series SparkFun engineer Shawn breaks covers everything you need to know to get started with the Raspberry Pi! In this episode, Shawn shows how to get your Pi up and running, loading the operating system onto the Pi, and how to blink a simple led circuit. The Raspberry Pi has made quite a splash since it was first announced. The credit-card sized computer is capable of many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. It can run several flavors of Linux and is being…
In this 3 part series SparkFun engineer Shawn breaks covers everything you need to know to get started with the Raspberry Pi! In this episode, Shawn shows how to connect your Pi to the internet using wifi, programming with Python, and hooking your Pi to Twitter. The Raspberry Pi has made quite a splash since it was first announced. The credit-card sized computer is capable of many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. It can run several flavors of Linux and is being used to teach kids…
In this 3 part series SparkFun engineer Shawn breaks covers everything you need to know to get started with the Raspberry Pi! In this episode, Shawn shows how to hook up a temperature and humidity sensor to the Raspberry Pi to create a self tweeting weather station. The Raspberry Pi has made quite a splash since it was first announced. The credit-card sized computer is capable of many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. It can run several flavors of Linux and is being used to teach…
The SparkPunk Kit is a sound generator made in the spirit of the Atari Punk Console. Rather than simply recreating the Atari Punk, the SparkPunk is a new design that springs from a similar foundation. It starts with a dual 555 timer IC, then adds a second tone source, sub-octaves and a bandpass filter. With all of the knobs and switches, a lot of tonal variations are possible. As a through-hole kit, the SparkPunk can also be easily extended and modified, expanding the palette of tones even further.
The TAZ 4 3D printer from LulzBot represents the latest evolution in high performance desktop 3D printing technology. This 3D printer provides you with a wide range of features that facilitate more consistent, higher quality prints than ever. The TAZ 4 features tetherless printing through an SD card with a versatile, multi-functional graphic LCD controller and boasts a spacious 11.7in x 10.8in x 9.8in print area with a controllable heat bed that can print large items, or many small items.
The folks over at Raspberry Pi recently released their latest iteration of their famous single board computer – The Raspberry Pi Model B+. We’ve gotten a lot of questions about the difference between the older Model B and the new B+, so we shot a quick video…check it out!
The SparkPunk Sequencer is a musical control voltage sequencer designed to control the SparkPunk Sound Kit. With the pair, you can create ten-step musical motifs, but there are hidden opportunities in the sequencer: it can be modified and connected to external hardware in clever and interesting ways. The SparkPunk Sequencer cycles among ten steps, reading the slider and switch for each, producing corresponding analog voltages on the output pins. It offers hands-on control, with its array of knobs, sliders, and switches while seamlessly integrating with the SparkPunk Sound Generator for your creative musical enjoyment.
The Digital Sandbox (DS) is a learning platform that engages both the software and hardware worlds. It’s powered by a microcontroller that can interact with real-world inputs – like light or temperature sensors – while at the same time controlling LEDs, motors, and other outputs. The Digital Sandbox is equipped with everything, on board, that you will need to complete 13 experiments including controlling an LED, measuring how loud things are, detecting what the temperature is, and more. Think of this as a SparkFun Inventor’s Kit all in one board!
We’re excited to announce SparkFun Blocks for the Intel Edison board! Our exclusive selection of boards, designed especially for use with the advanced Edison dev platform, add functions like micro sd, 9DOF, OLED, Servo Controller, LiPo power and more!
This is the FemtoBuck, a small-size single-output constant current LED driver. Each FemtoBuck has the capability to dim a single high-power channel of LEDs from 0-350mA at up to 36V while the dimming control can be either accessed via PWM or analog signal from 0-2.5V. This board is based off of the PicoBuck LED Driver, developed in collaboration with Ethan Zonca, except instead of blending three different LEDs on three different channels the FemtoBuck controls just one.
This 2M pixel camera module is capable of capturing 1616 x 1232 pixel array video and images and connects directly to your pcDuino V3. Connect the included ribbon cable to the CSI (Camera Serial Interface) port on your pcDuino, boot it up, and you are good to go! The real strength of this camera module comes from the GC2035 image sensor. The GC2035 is a high quality CMOS image sensor, for mobile phone camera and digital camera applications. The GC2035 incorporates a 1616V x 1232H pixel array, on-chip 10-bit ADC, and image signal processor. It provides various data formats,…