STEMTera Breadboard – Arduino UNO + Building Block Compatible – Black MonkeyBoard

DESCRIPTION

RETIRED PRODUCT – We’ve stopped stocking this product or it has been retired by the manufacturer and is no longer for sale. This page remains available for its resources and as a source of potential interest.

The STEMTera Breadboard black is a smart electronic breadboard with an Arduino UNO R3 compatible microcontroller built inside. This 2 in 1 breadboard is specifically designed to solve common issues when using Arduino with a separate breadboard especially in the lab or classroom. Making mechanical building block projects with the STEMTera Breadboard is easy because the bottom cover of the STEMTera Breadboard is building block compatible.

The STEMTera Breadboard is capable of taking inputs, for example the push of a button, and translate that information to trigger different types of outputs, for example turn on a light or motor. With these capabilities, the STEMTera Breadboard can be used to build interactive physical systems by the use of software and hardware that can sense and response to physical world.

Just like an Arduino UNO, the STEMTera Breadboard has two microcontrollers soldered on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board). The ATMEL’s ATmega32U2 and the ATmega328P. The ATmega32U2 serves as the bridge for USB communication between the computer and the ATmega328P.It has 14 digital input/output pins (6 of which can be PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a USB connection, a power jack, and a reset button. These input/output pins are just like human fingers. With a properly written software plus hardware, they can be used to touch, sense and feel the physical environment.

The STEMTera Breadboard also exposed all the ATmega32U2’s pins on the breadboard’s tie points, thus providing 21 extra digital input/output pins that has the native capability to communicate with the computer via the USB port.

FEATURES

STEMTera Breadboard can be programmed like a regular Arduino UNO using :

• Atmel® Studio
• Arduino IDE
• AVR-GCC
• AVR-GCC with LUFA
• Codebender
• Scratch
• Or any other programming environment that the original Arduino UNO can be programmed from

General Specifications:

• Dimensions : 111.8 x 79.8 x 16.1 mm
• Weight : 132 grams
• Tie Point : 634 ( 2 power buses, 1 full Arduino Uno R3 compatible pinout, full ATmega32U2 pinout and 80 x 5 terminal strips)
• Wire Gauge : 20 – 24 AWG (22 AWG solid wire is highly recommended for good connections)
• Material : ABS
• Indicator : 4 LEDs ( Power, TX, RX and L )

Hardware Specifications:

Arduino Compatible Section

• Microcontroller : ATmega328P-AU
• Operating Voltage : 5VDC
• Input Voltage : 6 – 20VDC (recommended 7 – 12VDC)
• Digital I/O : 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
• PWM : 6
• Analog Input : 6
• DC current per IO : 20mA
• Flash Memory : 32KB
• SRAM : 2KB
• EEPROM : 1 KB
• Clock Speed : 16 MHz

ATmega32U2 Section

• Microcontroller : ATmega32U2
• Operating Voltage : 5VDC
• Input Voltage : 6 – 20VDC (recommended 7 – 12VDC)
• Digital I/O : 21 (of which 3 provide PWM output)
• PWM : 3
• DC Current per I/O : 20mA
• Flash Memory : 16KB
• SRAM : 512B
• EEPROM : 512B
• Clock Speed : 16Mhz

RESOURCES

STEMTera Breadboard Beginner’s Guide

Product website

Demo Projects

Scratch Game Pad (USB HID)

Scratch is a free visual programming language used to easily create programs, animations and games by students, scholars, teachers, and parents. In this example, STEMTera Breadboard was programmed with the LUFA USB Keyboard example. The hacked buttons of the Hasbro Simon Micro Series were connected to PORTB of ATmega32U2 and the LEDs were connected to PORTD. When a button is being pressed, the ATmega32U2 interprets it and sends the corresponding key code to the PC. The Pacman game programmed in Scratch was used to demonstrate the USB capability of STEMTera Breadboard.

Hydroponics Pump Controller

A toy water pump from KMART was chosen for this demo. The pump’s motor was connected to D13 via a transistor. The plunger stroking action sucked water from the reservoir and filled up the plastic tube. Clay balls that are commonly used for Hydroponics filled up the space in the tube in order to act as a grow medium for the plant. When the tube is filled, water will return to the reservoir via the overflow hose. Code was compiled using Arduino IDE. A moisture sensor, pH and EC meters, not used in this demo however, can also be connected to further enhance the system.

USB Wind Controller

This is a fully working USB Midi wind controller. 6 push buttons were connected to PORTB of ATmega32U2 sensing different key combinations. Honeywell’s ABP 100MG Digital Air Pressure Sensor was used to measure air pressure from blowing with the mouth. The LUFA’s Midi example was modified to translate the keys and air pressure data into MIDI packets, MIDI NOTE ON, MIDI NOTE OFF and VELOCITY. Mixcraft 7 was set up with a few tracks of different virtual instruments to convert the MIDI notes into sound.