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STEMTera (Pink)
The STEMTera is an innovation in breadboard history. It is the first breadboard with an Arduino-compatible hardware suite built in that works with thousands of shields. With ATmega32U2 pins exposed, native USB projects can be easily developed using the LUFA framework. The STEMTera also features a LEGO® brick-compatible bottom that empowers projects to be built beyond imagination. This version of the STEMTera is housed in a durable pink ABS plastic enclosure.
Since the STEMTera is a development board built directly into a breadboard, it eliminates the need for messy wires to be strewn about your work space. By having two microcontrollers built inside the breadboard, it provides direct access to the ATmega328P’s I/O pins. With the 21 I/O pins of the ATmega32U2 exposed, users will be able to develop native USB projects with ease. These extra I/O pins can work directly with the LUFA framework without having a middleman to translate messages as with the original Arduino UNO. Additionally, the STEMTera is pin-to-pin compatible with an Arduino UNO R3 shield and supports multiple IDEs, including: Atmel® Studio, Arduino IDE, AVR-GCC, AVR-GCC with LUFA, Scratch and more!
The STEMTera even has a LEGO-compatible 10x14 bottom cover that enables LEGO bricks to be connected directly into the breadboard without using special mounting techniques or adapters.
- Dual Microcontroller -- ATmega328P & ATmega32U2
- LEGO® Compatible Bottom Cover
- USB Native Development
- 4 LEDs (Power, TX, RX and L)
- Pink ABS Enclosure
- IDE Support
- Atmel® Studio
- Arduino IDE
- AVR-GCC
- AVR-GCC with LUFA
- Scratch
- 111.8mm x 79.8mm x 16.1mm
STEMTera (Pink) Product Help and Resources
Core Skill: Programming
If a board needs code or communicates somehow, you're going to need to know how to program or interface with it. The programming skill is all about communication and code.
Skill Level: Rookie - You will need a better fundamental understand of what code is, and how it works. You will be using beginner-level software and development tools like Arduino. You will be dealing directly with code, but numerous examples and libraries are available. Sensors or shields will communicate with serial or TTL.
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Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.
Skill Level: Rookie - You may be required to know a bit more about the component, such as orientation, or how to hook it up, in addition to power requirements. You will need to understand polarized components.
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Comments
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Customer Reviews
5 out of 5
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Works fine
The STEMTera works fine and is a lot more convenient than having to use a separate Arduino when prototyping a project. For me, it worked exactly as advertised. I'm sure I will continue using it for years. The pink color is perhaps a little unfortunate (they were all out of the black and white ones), but it certainly makes the STEMTerra easy to find on a cluttered desk.
-------------------- Tech Support Tips/Troubleshooting/Common Issues --------------------
Try looking at my comments posted here for Tips/Troubleshooting/Common Issues => https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14082#comment-588f7a5cf3b1a814268b4568 . It links to useful documentation and information about the STEMTera.
Presumably, the pink color is to appeal to female makers, or at least to let them know that it's not meant to be an exclusively male product. If that's so, I've got 2 questions:
Does making things pink actually work that way? Does it bring in female customers who would otherwise pass it by?
Is pinking things really the right approach to correcting the STEM gender imbalance? Is there not the possibility of it being perceived by the target audience as condescension, patronizing behavior and the perpetuation of stereotypes (edited: unnecessary example)?
These are serious questions, not trolling. I am not one of the target audience for pink (either in gender or the appreciation of the color - pink always reminds me of Pepto-Bismol with its attendant unpleasantnesses) so I do not have the cultural context to appreciate what's going on here. I'm hoping for replies that help me understand, similar in caliber to the discussion that Nick had about orientations and opportunities a while back.
Why is there a stigma against pink? It's not like there's a sign that says "Boys get the black product and girls get the pink product"... It's available in three colors. Buy the one you like and stop typing to politicize or otherwise project personal hangups onto a dang breadboard.
As soon as I saw the product announcement I knew I would find comments like this. You can't make anyone happy these days.
Actually, I've seen lots of signs at other companies that basically say that very thing and I was wondering if Sparkfun was doing it, too. Nate's reply answered my question (no, they're not) and I'm happy. If you consider a concern about whether a company is trying to be truly inclusive or just going along with a marketing gimmick a personal hangup, well I guess I'm well and truly hungup.
1) I found the STEMTera concept wildly intriguing.
2) I like the color pink.
So I decided that we should carry pink STEMTeras. I'm sorry to tell you that there is no great 'make it pink' conspiracy. That said, had you been in Denver on January 21st you would have found me downtown. To the best of my abilities I expand my cultural context and I'm glad you're asking questions to try to expand yours. In this case, it's a pink breadboard, for people who might want to buy a pink breadboard.
Just want to throw in that I'm a dude and I'm thrilled that you decided to carry this color as it is totally adorable. (Gender stereotypes hurt everyone!)
Nate, I'm guessing you meant January 21st, not March 21st (although it was claimed to be a march). I will refrain from any political comments regarding this event. This pink Arduino-embedded breadboard, however, also reminds me of seeing pink graphing calculators. I often find pink goods among clearance merchandise, even when more conventional colors are still being sold. And my old dorm room at CU Boulder was puke pink until we quickly repainted it off-white.
I noticed technical comments about STEMTera were on the black version page at https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14082 and none at the white version page at https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14083 I wish there was more technical information available on this particular implementation of an Arduino Uno. I couldn't find any on the stemtera.com product page, just ordering and promotion information, and only a little at the Kickstarter page. It's not even fully clear if a 16U2 or a 32U2 is used in the one available here.
