We are eager to announce the launch of the official Arduino Starter Kit! We have been working hard together in developing a complete selection of 15 projects that will let you become a true arduino tinkerer!

But that’s more:

The new starter kit has been developed together with a series of ten video tutorials hosted by Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi, which can be viewed at www.rs-components.com/arduino. Ideally used in conjunction with the videos, the kit provides an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It contains all of the essential components required to start programming with the Arduino Uno board, and a guidebook featuring 15 different projects, which are designed to evolve the user from beginner to professional level. Comprising a motor, servomotor and driver, the kit also offers particular benefits to users wishing to apply mechatronics to their designs.

read through for the whole components and projects list

We are aware this kit will let a lot of people step in the Arduino world: for this reason we opened a brand new category of the arduino forum. You can buy the Kit on RS Components and will soon be available on the Arduino Store and the other distributors [notify me when this happen]

E’ terminato da qualche giorno il primo capitolo dell’#arduinotour, a Roma. E’ stata una esperienza molto interessante che ci ha fatto capire cosa funziona nel nostro metodo di insegnamento , ma che ci ha permesso di aggiustare il tiro su alcune mancanze comunicative dettate dell’accumularsi di eventi (e.g. abbiamo informato gli utenti iscritti alla presentazione del venerdì in ritardo, e ce ne scusiamo).

Un grazie particolare a Paolo De Gasperis, Marta Serpietri e Leonardo De Cosmo di Discienza per il supporto organizzativo e a Cattid per la location.

Detto questo, ci siamo sforzati di restituire quanto più possibile del materiale prodotto al workshop a tutti i nostri lettori. I progetti emersi sono stati tre (vedi video sopra / guarda il set sul flickr), e devo ammettere che il livello é molto alto per un workshop base. Tutti i codici dei progetti sono online sul nostro github. Non abbiamo usato particolari periferiche fatta eccezione dell’Arduino Wifi Shield, dell’Ethernet Shield,di un paio di Sensori di Alcohol di Parallax e di cinque FSR oltre ovviamente ad un roverino facilmente reperibile online.

I prossimi workshop dell’#arduinotour sono a Cava De’ Tirreni il prossimo 20-21 ottobre, a Matera il 17-18 Novembre e saranno tenuti da Mirco Piccin e da me: ci divertiremo!

Chi fa un salto?

We've seen quite a few NES mods in our day, but we can't say we've ever seen one hooked up to anything quite like this. Built by DIY-er Martin Raynsford, this contraption / work-of-art makes use of an Arduino (naturally) to relay signals from the NES controller to the Donkey Kong screen brought to life above, which was constructed with near pixel-perfect accuracy out of laser-cut parts. As Raynsford points out, though, things are still a bit limited in the game's V1 state. There isn't much of an actual "game," for starters -- just Mario stuck in the middle with a never-ending loop of barrels / ball bearings that you can jump over. A second version is planned with a greater degree of control, but we're guessing the video for it won't be quite as hypnotic as the one after the break.

Continue reading Mechanical Donkey Kong game tests your barrel-jumping skills, patience

Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Alt

Mechanical Donkey Kong game tests your barrel-jumping skills, patience originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TshirtOS showed us one take on wearable gadgetry earlier this month, and now it's Woven's turn. This particular e-garment packs quite the selection of hardware, as you can see above -- a trio of LilyPad Arduino boards (and some custom ones), a Bluetooth module, 12 x 12 RGB LED "screen", speakers, bend sensors, a heart rate monitor, shake motors and a power pack. You'll need to accessorize, of course, with a smartphone for hardware harmony and to run companion apps. So what's it for, you ask? Well, the creators are touting it primarily as a "pervasive" gaming platform, and even seem to have a working first title in the form of SPOOKY (think gesture-based ghost-fighting). Other uses (which appear a little more conceptual) see Woven as a workout companion, TV remote, Wii controller, social network alerter or simply a fashion accessory. Check out the videos below to see it in action and imagine all the fun you could have in the five minutes before you're ushered into that padded room.

