STEMTera, Arduino Compatible Built-In Breadboard

Sydney backyard inventor, JP Liew, who invented MicroView that had successfully raised USD 573,000 in 30 days on Kickstarter two years ago has just launched STEMTera Breadboard on Kickstarter, an open source invention that solves many electronic prototyping problems and aids in teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). The initial funding goal of USD 35,000 was reached in less than 64 hours!

STEMTera is the first breadboard with an Arduino compatible built-in that works with thousands of shields. With ATmega16U2/32U2 exposed, and native USB projects can be easily developed using the LUFA framework. It is specifically designed to solve common issues using Arduino with a breadboard especially in the lab or classroom. It came to reduce the headache of managing students’ messy wires flying around microcontroller board and breadboard during class, to enhance the current design (Arduino UNO) for native USB development without changing or adding extra components, and to Improve adaptability, mountability and protection, enabling more projects to be built in the lab or classroom. STEMTera is 111.8 x 79.8 x 16.1 mm sized and weighs 132 grams.

Thanks to exposing ATmega16U2/32U2, users can now develop native USB projects with an extra 21 IO pins. These extra IO pins can work directly with the LUFA framework without having a middleman to translate messages like the original Arduino UNO.

“STEMTera Breadboard was designed to help Australian schools teach STEM education and help students make and invent things. My demonstration video showed how easy students can build Hydroponics Systems, game controllers and musical instruments using the STEMTera Breadboard.” – JP Liew, founder of STEMTera.

STEMTera Features

• Dual Microcontroller – ATmega328P & ATmega16U2: With a total of 41 IO pins of which 9 provide PWM. Pin-to-pin compatible with Arduino UNO R3 shield .
• LEGO® Compatible Bottom Cover
• USB Native Development – thanks to the exposed ATmega32U2
• 4 LEDs (Power, TX, RX and L)
• Strong ABS Enclosure
• IDE Support
  • Atmel® Studio
  • Arduino IDE
  • AVR-GCC
  • AVR-GCC with LUFA
  • Scratch

Check this review by Sparkfun:

The STEMTera is available for pre-order and it will be shipped soon. You can pre-order it now for $45 on Sparkfun, on of the project’s distributors, and choose the color you prefer out of white, black or pink! More colors will be produced later.

More details about STEMTera can be found on the official website and the campaign page. Also check out JP Liew homepage to know more about his previous projects.

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