Can I sell my Arduino Uno project and how

For a long time I was working on a project. Now that is complete and I want to sell it but want to know that if it is legal to sell Arduino project commercially.

My project is a multi-functioning Rover :

  • It can be controlled wirelessly by Bluetooth through smartphone and an app built by MIT app inventor
  • after turning a switch on, it goes in "auto pilot" mode and avoids all the object in it's path.
  • it consists of dark sensing LED's that turns on in dark

Review the licenses for all the hardware and software you used, then determine if the right to sell the project is allowed under those licenses.

However be aware that going rate for even well done hobbyist Arduino projects is vanishingly small. It's tools that can sell in the Arduino world. That said, I have been able to satisfy many required gifts with Arduino projects in Altoids tine though. Folks seem to love 'em!

Learn how Open Source products get sold. Arduino, for example....

or --- only use the AVR GCC libraries and you can lock your code without violating Open Source. The rules are on the Arduino site, you can use different compilers to get tools but be aware that using many libraries requires that you open your source.

Can you suggest any platform for selling

Jashman:
Can you suggest any platform for selling

Ebay, Amazon, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, etc. The usual.

It's legal to sell your project - of course - but the main question is whether there's a market for it. There's nothing in the description at least that makes it look interesting or marketable to me.

Whatever libraries are you using, see what using them entails.

Platform? An AVR chip on your own PCB.

You start here, develop on breadboard then later move to PCB and maybe surface mount.

Debug in wires first, then PCB traces and run production. Go look at OSH Park.

Jashman:
My project is a multi-functioning Rover :

  • It can be controlled wirelessly by Bluetooth through smartphone and an app built by MIT app inventor
  • after turning a switch on, it goes in "auto pilot" mode and avoids all the object in it's path.
  • it consists of dark sensing LED's that turns on in dark

It sounds like the principal thing you are proposing to sell is a machine and that suggests to me that you would have no objection to publishing your program code.

It is very common for machines to be sold that contain open source software - 3D printers are a good example - so it must be possible to do so without infringing the licences for the software. Nevertheless YOU must check to ensure that YOU comply with the requirements.

If you want to keep your additions to the software secret then the licensing situation will be a bit trickier, but not necessarily impossible.

If you are considering large scale production it would be a good idea to get professional legal advice

...R

Robin2:
It is very common for machines to be sold that contain open source software - 3D printers are a good example - so it must be possible to do so without infringing the licences for the software.

they publish the source code if they use Open Source that requires it. For example I would not expect to find a source code for the Belkin Wemo devices or for a Philips TV. and I found them

Juraj:
they publish the source code if they use Open Source that requires it.

Indeed.

However, using the GNU GPL2 license as as an example it is quite clear that if you use code that is covered by that licence you must make the source code available. But it is not at all obvious that you are under any obligation to make public the code that represents your own intellectual property. For example if I have code with

myVar = digitalRead(myVarPin);
if (myVar == HIGH) {
   anotherVar = LOW;
}

I am quite sure I would have to make the source code for the digitalRead() function available but I'm not sure there is any obligation to make any other part of the code public. (By the way, for illustration I am treating digitalRead() as if it were covered by the GNU GPL2 - I have not checked what licence covers it).

...R

As that's a library function, it should never be covered by the GPL but instead by the LGPL which allows for redistribution of works that use the library without having to open the source code of your work. Changes you make to the library itself however will have to be open sourced if you decide to distribute your work.

Good thing most libraries of Arduino are Apache or BSD licensed, I don't think I've seen the GPL pop up yet. Those licenses allow redistribution. Their main restriction is that you can not claim the work as your own.

I have always thought you are selling the assembly of components, not the hardware or code.

To make the "assembly of components" do something useful or even turn it from an "assembly of components" into a saleable product, you normally have to include code. Code is copyrighted, so you have to make sure you have the right to distribute it (together with whatever you sell).

Who would your customers be?