Continue reading Woven's wearable platform for gaming, cool points and a whole lot more (video)

Filed under: Wearables

Woven's wearable platform for gaming, cool points and a whole lot more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 05:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Spending too much time indoors? You need a Personal Energy Orb, a glowing Arduino powered ball that allows you to trade physical exertion for a tolerable mouse speed. Developed by two students at the University of Munich for a physical computing course, the PEO connects to a bike-mounted revolution counter to note how far a user rides, counting the total distance toward usable time on a computer. A fully "charged" green orb will allow a user to use their PC unhindered -- but a spent red orb will drag Windows' cursor sensitivity settings to its lowest. The idea, the project's creators say, is to annoy the user off of the computer and back on to their bike. It sure sounds aggravating to us. Check out the full homework assignment at the source link below, complete with goals, follies and Python scripts.

Filed under: Misc

Personal Energy Orb Aruino project knows you haven't been exercising, cripples your computer originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Laser tripwire security systems can be expensive propositions that don't always work as planned -- just ask Raytheon, which saw its $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System for JFK International Airport undermined by one wayward jet skier. Taking that as a form of dare, Justin Huynh and teammates at Liquidware have devised a much cheaper (if also much smaller) tripwire of their own. Any interruption of a laser pointer's beam is caught by an Arduino light sensor that promptly sends the alert to an Android-running BeagleBoard xM; if a toy like Bruce the shark dares cross the line, the BeagleBoard sends a Twitter message to let the authorities, or at least Huynh, clamp down on the trespasser. The invention won't replace Raytheon's handiwork anytime soon, although Huynh notes that additional or more powerful sensors could theoretically catch real, muscle-bound sharks and not just their plastic counterparts. The supply checklist and source code are waiting on the company's project page below, so those who'd like to ward off miniature invasions can get started today.

Continue reading Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When Tyler DeAngelo asked if we'd be interested in checking out his new project, we jumped at the opportunity. After all, we were pretty blown away with Fifth Avenue Frogger, his hacked arcade cabinet that incorporated real-time webcam footage of a busy Manhattan street into gameplay. His latest project, Check 'N Chew certainly has more apparent commercial applications, offering up a form of immediate gratification for social media users. The concept is fairly simple: check into Foursquare, get a gumball.

DeAngelo has hacked an off-the-shelf gumball machine with a stepper motor, Arduino and an XBee radio. There's also a port on the rear of the machine that plugs into a wall to power it all. The Check 'N Chew communicates wirelessly with an ethernet-to-wireless gateway device. When someone checks into an authorized location, information is sent from DeAngelo's server to the gateway, and a gumball is dispensed. The whole process is quite speedy, only taking a couple of seconds from Foursquare check-in to gumball dispensing.

Gallery: Check 'N Chew Foursquare-enabled gumball machine hands-on (video)

Continue reading Check 'N Chew Foursquare-enabled gumball machine hands-on (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Check 'N Chew Foursquare-enabled gumball machine hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you prefer reading your RSS feeds without the backlight, there's hardware for that, and if you'd prefer not reading your Twitter feeds at all, there's now hardware for that as well. Mix an Arduino Ethernet board, an Emic 2 Text-To-Speech Module and the knowhow to put them together, and you've got SocialChatter -- a neat little build that'll read your feeds aloud. The coding's already been done for you, and it's based on Adafruit's own Internet of Things printer sketch with a little bit of tinkering so nothing's lost in translation. If your eyes need a Twitter break and you've got the skills and kit to make it happen, head over to the source link for a how-to guide. Don't fill the requirements? Then jump past the break to hear SocialChatter's soothing voice without all the effort.

Continue reading Arduino-based SocialChatter reads your Twitter feeds so you don't have to (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Internet

Arduino-based SocialChatter reads your Twitter feeds so you don't have to (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The good natured Arduino co-founder and his team went to talk at TED global and rocked the stage (Yes, old news!). But, here is some previously unseen backstage travelogue of Massimo Banzi and Federico Vanzati, shot through the lenses of Davide Gomba. Just having some fun before the serious talks!