Arduino Christmas project for my Grandsons?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi,

First time poster. A brief about myself I am 62yo retired Electronics Engineer mainly from the hardware side. I can and do design the odd project using KiCad.

Have two grandsons who have inquiring minds which I would like to stimulate using the Arduino platform. What I would like to do if it is allowed is to use an Arduino design like the R3 and spin that onto a PCB along with a lot of other supporting Electronics that allows my grandsons to configure the Arduino using a series of either link jumpers or link flying leads.

I would include things like multiple resistors and capacitors for experimenting with series and parallel value calculations. Ccts to understand ohms law and the like. That part is easy.

Where I would like to get some input is;

  1. Is it permitted to say use an Arduino design and spin that onto a board that I could design and add a bunch of supporting circuits for helping my grandsons learn some electronics and programming? It appears Arduino is open source but just want to as always do the right thing. It is not for commercial application just for my Grandsons and possibly Grand Daughter if she show some interest later on (she’s only 4 atm). (Moderator please delete my post if this is outside the permitted use of the Arduino platform)

  2. Assuming I can do a custom design my thinking is using a R3 design complete with USB capability. My thinking is using a Atmel 328-P micro using thru hole plate if the boys ever fried the micro I would simply be able to swap out the micro by mount it on a socket. Not so worried about the USB circuit if that needed to be SMD as I see that side unlike to be comprised. Does the R3 platform seem like a good platform to base my design on?

  3. Is there a repository of schematics for the Arduino designs?

  4. Any suggestion of supporting circuits that could be run off the Arduino platform would be great. I see a ton of different applications from simply blinking a LED to driving LCD displays. What would be nice is to find a respostitory of application and or learning designs with supporting sketch codes. I have not learnt the programming language so it would be nice to be able to start this project and back fill the program learning. I am hoping to get this project done in time for Christmas to put under the Christmas tree for them. So time to short track the design.

  5. I am not restricting myself to how many different supporting ccts that will be designed on the board. Getting prototype PCBs done out of China is relatively cheap so happy to spin any design that will get the grandson doing some programming and help them understand some basic electronics. Arduino seems to be an excellent starting platform.

  6. I would put multiple LEDs, pot, resistors, capacitors etc that they can jumper to allow for various circuits to be completed and programmed. What would be nice is getting some ideas from you knowledgeable folks on what else would devices I should condsider to make the board as flexible and as interesting as possible? Maybe adding a 595 shifter register and drive 8 LEDs, maybe some ultrasonic sensors, appreciate any suggests as my brain in overload at the moment. Is there a repository that you could point me to that would have a great selection of ideas?

  7. I would love to get any learning ideas outside of any circuit that would be designed onto the board. Shields or any other third party product that the onboard Arduino could be interfaced to

Sorry to have made my first post this long. I am hoping that with some valuable input I can arrive a list of very interesting ideas in which to add to the PCB design that hopefully will give my grandsons hours of learning enjoyment.

I thank you for taking the time reading and hope to get your valuable suggestions.

Cheers,

Fleetz

2
  1. Yes. See some examples here Cross Roads Electronics
  2. I would make it somewhat modular, so when they smoke the board you can replace the FTDI Module, or the processor, or the 5V regulator - or power it from a 5V wallwart, those are usually short circuit protected.
  3. Not really. You can download a design from arduino.cc, or sparkfun, or adafruit, but those will be in Eagle and not Kicad.
  4. In the IDE, there are plenyt of Example sketches that address various hardware.
  5. Agreed.
  6. Add a spot for a protoboard, you can get some small ones, to plug in parts without need to solder. Female headers or screw terminals to pick up signals from the board.
  7. Arrange your signals to make it easy to take them off board to a protoboard that you solder more stuff onto. See my BobuinoII where I did a bunch of what you are describing but with a '1284P chip for more IO and more memory
    Dual hardware serial with Serial to USB to a PC, and Serial1 to RS232 for other uses (or add a 2nd FTDI Basic), battery backed RTC, SD socket, couple of extra buffers for 5V to 3.3V and 3.3V to 5V, and some prototype area (with RF modules in mind), Power and Gnd available at each signal by the female headers.

LarryD usually has some good ideas too.

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3

Hi Robert,

Thanks for your suggestions and feedback.

Definitely had modular design in mind.

I believe Eagle projects can now be imported into KiCad version 5. Happy to start from scratch but will have a look at what Eagle files are available.

Like the screw terminal idea.

Even thinking about designing in two Uno R3's one with a shield the other without. Both having either or pin header or screw terminal breakouts.

I will see if I can track down LarryD threads, thanks for the pointer.

4

It is a nice idea to design a learning project for someone as young as 4 years old.
I believe, however, that you can't pospone consideration of the software side.
Because of the complexity of C++ and the process of loading the compiled code to the MCU, you'd probably have to design a single program (sketch) which had selectable functionality (say with jumpers / DIP switch bank) etc., which the young user could select, and with matching hardware building blocks. This sketch would be permanently loaded.

