6 ms·

New board in the Arduino Family: Esplora

200 points by iamwil 14y ago

unwiredben 14y ago
This is quite a functional piece of hardware. They've provided a package shaped like a game system with joystick and four-way buttons, plus RGB LED, temp sensor, loudness sensor, light sensor, analog slider, and TFT LCD connector. I fully expect Adafruit or another maker company to come out with kits with this, a plastic case, and screen before long.
wtracy 14y ago
Can anyone comment on how hard it will be to drive the LCD over TFT with an ATmega?
- revelation 14y ago
  Well, you can't actually drive a TFT with an ATmega. Speeds don't add up. What they are talking about is connecting a TFT over SPI, which is to say a display that has a very high-level chip on it that does the actual driving and that you can talk to over a protocol to do various things like draw lines or set a pixel.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  The LCD interface appears to be compatible with the serial module displays like this one http://adafruit.com/products/358 http://adafruit.com/products/358 from the adafruit folks.
dirktheman 14y ago
Does this mean Arduino is stepping away from the all modular, shield based boards towards more complete, all-in-one boards? Also, I'm wondering how the Esplora is going to be better than a standard Arduino board, with added shields. I mean, I can see the point of an Arduino based game controller, but why the extra sensors? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just curious about the decision making progress!
- ConstantineXVI 14y ago
  Lower barrier to entry. Gives someone with no hardware experience enough to play with right out of the box.
- drzaiusapelord 14y ago
  I imagine the success of the rasperrypi and other all-in-ones is scaring the arduino people. Look, I'm the perfect demographic for arduino, but I never bought one. I just don't want to have to buy tons of shields, ribbon cables, lcd displays, etc to get a basic device that I can have some fun with. Its also a little intimidating for beginners. >but why the extra sensors? Why not? We're talking a minimal amount of money added to the board. You can always get the vanilla arduino if you want one.
  - dirktheman 14y ago
    Buying shields and jumper cables is therapeutic, and a lot cheaper than bags or shoes... You should really get an Arduino, they're so much fun!
  - iamwil 14y ago
    I recently just brought both and have been playing with them, as well as reading on the forums. There are some things that raspberry pi is better at, such as video media or computer vision. You will never get to run Quake on Arduino. However, there is stuff that arduino is better at. Most people have difficult time driving servos with the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi. In addition, with the default image of Ubuntu, which is not an actual real-time OS, will cause timing problems in the PWM (pulse width modulation) signals controlling the servos, resulting in jittery servos when an interrupt happens. Currently, the arduinos are better at that, plus they've been around longer, with a larger community, and accessories. Anyway, that's where it's at now. As for the future trajectory, I can only really guess, but from where I'm standing as a beginner choosing between platforms, while they seem to be targeting education, they're targeting different use cases.
    - jacquesm 14y ago
timdorr 14y ago
This is cool, but I don't like the fact they've essentially forced you into a particular key layout with this design. I thought the whole point of an Arduino board is how modular it is? What if I'm trying to build out a controller for a PS2 emulator on my phone? I don't have all the requisite buttons. I also don't have them in the layout I'd expect. That's kind of a bummer.
- shantanubala 14y ago
  I think this is for people rapidly prototyping robots and devices that need RC-like functionality (hence the name "esplora") -- judging from that, this is meant to be a time-saver for a very specific purpose: creating remote controls for vehicles, which generally only require a similar button layout. I think it will be a success, mainly because that seems to be a common task for people using Arduino boards for robotics-type projects.
  - dirktheman 14y ago
    I also think that's their initial idea. What I don't get is this: why would you build an entire Arduino-based robot, only to buy an almost-ready RC-controller. Which isn't actually an RC-controller, because you'd have to have a separate transmitter shield for it...
    - knowaveragejoe 14y ago
      I don't think it's intended to -just- be a controller, but rather a game console unto itself(hence the socket for color TFT screen) . It certainly could be used as just an input device, though.
- jws 14y ago
  I think this might be aimed at classrooms that are teaching Arduino programming. This is a good mix of input and output to get people started without having to break out the soldering irons. The Tinkerkit connectors would let the students add other physical interfaces, while still not soldering. But then it is a RadioShack exclusive product‽ Maybe RadioShack just paid them a small pile of money to make something to their specs.
jasonkostempski 14y ago
Anyone working with this is going to have "Dora, Dora, Dora the Esplora" stuck in their heads to the point of insanity. And also any one who reads this. Add a malfunctioning card swiper into the mix and there'll likely be a murderous rampage.
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  Every time I read the name I think about Ice Cube, hacking away on his "two-tone Ford Esplora"
thechut 14y ago
It's always good to see new stuff from Arduino. Especially when I'm not expecting it. This seems to be very specifically for use a controller. Not sure if it's meant for robots or if they are going after the MakeyMakey market since it is based on the Leonardo. The lack of an Xbee or similar RF socket makes it seem more like the latter than for remote control applications. But I'm sure it would be trivial to add your own but that doesn't really seem like the point of this board. That being said it can be very helpful for prototyping to already have onboard sensors like accelerometer, temp, buttons, and pots. I tried to buy it, but the link on the page goes to a blank page and I cannot find it in the Arduino store when I look. I wonder what happened with that. I would like to try one out! EDIT: The "Buy from Arduino Store" button has now been removed from the page and the "Buy from Distributors" button returns a 503 error. Looks like the Esplora may be going the way of the Nexus 4
- mikenon 14y ago
  http://arduino.cc/en/Main/BuyEsplora http://arduino.cc/en/Main/BuyEsplora "At the moment the Arduino Esplora is available only at your local RadioShack shops."
  - thechut 14y ago
    wow, just wow...
    - taylorbuley 14y ago
      Radioshack still has a great hobbyist section. It's just hidden behind all the warranties and cellphones.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    Makes sense to some degree. I'm not sure they're aiming at quite the same general market as with their normal boards.
  - gregpilling 14y ago
    i went to the radio shack site to purchase one and was unable to find it. Does anyone know where I can purchase or pre-order one of these units?
nathanpc 14y ago
That looks awesome! I would love to use that in my Arduino Uno that I've ordered for Christmas.
qdot76367 14y ago
This is going to be ALL OVER art games installations (which are definitely picking up steam the past couple of years, and hey, LA Gamespace got a quarter million funding...). I expect we'll see digital arts galleries littered with these within months. Good idea too. Seems like also-but-not-quite MakeyMakey competition, because the makeymakey was "Make buttons out of anything". This comes with the buttons but also all of the other sensors you'd expect in controllers these days, except you don't have to wait for someone to reverse out everything and then write drivers for your platform.
anoopengineer 14y ago
Any one knows of any board that supports HDMI input?
- IheartApplesDix 14y ago
  Asus make a whole line of various boards that support HDMI. Google mobile ITX
taylorbuley 14y ago
I welcome the addition, but I see the word "fragmentation" has yet to be used in this thread. This board is a true departure from previous designs, but it's my experience that Arduino tutorials are getting harder and harder to "plug and play" thanks to the many various boards out there.
- eblade 14y ago
  While I agree that Esplora is a true departure from previous designs, I don't think "fragmentation" is really an obstacle here. As always, users just need to choose the board model under Tools -> Board menu. As the underlying library and code, I believe are still the same.

