The MindKits Brainboard v2
We call it an ‘Arduino-Compatible Swiss Army Knife'. With a motor driver, a bunch of sensors, and the guts of a full Arduino Nano integrated onboard you have the tools to build your project quickly and neatly. Or you can follow our example projects and build a heart rate monitor, a roving tank, integrate Bluetooth wireless communications, start your home automation project or create a data logger for science experiments.
We designed BrainBoard from the ground up to be beginner-friendly. Who’s it for? Great for classrooms, kids, hobbyists, and experienced programmers who want to dip their toes in hardware. Well documented projects with clear and easy to understand code make it quick to pick up and see results.
Our design philosophy is to provide a range of inexpensive add-on modules that clip on top of the board to push the limits of what it can do. We wanted to bring as much tech to as many people as possible, so the difference between our approach and the usual Arduino shields is that ours are inexpensive, simple, and made specifically for BrainBoard. Add a Bluetooth module, an OLED display, 10-DOF or micro-SD card module (currently in the works, watch this space!) and let your imagination do the rest without hurting the wallet.
What's onboard:
- Based on Arduino Nano 3.0 with ATMega328 -- 100% Arduino compatible
- 32 kB code space, 2kB used by bootloader
- 2 kB SRAM
- 16 MHz clock speed
- 1 A Two-channel motor driver (drive two DC motors, four relays, or one stepper motor)
- Light dependant resistor (light sensor)
- Temperature sensor
- Hand turned potentiometer
- Two user input buttons
- Six LEDs wired in three pairs
- Piezo buzzer (the variable tone variety)
- 13 user I/O pins with 11 capable of digital I/O and 4 capable of analog input (some do both)
- USB mini connection with standard Arduino FTDI drivers for communication back to PC
Modules to expand your BrainBoard
- IR Remote transceiver
- Ten degrees of freedom IMU -- tri-axis compass, gyro, accelerometer + barometric pressure (altitude) sensor
- Micro-SD card data logging module
- OLED high resolution graphical and text display module
- Bluetooth wireless module
Real World Programming
Learning via the BrainBoard gives skills that translate into the real world. We use a framework (BrainBoard library) to make learning to program in C easy and remove frustratingly steep learning curves. When you're ready, you can expand into C programming of your own and the BrainBoard will continue to deliver a rich and rewarding learning experience. Did we mention that C is the most popular programming language in the world too?
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
Documentation: