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The Ultimate Project Kit?

dougw

The question is what constitutes an ideal project kit?

Of course it is going to be impossible to come up with a universal set of building blocks that covers every application, but given a fairly generic set of basic building blocks, what would be the most common solution that you would propose - to fit more applications than other solutions?

Assume a generic project would include a microcontroller, a sensor, an actuator, a user interface, and a power supply.

What else? Would you include signal conditioning circuits or amplifiers? Would you include audio components? Would you include LEDs?

To get the ball rolling, I would suggest 2 scenarios - a high end kit and a lower end kit.

For the high end kit I would go with an Arduino Giga with its touch LCD, a ToF Laser Ranging Sensor, a servo motor, and a USB C power module. The Giga could use a small powered speaker as a nice option.

For the lower kit I would go with an Arduino Nano R4 and a 1" OLED display instead of the Giga but keep the ToF sensor, servo and USB C power.

I expect others will prefer a Raspberry Pi to a Giga, but we will find out in the comments.

Leave a comment to elaborate on your thinking.

  • Can you elaborate upon what the ultimate project kit is being aimed at ?

    I think one of the primary factors will be if it needs to be networked or not. Another will be on power consumption.

  • for me if it's very basic. I would use all the periferrals in microcontroller except for UART and any advance level communication. The kit should be practicle to be used in various different types of project with compatable prefboard available in the kit. In case more prefboard is needed I should be able to buy compatable prefboard from market. independent sensor kit should also be available with the kit. proper connections cable etc is also one of the requirement. various Enclosure for the kit should also be available in the market. The list goes on and on.

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    One target could be as a starting point for design challenge kits. The sponsoring manufacturer could simply modify a known ideal kit by substituting the components they want included in the kit for the corresponding "ideal" kit components. There would naturally be situations where none of the ideal kit is used, but when it doesn't matter or when sponsors want to go with popular parts, it is good to know what is preferred.

  • in reply to manojroy123

    That's a good point about some kind of breadboard being useful in a kit. Some generic materials might also be useful such as hook-up wire or solder. Maybe even some tools.

  • One very important part of any kit would be instructions or tutorials on how to use each of the items in the kit. At the very least sample code needs to be there.

    for the board, I would go for something with wifi, to open up Internet possibilities. Does the Arduino Giga Wifi have Bluetooth too? I’ve noticed some of the nicer project kits (like the Elegoo car) come with a nice phone app.

    On a more affordable level, esp32 based boards will do that.

    As for the rest of it, it really depends on the skill level of the user - I’ve always liked the ardx kit because it covers the basic building blocks that the student can then combine into a lot of possibilities.

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    Good question - in my mind “ultimate” also means it has to be accessible to many, so it has to be affordable.

  • Funny you should bring up the topic, as in one of the recent posts I reminisced about Shopping Carts as prizes, as the cart could provide a variety of parts and sensors to be ordered for future E14 project builds.   requested suggestions for kit packages. I need to actually make the lists and categories, but I'll share the thoughts here.

    I'd somewhat agree one kit could be an Arduino GiGa with that nice touchscreen and bluetooth speaker. 

    My Ultimate kit would be the entire barrage of parts & categories listed below. 

    For E14 I'd like to see parts kits like this to pick from:

    Motion kit - Arduino Nano & RPI Pico 2 ,terminal block shields, 2 small 100 rpm DC gearmotors , 2 standard stepper motors,  H bridges, 12V solenoids, small linear motor assembly, micro servos, standard size servos, small LEMs, small  OLED displays , 186650 batteries, battery holder with switch, and charger

    Discrete IO kit: Arduino Nano & RPI Pico 2 , terminal blocks shields, some level shifters, PCB terminal boards , .1 inch pins and headers,  some 3V & 5V Reed relays, IM03GR,IM05GR,IM06GR relays,  some Hall effect sensors,  capacitive touch switches , toggle switches, PTC fuse assortment , limit switches, tilt switches, capacitive touch switches, toggle/slide switches, digital pot/encoder , ping sensors, 

    I2C/SPI Sensor kit : Arduino Nano & RPI Pico 2 with I2C sensors du jour:  compass, gyro, 6 axis accelerometer, stress/force sensors , temperature, humidity,  gasses, etc... etc...  

    Analog Sensors du jour: Arduino Nano & RPI Pico 2 with temperature, position ,  even tho digital - ToF, ping, etc..  

    Opticals: Arduino Nano & RPI Pico 2 , some level shifters,VS3813s & IR Leds, IR phototransistors, visible light phototransistors, Light Dependant Resistors, WS2812 individual LED.s, WS2812 LED rings, WS2812 strips,  Arducam / Pi camera ,  etc.. 

    Audio: 15W amp card with pot, LM386 amp card, small audio transformers, small speakers in enclosures, piezo buzzers, DFplayer (SD card), DFplayer with internal storage, piezo buzzers, etc..

    Vision & AI: Arduino Q / Portenza,  cameras,  

    Environment sensor kit & IOT : Arduino & RPi Pico 2 W with combination of analog and i2C environmental sensors Arduino & RPi Pico W 

    I got tired of typing, (noticing the lists got shorter as I got closer to the end,)  but I hope everyone gets my drift. 

  • in reply to ntewinkel

    I read the post as a rhetorical brainstorming question....what if....I googled the word ultimate and found this fitting definition Of the greatest possible size or significance; maximum."the ultimate act of courage."

    dougw's generic assertion of controller , power supply, actuator with feedback, UI (which can be touchscreen or discrete IO) , is pretty spot on, except for those IOT type projects that may be display only, actuator in another system.   

    Recognizing the ultimate may also be overpowering or overkill, I categorized  the  actuator with feedback & User Interface pieces. 

  • in reply to robogary

    oh that’s really good. I was thinking the same thing about the shopping carts not being available anymore, so having kits like that as choices really makes a lot of sense. I can see that shopping carts add a lot of complexity for the organizers so kits would make that easier too.

  • Interesting project Douglas.

    I like the PSOC offerings as you get a nice coverage of both digital and analog options within the same architecture.