This is a versatile microcontroller already provisioned with some useful functionality and terminal strips and connectors so no soldering needed for the basic functionality. There’s lots more functionality available for those who can solder.
What’s built in is a servo output with connector, a 3W audio amplifier with screw terminal, RGB and RGBW neopixel LED output that can drive long strings of neopixels where you can set the color individually on each one, a built-in 3-axis accelerometer for tilt/motion/tap detection, a button/switch input, and a 3.7V LiPo charger built in where the circuit can run from battery or USB-C. You can just power it from USB or it will autoswitch and auto charge if a battery is connected and you plug or unplug from USB power.
It also has a STEMMA 4-wire connector that lets you connect up to accessory boards like real time clocks, capacitive touch sensors, GPS, displays of various types, temperature and humidity sensors, etc, just by plugging the various boards in and loading their libraries.
For those who can solder, there’s ADCs, PWM outputs, I2C, logic I/O, and so on.
There’s a whole line of these things but I’m linking specifically to the Prop-Maker. Some others have stepper and brushed motor outputs, wifi, bluetooth, etc. The processors on these things are very powerful too.
Programming is about as simple as it can be. There’s lots of stuff “under the hood” that makes dealing with these things much easier than many might think. Plug these into a computer and they look like a USB drive. You just copy your program and any libraries it needs to the USB drive and it loads and runs. You still have to know how to write a program, though.
The place that has created these is called Adafruit. They are big into STEM education and providing fun projects and teaching materials. They have lots of example programs that you can just copy and use in your own programs. CircuitPython, a variation on Python, is the language usually used with these. And there’s many other microcontrollers of various types there too.
This won’t be for everyone but those who have programmed and especially if they have programmed micros before should take to these like ducks to water.
I thought this one might be of interest since no soldering necessary for some useful functionality. Many accessories, how-to guides, tutorials, and projects to learn from there too.
