Arduino started as a project
that we did at the Interaction
Design Institute Ivrea...
back in 2005
But it has some roots in previous
projects that we worked on
Cause we wanted to make a tool
for our students that was more
modern that what was available
on the market at the moment
Specially because the tool that
everybody was using,
this thing called the BASIC Stamp,
in Italy it was costing, at the
time, about 76€, that's like 100$
so it was very expensive
for the students
They wouldn't do any...
too much work
because they didn't want to
spend money on buying
many boards that expensive,
so what happened...
we started to look at possible
alternatives, and also we
were working on Processing,
the Processing language
because Casey Reas, one of the
founders, was one of the teachers
in Ivrea, so we thought: "Why
don't we try to figure out
how to make Processing for the
hardware?" So we worked with
a student who did a thesis on
the topic, and that produced a
wiring platform. Hernando
Barragán, a Colombian student,
worked on it. And then after
Hernando made Wiring
we started to figure out how
could we make the whole platform
even simpler, even cheaper,
even easier to use.
And then we started to essentialy
reimplement the whole thing
as an open source project. We
wanted it to be open source
so that everybody could come
and help, and contribute.
Then we had another issue: that
there was a lot of discussion
about the school closing, so
we decided: "OK, let's try
to make this platform and open
it up as much as possible."
Then we stopped talking about
what we would like to have
and started talking about
how to do it.
And when we started talking
about how to do it, Massimo
had been experimenting
with some technology,
I had been experimenting
with a different technology...
We had a talk to decide
what was best and I decided
to try this technology
Massimo had,
because of its
better compatibility
with different OS.
I checked the hardware, found
a couple bugs, we fixed that,
and well, we started
making boards...
I mean, the process from starting
to seriously work on it
to having a board was
a mere two-day one.
All the rest was software.
While I was kind of in
the middle of this I met with
David Cuartielles, who started to
sort of help me in the project,
then became a major contributor,
and then together we kind of made
the first Arduino hardware; then
we had David Mellis joining as
a student to write the software,
then Tom came in as an advisor,
and finally then Gianluca came
in as the person who was able
to manufacture the board, that's
how the team kind of formed,
by adding people by their skills.
We've been using Wiring boards
and wanted to port
a bunch of programs to a cheaper
microprocessor, basically,
to install in some installations;
and I helped write like
a lot of compatibility layers so
that all the old programs
could run in the new processor...
And then just being in Ivrea
and not wanting to spend too
much time on my actual thesis
I spent more and more time like
working with Massimo
and the other guys
developing Arduino.
I knew there was
this development of this
hardware equivalent to
Processing. And I went over
to Ivrea in June of 2005 to do a
workshop with them on another
subject, and they showed me the
Arduino board at that point.
And I looked at it and I said:
"You know, this is great, and it
definitely works for your school,
works for my school too, but
I think it could be a larger
thing, and I think more people
would want to use this." And
Massimo said: "Well, that's good
feedback, thanks." And then I
went back to the States,
and a couple weeks later they
wrote to me and said:
"You know, we want to go further
with this, and we want to try and
get it to the larger world.
Do you want to join us
as part of the team?" And I said
"Yeah". And it was just...
for me it was a case that
this is a tool I could see
using myself, and therefore I
could believe in actually
helping to get it out
to a wider world.
After the first prototyping
there was the need,
or the desire, to start
manufacturing something
in a more professional way,
and in a more commercial way.
because all the first example was
mounted, was done just to make...
to let them work. After
Massimo and David decided
and understood the prototype
was working they needed to
make a bigger batch. So we
decided to work on 200 units
and we made... I made a little
redesign, a little
design for manufacturing
in order to produce them.
It was a test; they agreed
with their school
the Interaction Design institute,
and the K3 of Malmö,
to buy 50 each. That was a
good starting point;
that means we will not lose
all the money but at least
half was coming back. The
selling price was exactly
what we paid; I think we earned
1€ for each board, that is
nothing considering all the
effort we put inside.
But after some advertisement,
after some speaking with friends,
this movement started to move.
And so we received the first
call, our first customer, asking
for one board, it was a friend
of Massimo and David. But this
was the beginning of something.