200 points by iamwil 14y ago

This is quite a functional piece of hardware. They've provided a package shaped like a game system with joystick and four-way buttons, plus RGB LED, temp sensor, loudness sensor, light sensor, analog slider, and TFT LCD connector. I fully expect Adafruit or another maker company to come out with kits with this, a plastic case, and screen before long.

wtracy 14y ago

Can anyone comment on how hard it will be to drive the LCD over TFT with an ATmega?

revelation 14y ago
Well, you can't actually drive a TFT with an ATmega. Speeds don't add up. What they are talking about is connecting a TFT over SPI, which is to say a display that has a very high-level chip on it that does the actual driving and that you can talk to over a protocol to do various things like draw lines or set a pixel.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
The LCD interface appears to be compatible with the serial module displays like this one http://adafruit.com/products/358 http://adafruit.com/products/358 from the adafruit folks.

dirktheman 14y ago

Does this mean Arduino is stepping away from the all modular, shield based boards towards more complete, all-in-one boards? Also, I'm wondering how the Esplora is going to be better than a standard Arduino board, with added shields. I mean, I can see the point of an Arduino based game controller, but why the extra sensors? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just curious about the decision making progress!

ConstantineXVI 14y ago
Lower barrier to entry. Gives someone with no hardware experience enough to play with right out of the box.
drzaiusapelord 14y ago
I imagine the success of the rasperrypi and other all-in-ones is scaring the arduino people. Look, I'm the perfect demographic for arduino, but I never bought one. I just don't want to have to buy tons of shields, ribbon cables, lcd displays, etc to get a basic device that I can have some fun with. Its also a little intimidating for beginners. >but why the extra sensors? Why not? We're talking a minimal amount of money added to the board. You can always get the vanilla arduino if you want one.
- dirktheman 14y ago
  Buying shields and jumper cables is therapeutic, and a lot cheaper than bags or shoes... You should really get an Arduino, they're so much fun!
- iamwil 14y ago
  I recently just brought both and have been playing with them, as well as reading on the forums. There are some things that raspberry pi is better at, such as video media or computer vision. You will never get to run Quake on Arduino. However, there is stuff that arduino is better at. Most people have difficult time driving servos with the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi. In addition, with the default image of Ubuntu, which is not an actual real-time OS, will cause timing problems in the PWM (pulse width modulation) signals controlling the servos, resulting in jittery servos when an interrupt happens. Currently, the arduinos are better at that, plus they've been around longer, with a larger community, and accessories. Anyway, that's where it's at now. As for the future trajectory, I can only really guess, but from where I'm standing as a beginner choosing between platforms, while they seem to be targeting education, they're targeting different use cases.
  - jacquesm 14y ago

timdorr 14y ago

This is cool, but I don't like the fact they've essentially forced you into a particular key layout with this design. I thought the whole point of an Arduino board is how modular it is? What if I'm trying to build out a controller for a PS2 emulator on my phone? I don't have all the requisite buttons. I also don't have them in the layout I'd expect. That's kind of a bummer.

