New Arduino Board - Esplora

A new Arduino Board has recently been announced - the Arduino Esplora.

Its a very different proposition to previous Arduino boards in that it is hardwired with a large number of built in sensors -

The Esplora has the following on-board inputs and outputs :

• Analog joystick with central push-button two axis (X and Y) and a center pushbutton.
• 4 push-buttons laid out in a diamond pattern.
• Linear potentiometer slider near the bottom of the board.
• Microphone for getting the loudness (amplitude) of the surrounding environment.
• Light sensor for getting the brightness.
• Temperature sensor reads the ambient temperature
• Three-axis accelerometer measures the board's relation to gravity on three axes (X, Y, and Z)
• Buzzer can produce square-waves.
• RGB led bright LED with Red Green and Blue elements for color mixing.
• 2 TinkerKit Inputs to connect the TinkerKit sensor modules with the 3-pin connectors.
• 2 TinkerKit Outputs to connect the TinkerKit actuator modules with the 3-pin connectors.
• TFT display connector connector for an optional color LCD screen, SD card, or other devices that use the SPI protocol. 

Information reposted from the official Arduino site where full details of the Arduino Esplora can be found -

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardEsplora

The TFT Display connector will be interesting - adding a display to the array of build in inputs will make the Esplora and ideal platform for 8-bit Arcade clones - something that will feature on rcarduino as and when an Esplora arrives.

To get up and running quickly with the new inputs and outputs, the Esplora has its own set of easy to use libraries.

Esplora libraries -

readSlider() 
readLightSensor() 
readTemperature() 
readMicrophone() 
readJoystickSwitch() 
readJoystickButton() 
readAccelerometer() 
readButton() 
readJoystickX() 
readJoystickY() 
writeRGB() 
writeRed() 
writeGreen() 
writeBlue() 
readRed() 
readGreen() 
readBlue() 
tone() 
noTone() 

reposted from the official Arduino website - http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/EsploraLibrary
 

To get a flavour of what can be achieved out of the box with the new Arduino Esplora, check out the example sketches

EsploraBlink : Blink the Esplora's RGB LED
EsploraAccelerometer : Read the values from the accelerometer
EsploraJoystickMouse : Use the Esplora's joystick to control the cursor on your computer EsploraLedShow : Use the Joystick and slider to create a light show with the LED
EsploraLedShow2 : Use the Esplora's microphone, linear potentiometer, and light sensor to change the color of the onboard LED.
 EsploraLightCalibrator : Read the values from the accelerometer
 EsploraMusic : Make some music with the Esplora
 EsploraSoundSensor : Read the values from the Esplora's microphone
 EsploraTemperatureSensor : Read the temperature sensor and get the temperature in in Farhenheit or Celsius.

Experts
EsploraKart : Use the Esplora as a controller to play a kart racing game.
EsploraTable : Print the Esplora sensor information to a table format.
 EsploraRemote : Connect the Esplora to Processing and control the outputs.
 EsploraPong : Play Pong with the Esplora using Processing.

For the original list see the official Arduino website link - http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/EsploraLibrary

Stay Tuned Duane B