A special Arduino meetup with Massimo Banzi - One Maker Group

Speaker: Massimo Banzi

Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/328672520840362/

Produced by Engineers.SG

...that's from Singapore, (really?)

Yes.

Wow, very cool.

Okay. Well,

thank you for the warm welcome.

I don't want to talk too much

because I, you know,

I don't want to bore you with too much.

But I want to know a little bit more

about what you are doing.

It's very (easy) for me because

as William mentioned, you know

one day out of the (blue) he showed up

in the South of Switzerland

with the whole family

to come and attend the workshop

to learn about Arduino.

And it was very (interesting) for us

to see somebody coming from so far away

to learn this thing.

And also, I'm very – I'm very impressed

with the work that - that you have done

to kind of, you know, rally the makers

here in Singapore

and have a space like this.

And I think

it's also very interesting

that you are a teacher

by training, no?

And we will be discussing today about

how it is now important

to start teaching

this kind of stuff in school

because when I started working

on Arduino,

I was in a Master's degree for

– I was teaching in a Master's degree

for designers,

specifically Interaction Designers

so that the prototyping aspect

is very important.

And really

getting a functioning prototype

was a very important idea.

And I guess

when I was doing this,

it wasn't such

an obvious thing

like – like in Italy

where I come from

it's very famous for design,

but they tend

to do like

non-really functioning prototypes,

you know, they

there is no – there were no designers

kind of messing with electronics.

They didn't deal

with this kind of stuff.

While it was much more

of a Northern European idea

that designers should mess

with electronics,

and mechanics,

and you know, everything.

You know, they should be dealing -

kind of interested

in using these kind of tools.

And then we

kind of realized

that a lot of the tools -

there is an interesting thing

that happens

in the world of technology

that there is

a strange resistance

to make tools

that simplify the life

of grown-ups.

Now if you're trying

to make a tool for children,

everybody says,

“Oh yeah, children.

We need to make tools

to teach children how to code.

Everybody is trying to make robots

to teach kids how to code.”

And there’s like

a thousand of these robots

and they're all the same,

because teaching kids is good.

As soon as you say,

“I want to make it easier for adults

to understand about electronics.”

No. No, because grown ups

need to learn the right way,

which normally means

an incredibly old fashion way

way of teaching

that's very theoretical,

that nobody gets interested in.

And so it restricts

the number of people

that have access to these technologies.

Well, one of the ideas

that I was very - interested is -

to how – how do you create tools

that enable everyday people

to try to work

with electronics creatively.

There's also obviously

a bit of a political element to this

because if there – in the world

that we're living

is becoming completely digital.

You know, everything is digital now.

You do music with and with computers

you do cinema with computers,

we do a lot of things with computers.

And even like

the most classic activities are –

you know, yesterday I was crossing

border from Malaysia into Singapore

and we have to carry

a piece of electronics

into the country.

And the people I was with,

they've checked the customs

on a mobile phone.

They had a mobile app

to clear customs,

which for me is a “Wow.”

But l said like

totally 21st century, you know.

But if you cross it into the boarder

even if they pull out the piece of paper

that was printed in 1912,

and they have to pull out,

they stamp it notes,

you crossed the border

like you crossed the border

a hundred years before, you know.

So it's kind of – I said, “Wow.

This place is really, you know,

in the next century.”

I mean we are technically

in the 21st century,

but a lot of countries are still stucked

in the 20th century.

They haven't made the transition yet.

And so what I'm saying is that

if the world where we're living

everything is digital,

then who designs

the technology that we use?

Change is also the way that we live.

And so, if the number of people

who are participating in innovating,

in inventing things

is limited to a smaller

set of the population,

then it means that

a smaller group of people

decides how we live our digital life.

And since our digital life

and the real life is becoming,

you know, very- one thing,

then basically they decide

how we live our lives.

So clearly we need

a lot more people that are involved

in using technology creatively.