A few months after meeting he
said "Hey Nate SparkFun, you guys
should carry this thing called
Arduino." And I looked at it and
at that time it was the through
hole version, the RS-232 version,
and I said "This looks very
interesting" but I didn't really
understand it. And... I hadn't
wrapped my head around it.
And so I said: "You know, Tom,
I don't think it's for us, we don't
really do kits, we're not sure
how people are going to react
to this" and so I decided
against it. It was a few months
later, six, seven months later,
that Arduino came out with
the full USB version, fully
assembled and tested and
ready to go, and Tom again
came to ask and said:
"Hey, SparkFun, you should
really carry this." And I said
"OK, well, I'm not really sure,
you know, we'll bring in 20
and see how they sell." And
that was the first 20 out of
about 40,000 at this point.
The first time we heard
about Arduino was
when David Cuartielles came
to an activity called
"Thursdays at Medialab",
which actually was
the first session of that
still ongoing activity.
So he keeps talking about stuff
and at the end, after 90 minutes
of listening to all of
David's tales, he says
he's involved in this
project, but it was a really
small thing, you know?
And I thought "At last!
Come on, David, why wasn't
this the first thing you said?"
I want to talk to you
about Arduino...
Arduino is the last project,
I finished it last week.
I talked to Ivrea's technical
director and told him:
Wouldn't it be great to do
something we can offer for free?
- For free?
- Yeah.
And after that, well, we
worked with Gustavo, and
also kept in touch with
David, and we
organized an Arduino
workshop in October 2005,
which was one of the
first Arduino workshops,
if not the first one ever...
On the last day David proposed
creating some small prototypes.
He called it "Bring your old junk
and let's do something with it."
That led to some quite
interesting projects...
And these people kept on
doing small electronic
instruments, small robots...
At the time I was senior editor
at MAKE, MAKE was only
a couple years old, and I had
heard about this Arduino project.
And I saw it online and I said:
"Well, a lot of people are
starting to talk about this,
I should check it out."
And I got one of the boards and
said "Whoa, this is fantastic,
beginners are gona love this. It
runs on Mac, it runs on PC, it
runs on Linux... this is exactly
what everyone wants."
At the time a lot of people were
using BASIC Stamps, were using
all sorts of microcontrollers,
and I come from using design
tools like Flash and Processing,
and I'm like "Oh, this is
perfect, it's exactly what I
think everyone's going to
want." And this was in the
beginning of when MAKE
was starting to have a store,
and so it took a little while
and you know, it's very hard to
do international money transfers.
Basically we started selling
Arduinos in MAKE right away,
And then later on, when I
started working with Limor,
who's part of Adafruit,
she's a founder, we also
said right away "This is a
fantastic tool for getting
people doing the things that they
want to do with electronics."
Not necessarily learning
everything first, but getting
the application done, like
I want something... I want
my dress to blink. Very hard
to do if you just want to learn
electronics; with an Arduino you
get that done in a few minutes.
Just turn the confetti video...
So this is sort like a demo bay.
We have a number of our
projects set up
This was a project we did
for a single night event
that used Arduino as sensors
and the way it works,
we made these
giant maracas that when
you shake them,
it creates this explosion
of confetti, and
in the original install it was
on a giant sphere, but here...
Each one of these has an
accelerometer in it
and a Bluetooth controller
sending it to the computer
and then we generate
these graphics.
And it's all related to an
specific event
where we wanted people
to lighten up, it was at
a cocktail party, and we wanted
people to really let loose,
and feel more free.
And I wished to show you the
Luminodes project over here...
This was a project we did
early on in the lab,
thinking about networked
lighting,
and the way it works is
there's sort of a family
of lights, and the main light
here, you pick it up
and you can sort of tune
the color by twisting it.
It will set the color, and these
others are sort of children...
As the user plays with them
they all sort of come into sync.
So we're really into social
relationships that people create
through technology.
So in this case it was
sort of syncing a number
of people up who were all
using the same thing. And
then we extended it out to
use architectural
scale lighting and
and off-the-shelf
lighting equipment.
The very first thing I tried
to do with an Arduino
was to run a 3D printer on an
Arduino. Which...
I probably should have started
out with something simpler,
because it was really difficult,
and I didn't know anything
about electronics. It was just
like stumbling blindly and trying
to get it to work, but eventually
I got it to work, and now
we sell these MakerBot 3D
printers which actually run on...
