This list is for students taking the workshop online. In-person workshop attendees will be given a microcontroller kit that includes everything they need to perform the lab exercises as well as access to many of the materials in the Max Lab for their individual projects.
We have created a google spreadsheet with links to parts and tools that we think will be useful for this workshop. We have divided the list into 4 categories, described below. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions
All class projects are based on the Teensy microcontroller boards (4.0 and later), which use the Arduino development platform. You’ll need to get one of these, as well as a variety of low-cost items like a breadboard, buttons, potentiometers, LEDs, etc., that will allow you to complete simple workshop exercises.
However, you’ll probably need other sensors or actuators, depending on your specific project. This can be tricky because you probably don’t yet know what your project will be, and therefore don’t know what additional sensors or actuators you’ll need to buy before the workshop starts. To help you, we’ve listed below some popular types of sensors and actuators and what types of projects they are useful for. Given that the workshop lasts only 5 days, it’s best to try to get any additional parts that you’ll likely need for your project in advance of the workshop. If you need more help deciding, please contact Sasha or Roger us and we’l try to help you decide what to get in advance.
A few Notes:
1) Most of these links are for Sparkfun or PJRC. Other great suppliers include Adafruit, Digikey, Polulu and many others. We chose Sparkfun parts because when we first began making this list, they were fully operational whereas Adafruit was focused on protective gear for the medical community. We are not getting any deals or kickbacks from these links. Feel free to tell us your favourites and we will add them.
2) This year, if you would like to use a Daisy Seed Board or a Seeduino Xiao board, we will support those options. If you would like to do that, please just substitute out the Teensy board in the list below. If you decide to use the Seeduino Xiao board, you will also need to substitute the USB cable as the Seeduino Xiao has a USB-C jack.
These are the primary components that we will use for the tutorials in the workshop. The total cost is under $60.
If you’re buying the unassembled Teensy and soldering the pins, here is Roger’s page that shows how to do it correctly so that it fits into a breadboard.
Required: One IC Sensor Board
In addition to the Base Kit, we will be doing some examples that use sensors which output voltages, we would like you to purchase one of the following options:
Option 1: Microphone board
Option 2: Accelerometer
Option 3: Teensy Prop Shield and Stackable Header Kit. (The Prop Shield is a small board that attaches to the Teensy, and which includes an accelerometer, the ability to drive animated LED strips, and an audio output to a small speaker. Here is Roger’s page on how to assemble the Prop Shield and Teensy.)
Required: Tools
If you have these tools already or can borrow them from a friend, that is fine. These are all examples of tools that will work well for electronics projects. We tried to find the least expensive tools that would still be useful and durable.
Alternatively, you can purchase the Adafruit Toolkit (https://www.adafruit.com/product/136) or an alternative kit from Sparkfun or Adafruit.
Optional Parts
These are parts that might or might not be useful to you depending on your individual projects.