We need to teach –

we need to explain to people that

if you used electronic

as a creative tool,

it's not that you're

becoming an engineer,

it's a different thing, you know.

Being an engineer really requires

a little bit more training and

but inventing and doing creative work

with electronics doesn't require you

to do five years of

or three years of, you know, university.

You can learn something

without that kind of

you can build something

with less knowledge

with just enough

what you do invent something

to have ideas.

Also because a lot of the things

that I noticed is that

if you take a farmer

and the farmer explains his problems

to an engineer,

the engineer won't make something

that kind of works, you know,

because they'll be obviously smart,

very intelligent already.

But it will never be

the same as in the

as a farmer that comes up

with an idea because they understand

what it means to be a farmer

and they understand how to use

the technology to fix that.

And this applies to doctors for example.

So today I've met your

the Minister of

or the Foreign Affairs of Singapore,

and I was so shocked

because he's an Arduino user,

he knew everything about Arduino.

He was making a very difficult

technical questions about this.

I gave him as this WiFi board

as a present and we were like

we were debating like encryption keys

and power consumption and like

and I thought he was an engineer

and then I realized he's an eye doctor.

But then the neat idea is

if an eye doctor

understands technologies like

Arduino so well,

imagine what kind of innovation

he can bring to the world

of his profession of

being an eye doctor.

Then somebody else would

never be able to do.

So that's why I think that

making tools that make life simple

to people is something that

is very important

to really enable people to innovate.

And also I think

it's the work that we do as makers

doesn't stop at the

electronics or the software.

There's a lot of other things

that we do that are not

about electronics and software

that kind of enable people.

Like for example,

I used to go to the Maker Faire in the US.

And although there were like 100,000 people

at the Maker Faire in California,

I was kind of like, you know,

I was a privileged person

because my company paid for me to go to California

and there's a lot of people that would like to go

and see the Maker Faire in California,

but they don't have the money to go.

So, and I thought I need bring this

Maker Faire to Europe

but not just a mini-Maker Faire,

I need to bring the Maker Faire to Europe

that's like big and –

so I worked with a bunch of people

that enabled me to bring

the Maker Faire to Rome in Italy

and we've decided to organize

as a European Maker Faire.

And so this year we have 100,000 people

coming to see the Faire from all over Europe

but also people from China and India

came to see the Maker Faire in Rome.

And then we have 600 makers from 31 countries.

And even that does – doesn't have anything

to do with electronics,

I think it's also important

to create these occasions for people to meet,

to understand what they're doing, to exchange.

So this Maker Faire, which now is like -

was the third edition in Rome

already enable the bunch of people

to transform their ideas into companies.

So there was some kids

that showed up the first year

with like a prototype of a 3D printer.

And now they are one of the most

established 3D printer companies in Europe.

And so there was a lot of these things

that we saw happened.

So sometimes it's not about just the technology,

but it's also to create

events, places, situation, you know,

William was mentioning that

we created the first FabLab in Italy.

Because you know, I was

I went to the MIT a number of times

so I saw the first FabLab.

And then one day,

we were looking at the some of the government

to make it short story

asked me to organize something

for a specific event and that would be in Italy.

And it was supposed

to be something about the future of work.

So the Italian way to do this would have be

to take money from the government,

put some panels on the wall

and just put the money

in my pocket and walk away.

And then I said,

“No, that's not going to be it.

I'm not making an exhibition

about the future work,

which is a panels printed on the wall

like kids and again,

18, 20, you know.”

So let's try – so we've said,

“Let's first organize our work in FabLab.”

And we realized that

there were FabLabs here everywhere

including Afghanistan.

But there was no FabLab in Italy.

So I used the money for this exhibition

to create the first FabLab in Italy.

So in a week, you know,

creating the spaces, creating these events,

creating this opportunities is as important

as working on the technology.

So, you know,

as makers we kind of have this.

We make stuff

but we also kind of work with people

and help them, you know,

learn, you know,

make us learn from each other a lot.

