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  • dougw
  • ideal project kit
Related

The Ultimate Project Kit?

dougw
dougw 3 months ago

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.

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Top Replies

  • michaelkellett
    michaelkellett 3 months ago in reply to dang74 +8
    This little display board is about as near as I get to a universal board. It is powered by a GigaDevices ARM processor and has serial ports for control. I've used it in a few projects, and it's going…
  • scottiebabe
    scottiebabe 3 months ago +7
    A Newark gift card
  • rsc
    rsc 3 months ago +6
    Some of my favorites....
  • robogary
    robogary 3 months ago in reply to scottiebabe

    Glad the E14 community can count on you for thinking out of the box ! 

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  • scottiebabe
    scottiebabe 3 months ago in reply to robogary

    Perfect gift too, still think wokwi is pretty neat.

    image

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  • colporteur
    colporteur 3 months ago in reply to scottiebabe

    S, I am in need of such a circuit. Can you share?

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  • robogary
    robogary 3 months ago in reply to scottiebabe

    JoRatcliffe   scottiebabe has a phenominal suggestion as an alternative to shopping carts and the same instrumentation/solder station awards every project contest.Gift cards take E14 marketing out of placing a piecemeal order and intermediary of delivery, and allowing contest winners to get parts they can really use for whatever purpose.   

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  • scottiebabe
    scottiebabe 3 months ago in reply to colporteur

    It is pretty neat, https://wokwi.com/projects/276825819240727048 

    image

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  • dang74
    dang74 3 months ago in reply to rsc

    What is the name of the kit with the Raspberry pi?

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave 3 months ago in reply to dang74

    Looks like a CrowPi ?

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  • SensoredHacker0
    SensoredHacker0 3 months ago

    I do a variety of projects without sticking to specific realms like electrical or mechanical engineering. 
    never the less there are design patters, with over 200 drawing machines, custom tools and custom programs for drawing... I think I see a pattern emerging. 

    kits are great! but you know an IPC (industrial PC) frequently has exposed IO, a case, and numerous other features that amount to and are comparable to 
    a kit PC development system. Quality controls, actuators, and sensors are always helpful. I have a suspicion that numerous beginners don't even know that 
    there are higher quality parts than what comes in those cheap sensor kits. 

    Theres always a big quality difference between a project where you used what you have vs planned for and spec'd out quality parts. 
    you can get 10 encoders for 10$ or pay for 10$ for 1 decent Rotary encoder with integrated eeprom for example. 
    but if youre not even certain something exists, then you cant plan.

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  • robogary
    robogary 3 months ago in reply to SensoredHacker0

    When doing commercial projects at work, quality and reliability are important, and specific.

    When building projects for home , its a compromise depends on the benefits of the build. 

    When projects are built for fun or for demonstration at a school or library, cheap sensors are fine. In the last 10 years, most failures were caused by me. Useage is single digit hours a year. 

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  • JoRatcliffe
    JoRatcliffe 3 months ago in reply to robogary

    I really appreciate these suggestions on future prizes!

    When I first joined the e14 team, there were a couple of reasons why I did not offer gift cards as prizes:

    #1 Newark / Farnell / element14 does not have a presence in every country so not every winner would be able to make use of a gift card.

    #2 Gift cards take time to be generate by a colleague and the intention is always to get winners their prizes as quick as we can.

    With that said - I'm very open to offering new prizes and keeping things interesting, the team has changed a little since I joined, plus I have changed up the way we offer prizes (winners can now pick one of three prizes).

    Look out for a poll soon, I'd be really interested to gauge general interest in offering gift cards as a prize option Slight smile

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