jjosephs:
Are 32-bit controllers like Due the future of Arduino?I'm thinking that 8/16-Bit boards be obsolete 32-Bit boards require less energy to run with a smaller footprint.
Then again the Arm based Due doesn't have very powerful output pins and are not 5 volt tolerant for input pins, so many projects based on the Due may end up needing more external components then a AVR based arduino board. Also building standalone AVR projects that one developed and debugged on a AVR arduino board is a piece of cake costing only less the $10 worth of parts, making a standalone ARM/Due based board may well be beyond the capabilities of many hobbyist. So it really comes down to the specifics of the project at hand, and the best world is where one has a choice rather then having to adapt. So I think there is room for 8 bit AVR based boards for quite while yet.
Lefty