So in a way,

you make stuff but you also have a mission,

to help other people and, you know, and it becomes

as so I think it's, you know, what we do

is can have impact, you know,

I've met a lot of makers in these years

I've been working on Arduino

and I have met people who have built medical devices

that solve, you know, farmers

– to solve problems for farmers in South America.

So there was a bunch of people that actually used this

technology to effectively, positively impact people's life

and I think this is possible.

If you call yourself a maker,

you kind of have to think that part of your

“job description” is to help other people in a way,

you know, with your knowledge or, you know,

by making by simpler or, you know,

organizing an event, organizing a space like this one

and stuff like that.

So this is kind of what, you know,

I like - of what happened when we worked on a tool

that was supposed to help the life of

physically 25 people because in the schools

where I teach the classes have 20 people – 25 people.

So we built the school 25 people and now

it has – funny enough, there's 25 million people,

visit the Arduino website at least once in a year,

which is kind of a multiply – they're multiplying

the effects that we create, you know.

There was imagined for – to help 25 people

and it's like 25 million people are kind of find

to figure out what are these or they're using these.

So I'm obviously, I'm super surprised about

what happened and it's kind of, I never thought

it was going to be this big, but, you know, I'm glad.

But I'm more also - to see those who are learning

about what you are doing and, you know,

how you will use this kind of tools of high,

you know, what it needs for you to be a maker,

what do you make?

And so, are you all Arduino users here?

Raise your hands so I can (looked).

Okay, that's very good. That's very good.

Do you know how – how many users

how many at home fix the user?

It's very difficult to estimate.

Actually yes. So from – I think

so what I meant is if you can – if you want to ask me

question, that's better to listen to your questions

than kind of talking to you is like a very – this

going on, and on, and on, and on.

So I'm more (interested) in what you have to say.

Now and then, the number of users that are probably

in community is very difficult to estimate

because obviously, you know, Raspberry Pi

has an easy job, therefore

they don't – they're the only one making this so they

know exactly how many there are.

But Arduino is kind of open-source,

so everybody is, you know,

either making their own ‘duinos or

buy the Arduinos for China or

something like that.

That's okay. But you know, it's open-source hardware,

as long as you don't call it Arduino, you can

do whatever you want.

So the – what can I say is that.

October 2015 or October 2016,

25 million people made at least

one visit to the Arduino website.

There was – then obviously,

this means there was somebody that showed up,

looked at the homepage and said “What is this bullshit?”

then scroll the browser.

And then people will spend maybe an hour.

The average visit duration on the

Arduino website is six minutes,

which for a website is a lot of time.

Because it means that if somebody

open the page and click this. So one second.

And somebody spent the whole afternoon

browsing through all the documentation,

like “Oh my god. What is this, you know.”

So there's a interesting,

you know, it means there is –

that the website is a tool that you use

to learn, to communicate to the forum,

has now many million messages posted on it.

And it's available in several different languages.

So most of the other thing that I

visit from – I think in the last year

that IDE was downloaded 11 million times.

But that's not a good indication

because the statistic say that

there is very few people connecting from China,

which is strange because when I go to China,

everybody is doing Arduino.

Then I realized is that

(inaudible) some Chinese Arduino communities

has sort of created their own Arduino website.

And so I guess a number of

people download the software

from a Chinese server that doesn't

go through our server.

So, we don't know exactly how many people

– it is interesting to see that in the first

week that we release a new version of the IDE.

We had maybe 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 downloads.

maybe about - sorry 1,700,000 in

the first like three to four days.

And this to me indicates what's kind of

a hardcore part of the community

is what we want for some million

people who are kind of using it,

you know, it's their main tool.

Then you'll never know,

because there are number of people who are still

stuck at Arduino 1.0.6

And they don't want to update,

which is kind of weird, you know, because it's

I don't know. It’s like you, you are – I don't know.

It's like those people who use

Word1.0 to write documents.

And they're like,

“Oh, I'm never upgrading. This is fantastic.”