There's multiple Arduinos in
the machine.
So this is a 3D printer,
and what that means is it takes
a 3D model from... you can
download one from the internet,
or design it yourself, or
scan in a 3D model of an object;
and then it prints with plastic,
so this right here is a filament,
and so what happens is
this plastic is slowly pulled
down into the extruder head here
and when it's done you'll get a
real object that is exactly
what you wanted.
So you have a digital
file that you give it, and you
basically say "make me one
of this", you hit print, and this
machine will make it for you.
It will make one, or a hundred,
or 1,000 of them if you want.
Which is great, because there's
all sorts of cool open source
things that this will make for
you. So you don't need to have
a laser cutter, or a PCB
fabrication thing to really
participate in open source
hardware. You can just design
something, this will sit on your
desk and print you out stuff.
One of the things I really like
about this is that this allows
you to apply the idea of open
source hardware to things
that are very very basic, that
you would not otherwise
consider to be open source
hardwares. So we have...
There's an open source
whistle, for example.
There's an open source bottle
opener... Over here on the wall
we have a... right here, there's
an open source coat hook.
So we have a coat hook...
this is open source hardware.
There's a file on the internet
you can download and
if you have a 3D printer you
can print out as many
coat hooks as you want, and
you don't have to pay anybody
anything. If you want a bigger
coat hook you can make it bigger.
And it is just this wonderful
idea that we can apply this idea
of open source to all of these
common everyday things
that we use in our life, like...
what we're trying to do is
open source everything.
What sort of can have been a
crazy idea 10 years ago,
are now... actually there's a
path that we can take
to get there. And people are
starting to take it seriously.
Open source hardware is a
fantastic way to make sure
other people can look at your
designs and improve them.
Open source hardware is a
fantastic way so you don't have
to answer e-mails of people
asking "can they use something?"
You've put the license out
there, you've said...
Open source hardware for us
means you can take our stuff,
you can do whatever you want
with it... you just have to do
the same thing we did: release
it back, allow other people
to do whatever they want with it
and they can sell it as long as
all the attribution, all the
credits, all things that you've
requested, are respected. And
so far it's worked out great:
If you look at Linux, it's a
perfect example. If you look
at Apache, all these things that
run the web, it's all open source
If you had to pay someone, or
talk to someone, or license
something every time you wanted
to put up a website,
we wouldn't have the fantastic
world of information sharing
we do. So I look at Arduino as
a physical representation of
all the great things you got
with open source software,
but now starting to happen
in hardware.
We will hit a level where
people will be creating...
people will be creating hardware
on the same way that people
were creating books after
movable type became cheap and
easy to replicate. And I really
think that that's the level
of the open source hardware
revolution, as we are looking
at something like a Gutenberg
event, where movable type
will change how people read,
write and share information, only
in this case it will be how we
create and use physical objects.
The idea behind having control
over these physical objects
and being able to manipulate them
at will and not be afraid
to take them apart, to see
what's inside, to really
know everything that's going
on... That's something really
behind the open source
hardware for me,
and something I'm really
passionate about.
You know, of course open source
means that you are
making it for the community
at large, based on work
that other people have
done. So it's kind of like I'm
taking one step up a ladder, and
then I'm helping other people
go further up the ladder.
The current problem is that
because of both standardisation
and the patent system,
a lot of people were left
without the possibility
of learning how things work;
this ended up being
possible only to a group
of people: the hackers,
whose technical knowledge
allowed them... made them
feel able of opening an
electronic element to see
what it had inside. And that's
open source hardware for me:
it means to once again
be able to check
what is inside of stuff,
but in a way that is allowed,
that is also ethically "right",
legal, and that allows us to
improve the educative methods.
All things considered, what
open hardware is for me
is a system that makes people
able to learn about the way
things work in this world
we live in, where there are
more computers than
people. So we need to
understand how our stuff
works, not only for being able
to repair it, but also to
understand how our own
life works. And I thing that
is really necessary nowadays.
At the beginning, on the whole
question of open source
hardware versus open hardware,
open source, it's still very
a very complex situation, there's
still not very defined standards
or licenses or processes...
For us at the beginning
it was a specific need: we knew
the school was closing, and we
and we were afraid that lawyers
would show up one day and say
"Everything here goes into a box
and gets forgotten about."
