The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Categories
Operating System

Microcontrollers and the Maker Movement

The maker movement is a growing trend in the DIY world which involve using microcontroller technologies such as Arduino to develop and create small or large scale projects such as home automation, gadgets, robotics and electronic devices. There is no need in prior knowledge!

Projects vary from home automation to robotics but can be used to pretty much anything; automatic door locks, Phone controlled sprinklers and even portable chargers are just a few examples for the endless possibilities. With all the information available over the internet, virtually anyone can create simple projects without a deep knowledge of electricity and programming. Most products come preconfigured, open source and all the documentation is available online. The movement brings collaboration to the front line of development and projects the work you do inside a computer to the outside physical world

Unlike the past, starting your own project is easy and highly available. No longer the mystery of engineering and computer science wizards prevent you from making your own garage opener. The increase in the demand and the growing interest in DIY projects caused an increase in manufacturing which brought down prices – cables, resistors and transistors are sold for less than dollar each and microcontrollers such as the Arduino Uno would cost only 3$. Start your own project in less than 5$, make that pocket change your next adventure!

Microcontrollers have been heavily integrated in Hackathons in recent years. Hackathon is a design sprint-like event that usually takes two to three days in which people collaborate intensively on software projects within the time limitation. These days Hackathons also include hardware competition categories such as robotics and home automation. So if you’re looking for a way to winning your first Hackathon or interested in finding an internship from a Hackathon the microcontroller categories are somewhat simple to compete with years’ worth of knowledge.

Furthermore, since so many people began working on project there was a need for a community to support and help people out so in addition to the online community there also physical hubs that started to pop up. Those are called “Makerspace”, the makerspace is environment which provides the individual with the tools and knowledge to excel in his task and complete his goal. Even here at UMass Amherst there’s a work in progress to build a makerspace where students can come and get introduced to the topic.

In conclusion, the maker movement combined with the Arduino technologies create an endless possibilities for projects and provides a new visual way for anyone to learn physics, programming and circuit design, It is a way for people to express their creativity.