Massimo Banzi dropped into RadioShack headquarters last week, and we couldn’t help but squeal like starstruck girls at a Bieber concert. This is the man responsible for Arduino, the open-source programmable microcontroller that essentially breathes life into electronics projects. It has allowed those with no prior engineering or programming experience to build amazing gadgets, like remote-control lawnmowers and robotic marimba players. It’s an amazing device that’s revolutionizing DIY electronics, but don’t take our word for it. We sat down for a little Q&A with Massimo, so we’ll let the man himself tell you how he went from just a kid who liked to tinker with things to the instigator of the open-source revolution.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