One simple example of predefined functionality would be an exercise with a potentiometer and a led. The led would flash at a frequency dictated by setting the potentiometer. The hardware would consist of a pluggable led with series resistor and a pluggable potentiometer connectable to say A0. A dipswitch would activate the "flashing led" part of the sketch.

Or maybe I am underestimating the ability of 4 year olds ?

5

Fleetz:
Have two grandsons who have inquiring minds which I would like to stimulate using the Arduino platform. What I would like to do if it is allowed is to use an Arduino design like the R3 and spin that onto a PCB along with a lot of other supporting Electronics that allows my grandsons to configure the Arduino using a series of either link jumpers or link flying leads.

I think if I was considering this general idea I would make something that can be used alongside a standard Arduino Uno because that would afford the kids the opportunity to explore the Uno on its own as well as with your hardware. For example they could get a regular Arduino shield for some project. Maybe you could design your board as a shield for an Uno?

And IMHO an Uno is the best board for a beginner because most of the software and add-ons work with it.

I can see the value of giving them some add-on hardware to experiment with. But I don't like the idea that they might be cut off from the normal Arduino system by being tied to some specific hardware. IMHO the concept of an Atmega 328 on a PCB should come after the young people have become familiar with the Uno and can appreciate the advantages (or disadvantages) of a custom PCB version.

It is important for a teacher to provide scope for his students to go on a different path.

...R

6

Hi,
How old is your grandson?.
Regards

7

I don't see why an Arduino Starter Kit would not be fine for digging into the matter, provided the kids can read and follow instructions?

A bunch of breakout boards with sensors of all kinds are available, but of course you can add your own, as modules or shields. If you want to do a favour to the community, add printable instructions to your boards, as a possible continuation of the Starter Kit.

8

The Arduino is generally thought of in 2 basic forms, the UNO and the NANO/MINI
but it also comes in a variety of other forms like the Digispark ,,,,

the UNO is recommended because of the huge base of boards that just plug in, called shields.
data logger, real time clock, proto area....

instead of trying to make your own, I would offer that there are so many that are available, it might be easier to get modules and make an interface board that allows you to add things (with a bit of wiring)

a sister board, using a different microprocessor, but uses the same programming softare ( the Arduino IDE software) is the Wemos D1 mini (not to be confused with a Arduino Mini) it is a small board about the size of a US half dollar, but has stackable shields that let you do lots of things.

we generally advise new people that there is a huge ocean and if you just dive in the center, you can drown in the vastness. We advise to pick the area which draws your attention. motors ? gardening ? weather ? and then get the things sensors, motors, etc that would be used for that sort of thing.

Also, if you wanted to teach Arduinos, like any other learning, small achievements are best.
you can make a weather sensor, lots of them on web pages.
you can use an indoor receiver with a display of outside conditions.
that would be an achievable goal with known results.

another is a sun follower. (ignore the debate of following the brightest spots vs planetary alignment in cloudy days)
a sun follower is FUN. it works with the light of a flashlight, and appears to be active. another complete project, but a base for other things.

robots like the line follower are on the lower end of abilities. good for first projects and well documented. another complete work.

if you spend some time googling for arduino projects, you should find dozens or hundreds.

with a shallow learning curve, the lads might gravitate towards things that interest them.
The magic is to capture their interest.

you did not say their ages, but my kids loved marbles and those towers. you could automate them, lift marbles.
sort by colors and have all the red marbles go left and all the blue ones go right.... there are some amazing marble devices. mixes things up a bit.

but have fun !

9

Firstly a thousand apologies the email alert was set to "do not email alert" to replies. I have no idea how that happened, I would have thought the alerts would have defaulted to alert if you were the original poster.

I will respond individually to your kind posts with your suggestions.

Thanks again for your valuable input and again apologies for not seeing and responding in a timely manner.

10

6v6gt:
It is a nice idea to design a learning project for someone as young as 4 years old.
I believe, however, that you can't pospone consideration of the software side.
Because of the complexity of C++ and the process of loading the compiled code to the MCU, you'd probably have to design a single program (sketch) which had selectable functionality (say with jumpers / DIP switch bank) etc., which the young user could select, and with matching hardware building blocks. This sketch would be permanently loaded.

One simple example of predefined functionality would be an exercise with a potentiometer and a led. The led would flash at a frequency dictated by setting the potentiometer. The hardware would consist of a pluggable led with series resistor and a pluggable potentiometer connectable to say A0. A dipswitch would activate the "flashing led" part of the sketch.

Or maybe I am underestimating the ability of 4 year olds ?

Firstly 6V6GT, I remember the valve as a Radio Tradesman in the 1970's I replaced a few.....probably gives you some idea of my age.

Definitely a good idea about a single sketch doing multiple tasks. I intend having a bunch of components like LED's, pots, resistors, photo resistors, sensors, etc etc on the board all jumper-able with leads. I will have a separate scratch pad as such on the board that allow a digital multimeter to be plugged in using banana plug and little experiment based on just discrete electronics and or Arduino in combination.

The reason I am forcing a banana plug to the PCB is so they can't be inserted into the main outlet. I have younger grandson as well.