shantanubala 14y ago
I think this is for people rapidly prototyping robots and devices that need RC-like functionality (hence the name "esplora") -- judging from that, this is meant to be a time-saver for a very specific purpose: creating remote controls for vehicles, which generally only require a similar button layout. I think it will be a success, mainly because that seems to be a common task for people using Arduino boards for robotics-type projects.
- dirktheman 14y ago
  I also think that's their initial idea. What I don't get is this: why would you build an entire Arduino-based robot, only to buy an almost-ready RC-controller. Which isn't actually an RC-controller, because you'd have to have a separate transmitter shield for it...
  - knowaveragejoe 14y ago
    I don't think it's intended to -just- be a controller, but rather a game console unto itself(hence the socket for color TFT screen) . It certainly could be used as just an input device, though.
jws 14y ago
I think this might be aimed at classrooms that are teaching Arduino programming. This is a good mix of input and output to get people started without having to break out the soldering irons. The Tinkerkit connectors would let the students add other physical interfaces, while still not soldering. But then it is a RadioShack exclusive product‽ Maybe RadioShack just paid them a small pile of money to make something to their specs.

jasonkostempski 14y ago

Anyone working with this is going to have "Dora, Dora, Dora the Esplora" stuck in their heads to the point of insanity. And also any one who reads this. Add a malfunctioning card swiper into the mix and there'll likely be a murderous rampage.

georgemcbay 14y ago
Every time I read the name I think about Ice Cube, hacking away on his "two-tone Ford Esplora"

thechut 14y ago

It's always good to see new stuff from Arduino. Especially when I'm not expecting it. This seems to be very specifically for use a controller. Not sure if it's meant for robots or if they are going after the MakeyMakey market since it is based on the Leonardo. The lack of an Xbee or similar RF socket makes it seem more like the latter than for remote control applications. But I'm sure it would be trivial to add your own but that doesn't really seem like the point of this board. That being said it can be very helpful for prototyping to already have onboard sensors like accelerometer, temp, buttons, and pots. I tried to buy it, but the link on the page goes to a blank page and I cannot find it in the Arduino store when I look. I wonder what happened with that. I would like to try one out! EDIT: The "Buy from Arduino Store" button has now been removed from the page and the "Buy from Distributors" button returns a 503 error. Looks like the Esplora may be going the way of the Nexus 4

mikenon 14y ago
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/BuyEsplora http://arduino.cc/en/Main/BuyEsplora "At the moment the Arduino Esplora is available only at your local RadioShack shops."
- thechut 14y ago
  wow, just wow...
  - taylorbuley 14y ago
    Radioshack still has a great hobbyist section. It's just hidden behind all the warranties and cellphones.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  Makes sense to some degree. I'm not sure they're aiming at quite the same general market as with their normal boards.
- gregpilling 14y ago
  i went to the radio shack site to purchase one and was unable to find it. Does anyone know where I can purchase or pre-order one of these units?

nathanpc 14y ago

That looks awesome! I would love to use that in my Arduino Uno that I've ordered for Christmas.

qdot76367 14y ago

This is going to be ALL OVER art games installations (which are definitely picking up steam the past couple of years, and hey, LA Gamespace got a quarter million funding...). I expect we'll see digital arts galleries littered with these within months. Good idea too. Seems like also-but-not-quite MakeyMakey competition, because the makeymakey was "Make buttons out of anything". This comes with the buttons but also all of the other sensors you'd expect in controllers these days, except you don't have to wait for someone to reverse out everything and then write drivers for your platform.

anoopengineer 14y ago

Any one knows of any board that supports HDMI input?

IheartApplesDix 14y ago
Asus make a whole line of various boards that support HDMI. Google mobile ITX

taylorbuley 14y ago

I welcome the addition, but I see the word "fragmentation" has yet to be used in this thread. This board is a true departure from previous designs, but it's my experience that Arduino tutorials are getting harder and harder to "plug and play" thanks to the many various boards out there.

eblade 14y ago
While I agree that Esplora is a true departure from previous designs, I don't think "fragmentation" is really an obstacle here. As always, users just need to choose the board model under Tools -> Board menu. As the underlying library and code, I believe are still the same.