ARM launches its smallest 32-bit MCU

[pomprocker]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=214502470&subSection=Processors

[galannthegreat]

wow, thats one small MCU

[hgordon]

Nice looking processor, though it will get larger with the addition of flash and sdram.  Here's more detail -
    http://www.arm.com/products/CPUs/ARM-Cortex-M0.html

[Admin]

Occasionally I look at the ARM processors, but I always decide not to use them because of the small support community and lack of I/O options (compared to AVR's). They always seem to be more useful for computing applications and less for robotics apps . . .

Now only if an ATmega was giving the processing power of an ARM!

[paulstreats]

I think arms would be perfect if there was easier to solder packages. (even if they came on a basic board with just breakout pins.)

I currently have an eval board with an arm7 that features:-

16 / 32 bit architecture
62kb flash / 8kb sram
16 x 12 bit adc pins
4 x DAC outputs
on chip temperature sensor
on chip voltage comparator
UART
2 x I2C / SPI
40 x GPIO
4 x timers
3 x 16 bit pwm (3 phase)
External memory interface
JTag

I really dont think that avr's or pic's offer much more, its just that ARM's are difficult to work with on protoboards. Most development utilities like kiel offer a lot of examples

They always seem to be more useful for computing applications and less for robotics apps . . .

They do have the usual peripherals to use for robotics, but with the additional power they provide could push embedded robotics forwards by allowing things like onboard image manipulation for camera apps, its once again just finding a more friendly way to use them...

[TrickyNekro]

Well, although I'm a big fan of AVR and that seems to effect my sayings...
I gotta say that with the ATXMEGA series these dudes are gonna get close...
Still lacking the pure processing power of an ARM, but at least they are gonna get close....