I'll probably order a white one eventually, as that's what I'm used to and is probably most legible, although the black one might be interesting (easier to see lit LEDs?). I don't know if a transparent one (see Kickstarter and stemtera.com product pages) would be all that useful in this case, except for solderless breadboard absolute novices, which actually might be a significant market (related to the education market).
I spent lots of time with Legos as a child in the 1960's, before they had a reliable electric motor system or other accessories (I had the old white motor block with transparent cover, before the later blue motor blobk and battery box with reversible on/off switch).
I suspect this STEMTera product might soon become standard in Electrical Engineering introductory labs, and maybe others (junior/middle/senior high schools? physics? mechanical engineering? aerospace?). My introductory embedded systems EE class at UC Denver uses Arduino Uno/Mega and solderless breadboards. I had a thought or two of a similar product last year, but after looking though the STEMTera Kickstarter updates, I see there is an awful lot that goes into actual product development, especially concerning plastic injection molding and related production and testing issues.
I, too, wish the microcontrollers had been socketed, although soldering them on keeps the initial cost down and increases reliability (at least until a chip is blown). The first microcomputer company I worked for, the digital group in Denver (aka Denver donkeys), socketed all DIP ICs.
As you said, this looks really intriguing! Thank you for supporting development and distribution of this new product.
Typo fixed! I had 'march' on my mind while I wrote that. Thanks!
I thought transparent breadboards were the coolest thing when I first saw them. The first versions of the SIK used one. What we found after teaching many classes was that the clear breadboard made it hard for students to see the holes and was distracting. It was actually really bad for many students so we swapped back to the original white breadboard for modern versions. Your mileage may vary.
I agree with an asterisks. When I was beginning with electronics STEMTera breadboard would have been a great accelerator. But after the initial learning curve it's beneficial for some folks to see the insides. Right tool, right project, right?
Yep - cheaper to SMD everything. And I don't want to challenge you but I haven't seen a blown ATmega328 in years :)
I appreciate your time for a thoughtful answer. Sorry about the conspiracy interpretation, but lately I've seen a lot of that kind of thing what with razors, power tools, electronic equipment, etc. being pinked and sold as specifically for women and I thought that this was the same. I guess I should have known that wasn't the case because unlike the other examples I've seen, the pink Sparkfun product was not being sold at a higher price than the non-pink ones.
I agree that the STEMTera is interesting hardware, but I'll have to respectfully agree to disagree about the intrinsic wonderfulness of pink as a color. And speaking of respectful, I'm sorry if my example of stereotype perpetuation caused distress, that was not the intention.
My 13 year old daughter loves pink. I tried to avoid pink in her upbringing, but pink is her favorite color anyway. She likes the Legos that target girls, as well as Mindstorms. And she's having a lot of fun with the RedBoard at school. So she fits some girl stereotypes and loves STEM at the same time. I prefer the black model, but I'm delighted to be able to buy a pink one for her, because I know she'll love it.
I would argue that, to be inclusive, SparkFun should have more colors available than black, white, and pepto. That way, people can pick pink without feeling that pink is only there because it's stereotypical and some lawyer said that they've got to pink-wash something.
I would ask for black, old cheap breadboard white, actual white, general rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple), PCB-green (a distinct color from "normal" green), pastels (pink, sky blue, etc), brown, and at least one shade of gray.
The folks at STEMTera created a multitude of awesome colors. I really like the colors they chose. SparkFun can't carry them all so white, pink, and black were my top three.
I have white breadboards, and I have black breadboards. But I have no pink breadboards. Since this product is "more than a breadboard", having it in a different color is good.
There were still two pink Stemteras left in the SparkFun Retail Emporium (inside to the right of their front lobby) when I stopped by this afternoon, Friday, June 23, 2017.
I compared the black, orange, and blue Stemteras side-by-side for legibility and they were just as I thought from the large images on the product pages. The lettering on the white one seems the most legible. The blue lettering on the black and blue ones was a little hard to read (not as much contrast between the lettering and background colors). The red lettering on the orange one was a little hard to read, but there is very little red lettering anyway. The two pink ones left were still in their factory sealed anti-static packaging, so I did not want to disturb them and did not compare them. (The SparkFun staff person forgot to bring a white one for me to compare, but I decided not to ask him to make a second trip.)
I elected to pick up the black one I had ordered earlier anyway; it's somewhat unique (won't get lost among my many other white solderless breadboards) and the black color might make it easier to see dimly lit LEDs I add to the breadboard. Maybe I'll review the black one after playing with it a while.
My board seems a little warped. Put 4 2x2 lego 'feet' on it as a work around, but as a lego base, it won't make contact all around. Really cool idea.
I am curious, has ANYONE actually used one, no matter which color, and did they have any problems? Ya know, that is what really matters!
The pink is a great idea, both for anyone who likes pink and also for those whose first preference isn't pink but who don't mind it or the possible gender-related stereotypes it might infer... because it's a great way for these rational folks to get one today and not have to wait for one on back-order...seeing there's 78 STEMTera available in pink right now while both white and black are out of stock.
OK - I give up. Where the heck can we get some documentation for these little suckers??
Schematic, PCB, Fritzing, Firmware, 3D STL files and components datasheet is located here https://github.com/STEMTera/STEMTera-Breadboard-B328
Like @IgnacioV said, the board works exactly like an Arduino UNO R3, and sketch or tutorial you can find online for Arduino UNO can be used.
The user guide is on going development, we are adding pages as we go, you can have early access here
http://learn.stemtera.com
Hope this helps. Feel free to drop a message here if you need other information.
Cheers JP
It's an Arduino Uno with the other pins of the USB-UART bridge MCU exposed, so look at the Uno documentation and the datasheets for both MCUs.