Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: ed1380 on August 01, 2013, 10:52:19 AM

Title: $9 arduino project
Post by: ed1380 on August 01, 2013, 10:52:19 AM

Let me just preface this by saying that I'm not affiliated with the project in any way. I actually ordered a couple myself and I'm trying to spread the word.

Just a quick summary: For $12 shipped you get the board and basic kit. Pretty good deal IMO. This would have made the $50 robot much easier.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/9-arduino-compatible-starter-kit-anyone-can-learn-electronics (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/9-arduino-compatible-starter-kit-anyone-can-learn-electronics)


WOOOO feels good to be back.

Title: Re: $9 arduino project
Post by: johnwarfin on August 02, 2013, 07:48:40 AM

imo thats not a particularly good deal. you can buy 3 aduino promini on ebay/aliexpress populated, programmed, and ready to go, for the price of one of those. in fact a "bare-duino", as shown below, with industry standard power rails on each pin for servos, motors, sensors etc can be built for a dollar or two (see the led poking its little nose out?).

using this minimalist philosophy a complete robot can be built for less, similar to the $50 one, complete with motors and sensors. thats around $8 with off-the-shelf, not junk box, parts too. and i managed to place with it in a local m&m sorting contest.

Title: Re: $9 arduino project
Post by: ed1380 on August 02, 2013, 06:17:29 PM

There are cheaper products out there. Heck you can even run a bare 328 with no oscillator. But none of those are plug and play with all the different shields, and they're not beginner friendly.

Title: Re: $9 arduino project
Post by: johnwarfin on August 02, 2013, 07:06:52 PM

Quote from: ed1380 on August 02, 2013, 06:17:29 PM

you can even run a bare 328 with no oscillator. But none of those are plug and play with all the different shields

true. but, unlike my "header-duino", a bare m328 isnt servo/esc/sensor plug-n-play. and neither are uno, nano, or promini and most of the shields and breakouts. almost always require custom cabling. putting a usb interface on every board strikes me as wasteful too. one $2 download cable for many controllers makes more sense.

and as far as beginner friendly the $50 robot is not p-n-p either. imo most of these 3rd party duinos depend on perceived features and "oh wow" market hype rather than really useful interfacing. roboduino being one exception, but $50+ price tag dampens enthuisiasm.

Title: Re: $9 arduino project
Post by: MrWizard on August 03, 2013, 02:23:02 AM

Not bad, but Funduino (on ebay) also go for this price (incl. free shipping). Research, soldering, calculating, asking, programming and the mistakes are part of the building-fun as well. I still recommend everybody to build the $50 dollar robot project. It is good learning money.

Do I have arduino's (and compatibles) ?  Yes , and an axon (and a $50 dollar board ofcourse).

Because I think Open Source is the way to go (for most projects). So if you can support them, why not ?

Title: Re: $9 arduino project
Post by: ed1380 on August 06, 2013, 11:10:25 PM

The funduino does look like a good deal. With the extra little "kit" they're evenly matched.

I still remember building the $50 robot. I couldn't get it to program with the dongle. Admin was nice enough to program it for me. Kid's nowadays get it easy  :P $8 for the dongle programmer vs $10 for a complete board with usb.