ARP - Affordable Serial Arduino/Freeduino based Boards

[vikas]

Hi all

Just keeping you guys updated , We will be starting a Robot shop here at Ri by the end of this month , at least that's the plan.

The first step is to sell basic Arduino/Freeduino boards and then slowly the robot platform we are working on.

Given below is the serial Freeduino/arduino we have which we will be starting out with



This board will start at around Rs 300 , which will be cheapest arduino board anywhere online. It has a mega 8 and a Max232 based serial driver. Is fully compatible with Arduino/Freeduino shields and software.

Next in series will be the USB based boards priced at around Rs 450.

The kit ( CD + board + Adapter + cable ) will range from Rs 400 to 600 .

Mega 168 and Mega 328 will also be available soon.Also relevant shields be available soon.

If you have any Ideas , request please let me know.

[docel]

Congratulations Vikas!!

So , you finally made up your mind AND did some good work, I see! Wish it was a little earlier in the day but still never late.

This will certainly beat the RIP-OFF AGENTS who have fleeced the ignorant kids and minted money. There have been too many overnight Robotics experts around India who shamelessly commit daylight robbery, in the name of Robotics. Talk about corporate entities and mega Media Advertisements to fool the gullible......

Good luck!

[vikas]

Yep , I dont like the kids being taken for the Ride .

Idea is to make robotics affordable and also have online courses if possible where the people can learn for free and not waste time in the expensive courses which every tom dick and harry are offering.

Also the shop at Ri plans to be by the people and for the people who are passionate about robotics and not just selling kits online and taking people for a ride.

I hope to see some changes in the current environment through our efforts.

[shobhitkukreti]

Great work Vikas. Please come out with the USB version asap.

[ppppking04]

Here's my 2 cents:

Since the whole idea behind Arduino is "that anyone should be able to make hardware to suit their own needs" and since this would be community website based boards, it would be absolutely great, if you can write/log the development of all these boards.

This would mean anything along the lines of a blog where you post about
* how you chose a particular component (e.g. why the decoupling capacitor? or why do you use bc547 to drive the leds?)
* say how you design the board (e.g. I had a tough time routing the high frequency lines away from the ADC sensor line. This is important because...)
* the way you had to debug the board (e.g. the board resets everytime I "touch" the ground plane, this usually means...)
* or any other general fundae that you experience while developing these boards.

In my opinion, a major reason why so many people falter in building their own hardware or even in efficiently using ready-made boards is because these finer points are learned only from experience. As an example, many people will design a basic microcontroller circuit, referring to stuff in texts, internet, datasheets but the actual boards would fail because they wouldn't have the groundplane or decoupling caps. since such stuff is not mentioned in most places.

I know documenting all such things is difficult in general. But since you are currently designing/manufacturing such boards, it would be easier to document along the way. As an added bonus, this would also help you with the after-sales service.

What say, guys?