Arduino
I know how to solder, but I don’t always want to solder. I’m sure there are many people like me. Even if you can solder (and can undo and redo), the hassle of getting out the tools, prepping the area, and manipulating that perfect shiny lump with fine movements can sometimes dampen your desire to tinker.
Arduino Plug and Make Kit official release video.
The basis of many off-time projects, the Arduino presents a challenge to you, your kids, or someone you know who just needs the right kit to fall down the rabbit hole without using a dangerously hot iron. Arduino Plug and Make Kit At its core is an Arduino UNO R4 board with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 12×8 LED matrix display. This board screws into a prime lot of yellow boards, then you choose from seven other “Modulino” boards to connect to. And by “connect,” I mean running little finger-pushing cables from the main board to the smaller boards, which then daisy-chain from there. All the boards attach to a large base with M3 screws and nuts, and the whole thing is powered by a USB-C cable (USB A or C on the other end).
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Contents of the Arduino Plug and Make Kit.
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“Modulino” node.
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This is a great board for Arduino experiments.
What can you connect? A knob, eight LEDs, a proximity sensor, a motion sensor, a simple buzzer/speaker, a temperature/humidity sensor, and three simple buttons. With these, even a beginner could build a modest weather station, an 8-bit style synthesizer, a smart lamp controller, and A few more (Registration required.) Of course, these are just the starter projects that Arduino has created; there are plenty more to build around the web, in every corner of GitHub, and among the curious.
The kit comes with a little shell case for the main Arduino board, which may help provide a little weather resistance, but whatever project you make with this kit, it’s going to look like a lightly decorated breadboard object, which is great. The timer I use to keep things going in 25 minute increments is Adafruit Circuit Playground ExpressA clock-like ring lights up and is programmed to play afterwards The Legend of Zelda I play the song “Discovery” after each sprint. There are plenty of cheaper, smaller, purpose-built timers out there, including models specifically for the Pomodoro Technique, but I especially love this silly little timer because I can see what’s inside it.
of Arduino Plug and Make Kit It’s currently priced at $87 (USD) and was still in stock at the time of writing.
