MindKits News and Blog

Making things. It’s a bastion of New Zealand culture. We call it the “Number 8 Wire” mentality. Some would argue that the future of our economy relies on our ability to keep on with the makery. Both Ben (from Ben.geek.nz) and I love making stuff, and Ben loves local kiwi company Mindkits (that's us), because we supply all sorts of electronic goodies to help you make anything you might put your minds to.

So it is my pleasure to announce that Mindkits and Ben.geek.nz are teaming up to give you a little bit of inspiration. I'm giving away a SparkFun Arduino Starter Kit, and Ben's going to throw in a dual motor gearbox, motor controller, and couple of tiny servos from his collection of RC bits. All you have to do is tell us what you would make if you had free reign of the Mindkits store room. Let your imagination run wild and yes, you get points for being entertaining. We won’t make you prove you can build it (but we would love it if you did). If we get enough entries, we’ll put the top three (selected by Ben and Tim) up for a vote.

Step 1: Browse Mindkits

Take a look at everything in the MindKits store for inspiration and add anything else you feel you'd like to use (disassembled VCR's, cats and anything electronic you feel would help). Come up with a plan of what you'd love to build if money, equipment, skill or knowledge weren't a concern.

Step 2: Write up what you’d build on Ben.geek.nz (click here to link to Ben.geek.nz)

Have a look around at the items available. Arduino boards, Lilypads (for the laydees!), gearboxes and proximity sensors, LCD screens, carbon monoxide sensors, wifi transceivers … heck we’ll even let you branch out a bit and consider using Xbees.

Step 4: Win!

Ben and I (Tim - MindKits Chief Ninja) will choose the most creative and/or amusing entry. That person will win:

• 1 SparkFun Arduino Starter Kit
• 1 dual motor gearbox
• 1 motor controller
• 2 tiny servos from Bens collection of RC bits - everything else is brand new.

Woohoo...Freebies! Lots of goodies for free when you buy an Arduino Duemilanove

We're feeling generous after running the Auckland MindKits Arduino Beginners Workshop on the 22nd/23rd August so we feel it's time to offer something a little special for you. For a very limited time we're going to make buying an Arduino from MindKits fantastic value!

Not only will you get your Arduino Duemilanove but we'll give you the freebees listed below at a value of $17

 1) 'Arduino Handbook'
Add a note into your order for the 'Arduino Handbook' we'll send you a hard copy of the Arduino Reference Handbook with sample circuits and common programming examples to make learning and using the Arduino even easier.
This is an openly downloadable handbook but we've done all the hard stuff by getting it printed and made into a lovely looking booklet for you which you'll receive free when you purchase an Arduino Duemilanove from MindKits (don't forget to request it in the notes and despite the picture below being of an Arduino NG it's still perfectly applicable).


2) Free Shipping
Yep, thats right, buy an Arduino USB/Duemilanove from MindKits and we'll ship it to you for free. This also means that anything else you buy in the same order ships for free too.

3) Free goodies bag of components
When we started tinkering we found a set of 13 resistors and components that were used in nearly every project but when they weren't close at hand it was a real pain in the a**. Solved! You get a little pack-of-win with every Arduino you buy from us.



4) Jumper Wires - Free!
The Swiss Army Knife of electronics; these little puppies are so useful that we feel everyone should have a set ready to go.
You'll receive a set of 15 jumpers which is enough to get you started and on your way. There's even a mix of the essential black and red ones :)


5) Our heartfelt gratification
The team at MindKits would like to thank you very much for your support and for helping us grow with such a frenetic pace over the last 8 months.
Your purchases so far have enabled us to run outreach programs to build community around Arduino and robotics. We're here to make it easy for people such as yourselves to learn and gain support so we put money back into the community and offer our time free. We're not simply a webshop that aims to drop product and run.

Here's what your support enables us to work toward:
-Working with NZ schools to bring Arduino into the classroom for keen learners
-APC Magazine published how-to and tutorial for beginners
-Arduino Users Group - Auckland
-MakerSpace in Auckland (work in progress) - Space for Tinkerers to tinker and learn
-CoLab partners to build community by growing technology awareness and events
-MindKits Arudino Workshops (funded also by participants)
-More to come including competitions and guest speakers....keep an eye out.

Your support is greatly appreciated by all of us here at MindKits.

Regards,
Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

Arduino Duemilanove USB Board Price: NZ$48.00 excl GST In stock: 18  Qty:

I do have to laugh when I think about this last weekends (8/9th August) tinkering at the Mindkits Beginners Arduino Workshop in Wellington. It wasn't just that we had a bunch of guys from Weta (makers of Lord of the Rings for those who've lived in a cave all their lives) who ate up information and digested it effortlessly like Jo Seagar after the 40 hour famine or the moment that I looked up to see Matt Mueller throwing his SLR camera up in the air connected to a triple-axis accelerometer so it would take a picture at the top of the arc.


Matt Mueller from Weta with his SLR/Tri-Ax photography contraption. It worked too...!


Although all of those moments did make me laugh it was the echo of the promise our supervising Massey representative (Tanya) made to the head of department that "There's nothing that can go wrong loaning the room to Tim at MindKits for the weekend. We're just tinkering, no soldering irons, no fire and no problems. What could go wrong with that?". Shortly after I was reminded of that promise I turn around to see Matt Sloan with a lighter under a thermistor connected to an Arduino and in turn connected to a servo. There's a puff of smoke that wafts without hurry across his vision and he exclaims - "Wow, shit, smoke" and rips the wires from the board in one spasmodic motion.

Shortly after he plucked his courage up again as if investigating just how much magic smoke really is in all this electronics kit and does it again -  "that really makes it move" he exclaimed as the servo sounded it's chattering death throws and Matt steadfastly held the flame to the thermistor like a branding iron to an animal.


"If you haven't broken it, you haven't tinkered hard enough" - no idea who said it but I repeat it often as a MindKits mantra. Matt certainly put this into play.


It was a successful day with a strong focus on getting hands on and learning by experimentation and from what I've heard from the team so far everyone had fun and learned a lot. They all went home with a great set of kit to get them started and lots more fun to be had. Now that's the way to learn.


Frank and Kara playing with a home made pressure sensor and a servo


Small Plug for August Auckland Workshop if you're interested:
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/arduino_course-AK.html




All work and no play..pffft...it was the weekend so time for a pint at the Southern Cross



Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

The team over at SparkFun showed a link to this great project which embedded a an Arduino Pro Mini into a rocket and I felt it was worth exploring further. Check out the Arduino Pro's and Pro minis in the MindKits store as they are awesome for embedding in projects that you plan to leave in place for a while, power by battery or need to tuck away in small spaces. They're also cheaper than the Arduino USB boards and you just program them with a USB to serial adaptor which we can supply you too.

 

From the article:
"Yesterday I headed over to a local trotting track with Thomas to meet up with Marc Alexander, Rohan Fernando, and their kids to do a couple of launches with Marco Ostini's class-C rocket fitted with an Arduino telemetry payload. Rohan brought a video camera and Marc brought a still camera, and it was a beautiful day so we got some really good coverage. This was a triple-purpose trip: Arduino development for Practical Arduino, rocketry education for Lunar Numbat, and an excuse to have some fun."

Check out the article for more

If you've ever wondered if the Arduino can work with some piece of hardware or if someone has already done the hard work for you then this is the place to find it. http://www.freeduino.org/ has the most comprehensive list of everything Arduino I've ever seen.

Certainly one to bookmark!

Regards,
Tim
MindKits Chief Ninja

The Makezine guys have been busy and have produced a great set of Arduino starter videos which are perfect for introducing yourself to the essentials of building with the Arduino. Pretty much everything mentioned in the videos is available in the MindKits store so knock yourself out and have fun learning!

You can check them out below or on the MindKits.com tutorials page here

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Introduction to Arduino + LED

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Button

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Fun With The Arduino Starter Kit

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - The Protoshield

• Make Magazine - Arduino 101 - Potentiometers and Servos

And as always if you have questions or need a hand then don't hesitate to contact us.

We're back after the break and thought I would share this next link to Ted.Com and a talk on Persistence of Vision.
Inventor Nick Sears demos the first generation of the Orb, a rotating persistence-of-vision display that creates glowing 3D images. A short, cool tale of invention.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/nick_sears_demos_the_orb.html

If you're looking to play around with persistence of vision yourself you can do so with the MiniPov3 Kit available from MindKits. You can program it to say anything you wish.
http://www.mindkits.com/_product_36247/Mini_POV-_Persistence_of_Vision_Kit