So we thougt "OK, if we open
everything about this,
then we can survive the
closing of the school."
So that was the first step.
Then we started to figure out
that there was a way to get a
very nice ecosystem of people
participating and making
extensions, making derivatives,
and helping. And then our
activity of talking to
manufacturers, and making
them to build things,
became an interesting study
on how there could be
a business model that would
apply to open source.
For us it was really important,
as a cultural space
for experimentation, to try
and apply the logic of
free tools to the
actual process of working.
That was the idea behind
"Interactivos?", a space
where people could develop
their own projects but where
other people could also
get involved in them
as collaborators. Because
the process is open for
anyone to participate.
That is, for us, a quite...
how to say it, a strong
relationship; we feel that
we are always trying to get
inspiration from something
as surprising as all free
software processes are,
and in this case... we had never
heard about the existance of
"free hardware". So all started
buzzing with possibilities
that went in all kind
of directions.
I love open source hardware.
I think everything should be
that way. It's great for
education, I like sharing
what we've learned, and it's
easy for the kids to find out
more and it would be great if
they could build their own things
I did not learn
microcontrollers until my
middle years in college, til
the end of college.
And I was really blown away
by how easy it was to use
Arduino, namely, being the
forerunner development board.
I think, given the right series
of events, and if Arduino and
electronics could be taught in
high school, I think there's a
big future for not only
engineers, but also artists.
Also digital media interactive
design people. If they can learn
that in high school, imagine
how much more they can do
later in life.
When the Arduino
sends the signal,
it controls exactly the same
these two buttons would.
This is made for
recording and playing
when you manually touch
the keys. But if you put in
opto-isolators,
these two things here,
you can bridge the keys
through the controller
and activate them with an
electric signal that comes
from the controller,
that is programmed.
That's why Arduino is
so powerful, because
you can control any
machine that works...
It is an amazing tool
for giving young people
this age get in contact
with all those...
an awful lot of realities
they live in.
First to get them to learn
that the consumer side
-this "use the remote
with the machine" side-
is not the only one;
that it is possible to
understand what's inside
and get the control back.
Because now all these kids
have a huge amount of
gadgets which they have
no idea how they work at all.
With Arduino you can get a
small glimpse of how all this
stuff works, show them some
schematics that allow them to
have a certain way
of looking at all
the technological world that
is going to surround them.
And it is also quite funny,
can be used to teach electronics,
to teach them how to think,
it teaches them how to have
less short-term projects
and work as a team,
how to participate in a
community, get information...
The potential for students
when they're just learning
how to use the computer, to
learn how to make things
with computers... to me that...
that's powerful.
And what that would
actually mean long term
for students with only 50$,
be able to plug something
into their computer and
make something with it
over and over and over again
and then really share it...
The type of creative community
that can engender in young people
to me I think that is... That's
going to change everything,
and I'm really excited to see
what happens as it develops.
Arduino has 120.000
users nowadays,
or 130.000 users...
I just count the number
of sold boards. The traffic
that we are now getting
in our website is close
to 15 million hits per month.
Which means around
600.000 hits per day.
That is knowing it is actively
used in universities,
also used by people who work
on their personal projects...
Now imagine it was to
start being used
in high school education.
Its future will not
be "technological",
it will be quite more social;
it will be some kind of
big boom where a lot
of people will start
using it.
I definitely see Arduino
taking one path of
being just very easy to use,
even easier than it is now.
So making it easier for
beginners to get into it.
All my favourite distortion
pedals... a Big Muff...
with my favourite
microcontroller board, Arduino.
The user base would get
10 or 20 times bigger.
If all of a sudden these
people started sharing
their files on the network,
it would just not support all that.
It would just not work.
Here's a robot.
If I tilt, you see the light
goes left... I go up...
I want Arduino to always
be a tool that people
who have no understanding
of computers can look at
and can get an understanding
of how a computer works.
But I sell this. So that's part
of how I make my living.
For this to keep working like
it does ten years for now
we need to be able to keep
creating new hardware,
we will need the continous
feedback of the community,
and to be able to include
their changes and
their proposals with all
the necessary upgrades.
And after those 10 years,
I hope we have
at least one Arduino
computer... why not?