RS Components First to Bring New Open-Source Arduino Starter Kit to Market

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Oct 03, 2012, 02:31 ET

OXFORD, England, October 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Based on the open-source Arduino Uno board,this new educational kit, currently available only from RS, aids entry-level electronics design

RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, has announced exclusive stock availability of a new starter kit for Uno, the well-known Arduino low-cost and open-source electronics prototyping board for professional embedded system engineers, students, and enthusiasts.

The new starter kit has been developed together with a series of ten video tutorials hosted by Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi. 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.

The Arduino Uno is based on the Atmel ATmega328 32-bit microcontroller, with 32KB of Flash memory, 2KB of SRAM and 1KB of EEPROM. It supports Windows, OS X and Linux operating systems, in common with the open-source IDE, which can be downloaded free-of-charge. The Uno has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analogue inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. There are 3 different options to power the board: via a USB cable, an AC-DC adapter or a battery.

A series of peripheral boards, known as shields, are available to plug into the top of the main Arduino PCB, providing an interface to components for a gamut of applications, including the Motor Shield, which enables the control of DC motors and read encoders, and the Ethernet Shield for connectivity.

"Arduino has been a pioneer in low-cost open-source development, creating an accessible environment for both skilled and budding electronics engineers," said Glenn Jarrett, Head of Product Marketing, RS. "This new kit, along with the practical and instructive video series, is set to enthuse and inform a whole raft of users, from qualified engineers to those just embarking on their first taste of electronics design."

Massimo Banzi, Arduino Co-Founder, commented, "RS has clearly demonstrated, through initiatives like DesignSpark, that supporting today's and tomorrow's engineers is at the core of their business ethos. This commitment to electronics design, along with their global presence, service excellence and ongoing projects to ease the online sourcing and ordering process, makes them the ideal distribution partner to take our new Arduino kit to users worldwide."

The new Arduino starter kit is available exclusively from RS Components until October 16th, 2012, with continued RS stock availability after this date. To order the competitively priced kit from RS for same-day despatch, visit the RS Components Arduino page online.

Video Synopses:

Video 1 Learning the Tool

Difficulty level: Beginner

You'll make a simple circuit with some switches, an LED, and a resistor. In doing so, you'll learn about the basics of electricity and how to wire up components on a breadboard.

Video 2 Spaceship Interface

Difficulty level: Beginner

Your Arduino is going to act as the backdrop to a science fiction movie. You'll get a couple of lights to blink, only to be interrupted by a switch that will turn a different light on

Video 3 Love-o-meter

Difficulty level: Beginner

Turning the Arduino into a love machine! Using an analog input, you're going to register just how hot you really are!

Video 4 Light Theremin

Difficulty level: Intermediate/Advanced

Using a photoresistor and a piezo element, you're going to make a light-based theremin.

Video 5 Keyboard

Difficulty level: Intermediate/Advanced

Time to make some noise! With a couple resistors and buttons you're going to build a small musical instrument.

Video 6 Motorized Pinwheel

Difficulty level: Intermediate

Getting the Arduino to spin a colorful pinwheel using a motor.

Video 7 Crystal Ball

Difficulty level: Advanced

Create a crystal ball to tell your future.

Video 8 Touch Sensor Lamp

Difficulty level: Intermediate/Advanced

Using a third party library, you will create a lamp that turns a light on and off just by touching some conductive material, no buttons required!

Video 9 Tweak the Arduino Logo

Difficulty level: Advanced

You've done a lot of cool stuff with the physical world, now it's toe to control your computer with your Arduino.

Video 10 Twitter-controlled Mood Lamp

Difficulty level: Advanced

Let's control the color of a rgb led with a peculiar hashtag. With Arduino, a wifi shield, an rgb led and 3 220 ohm resistors we will learn how to parse twitter looking for #arduinoRGB and an hex of the color.

About RS Components

RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products. With operations in 32 countries, we offer more than 550,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, shipping more than 46,000 parcels on the same day the orders are received. Our products, sourced from 2,500 leading suppliers, include electronics, automation and control, test and measurement, electrical and mechanical components.

Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year ended 31 March 2012 had revenues of £1.27bn.

For more information, please visit the website at http://uk.rs-online.com.

Further information is available via these links:

Twitter: @RSElectronics; @alliedelec; @designsparkRS

RS Components on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/company/rs-components

Relevant Links:

Electrocomponents plc

http://www.electrocomponents.com

RS Components

http://www.rs-components.com

DesignSpark