On the age he is 6 and as sharp as a tack. Very inquisitive and just soaks everything up you give him. So this I see as an incremental project, design in some very back flexibility to do simple circuits and have the ability to grow as his understanding grows.

His Mum and Dad are IT centric people both employed in the IT industry so my thought is to have a system here for when the grandkids come over and a system for them to all them to interact at there place. the cost of building these are nickels and dimes compared to the knowledge that is gained. So I don't see age as an issue at all.

11

Robin2:
I think if I was considering this general idea I would make something that can be used alongside a standard Arduino Uno because that would afford the kids the opportunity to explore the Uno on its own as well as with your hardware. For example they could get a regular Arduino shield for some project. Maybe you could design your board as a shield for an Uno?

And IMHO an Uno is the best board for a beginner because most of the software and add-ons work with it.

I can see the value of giving them some add-on hardware to experiment with. But I don't like the idea that they might be cut off from the normal Arduino system by being tied to some specific hardware. IMHO the concept of an Atmega 328 on a PCB should come after the young people have become familiar with the Uno and can appreciate the advantages (or disadvantages) of a custom PCB version.

It is important for a teacher to provide scope for his students to go on a different path.

...R

Thanks for your input. Yes I have designed in the board so that it can take a Uno shield, I am actually trying to find out the correct female header spacing between connectors now as I have some very confusing data. Anyway that is the basis of a separate thread I am about to start. More importantly you suggestions is on board.

I agree the Uno is a good starting platform, its about stimulating the inquiring mind not loosing them with blank stares.

Your comments about teaching them the benefits of a separate platform is on point. I have standalone Uno's which form part of what I am putting together as a system of lots of bits not only to support the Uno I am designing onto the board with all the peripheral support components. He will be able to use a standalone Uno and see where it fits in the overall project.

I am also buying one of those Arduino accessory 37 in 1 sensors kits. Using these on the board I am designing will just make it easier for him to patch.....among other things.

Thanks for you suggestions, appreciated, happy to take any and all.

12

DrDiettrich:
I don't see why an Arduino Starter Kit would not be fine for digging into the matter, provided the kids can read and follow instructions?

A bunch of breakout boards with sensors of all kinds are available, but of course you can add your own, as modules or shields. If you want to do a favour to the community, add printable instructions to your boards, as a possible continuation of the Starter Kit.

And a lot easier understood. It's about making something for my Grandkids. Rest assured getting my head around KiCad, buying all the parts, buying SMD solder paste dispenser and component placer, building a reflow oven etc etc would definitely be cheaper.

Happy to go through the journey together with him and show him some of the stages (not teaching this part as such) but getting him to understand the process to the final stage where he get to use something he has been involved in I reckon adds great value to the project. I am fortunate not to have to take the most cost effective option.

But I agree it would definitely be the easier path going the the starter kit.

13

dave-in-nj:
Another is a sun follower. (ignore the debate of following the brightest spots vs planetary alignment in cloudy days)
a sun follower is FUN. it works with the light of a flashlight, and appears to be active. another complete project, but a base for other things.

robots like the line follower are on the lower end of abilities. good for first projects and well documented. another complete work.

if you spend some time googling for arduino projects, you should find dozens or hundreds.

with a shallow learning curve, the lads might gravitate towards things that interest them.
The magic is to capture their interest.

you did not say their ages, but my kids loved marbles and those towers. you could automate them, lift marbles.
sort by colors and have all the red marbles go left and all the blue ones go right.... there are some amazing marble devices. mixes things up a bit.

but have fun !

Thanks Dave,

I have covered some of your other comments in my return posts above. All you comments are absolutely valid and appreciated.

I have ordered a Arduino robot as part of this project so we can build the robot and make it do things. I hope this project will help stimulate the desire to learn......enter the platform I am designing with some valuable input from you wonderful folks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0746DVP1J/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cheers...

14

Just an update I am half way through the schematic capture and board layout in KiCad. Been a long time since I designed a board so my learning curve is steep but pleased to report starting to flatten out. Starting to get to the stage where I am hunting down profiles one of which is the pin header placement for a UNO shield to be installed.

I will start a separate topic in the appropriate section but if any of the learned folk here have the physical pin placement for the UNO that would be most helpful. I have a UNO clone here and Sparkfun blank PCB shield which I thought might be helpful whilst laying out the UNO part of this project, unfortunately the two have physically different header placement between the headers. I now don't know which one to trust?

I have looked on the site here to see if I couldn't find an official header pin header placement with dimensions and have been unable to locate it if it exists?

If anyone can confirm what the distance is between the A0-A5 (6pin) > 5V, 3.3V, GND (8 pin) headers and between the PD0-PD7 (8 pin) > PB0-PB5, GND, AREF, PC4-PC5 (10 pin) header.

The discrepancy is around .9mm enough to be off pitch if I get it wrong.

Cheers,

Ian

15

Fleetz:
Firstly a thousand apologies the email alert was set to "do not email alert" to replies. I have no idea how that happened, I would have thought the alerts would have defaulted to alert if you were the original poster.

Checking the Forum regularly is a good idea. Many responses come very quickly.

Also, checking the Forum regularly provides you with the opportunity to help others.

...R