Yeah like the romantic one. The romantic one.

Yeah, also they're crazy also.

Do you know the guy that writes Game of Thrones?

He writes everything on an

old 1980s computer

that's running probably maybe MS-DOS.

And everything is written on five inch floppy disks.

Like, you know, if one of those floppy disks

goes bad, you'll lose the whole

season of Game of Thrones, no?

Which I don't watch. So I don't care.

Perhaps maybe – maybe, you know,

maybe you're into that stuff

and you know and so your

future seasons of Game of Thrones are in

the hands of a five-inch floppy disk.

So some people are stuck in this

1.0.6 like World and like, okay.

So it's kind of a (they that simple).

Yes?

Just – I'm not a user yet.

I'm still waiting for – shipping the product.

Okay.

But I just noticed when I was

looking around for things like that or,

you know, that there are many other

– company is now trying to sort of

mimic what you’ve done.

Yes.

So I noticed Intel is coming out

with 4.12.
Mm hmm.

What was your claim on that?

How do you see that impact or impact it more?

Well, the example of

– the Intel is a good example because

Intel is one of the very few

– a very, very few companies

who's said,

“We want to do something that's Arduino

compatible, so we're not going to be

“bad” people.

We're going to talk to you and work with you.”

Okay.

So they have that – Intel is

probably the company that's been

the most supportive and cooperative

and works with us officially

along with Samsung and Microsoft.

So, they're really going to work with us officially.

And then obviously it's open-source.

So anybody can just, you know,

use what we do.

And obviously it's sort of

becomes some kind of a standard.

So now even Boards that's got

nothing to do with Arduino,

they adopt the Arduino connectors.

So there was a company that made a

board that was called a “pcDuino”.

It wasn't running

- it wasn't running Arduino,

but it had these – with the Arduino connectors

because some people thought that they could

program (it in) Arduino and then I'm like,

“This is a Linux machine.”

Yeah. So it's –

although the Arduino name is

trademarked, the problem is that if you want

to really protect the trademark, you have to

spend a huge amount of money.

So,

we don't

want to spend our time protecting

trademarks.

Yes?

And then you.

Where did the name Arduino come from?

Okay. That's very interesting.

So the –

so basically, we came up

with Arduino a while, while –

I was working in this town

in the Northwest of Italy called the Ivrea.

And

in the year of 1000,

there was a guy named Arduino

that was born Ivrea

and he became the first king of Italy.

Obviously, he wasn't really the king of Italy

because back then nobody even knew

what was going on at the other side of Italy

because there was no internet so.

So, he’s kind of self-proclaimed king of Italy.

And then so the people of Imperia call

Arduino everything.

There is the Arduino Street,

the Arduino Square,

the Arduino Crane Company,

the Arduino Sports Car,

and there is also the Arduino bar.

So that's where I used to go get drinks.

I was like, when we have to find the name

for this thing I say,

“Yeah well, let's call it Arduino like the bar.”

And then, you know, later on we'll see how

– and later on, you know,

that was March 17, 2005

and then still

still

it's been called that.

Oh, yes, sorry.

I have two kids aged five and seven.

Okay.

And we watch on Ted Talk two or three years ago.

-Mm hmm.
-And somebody ask doing the Ted Talk like

Can you give us some few fun projects?

And you mentioned a few back then

I remember that was somebody

had programmed the Arduino to make (inaudible).

Yeah.

And the kids love it.

And like since then

I don't know what else has been happening.

Can you think of anything that might be fun

-for the kids to look at that I can...
-Wow.

…Google afterwards?

-Like anything about pets and animals, and all these things.
-Yeah.

One of the exempt was the (sound) detector

if somebody who made the chair that tweets...

-When you fart.
-Yeah.

That was an interesting project.

My son is five and my daughter is seven.

And they were the – make Arduino.

And like they (bare way of a great work things) to this lab.

Okay.

We were all playing around with little things.

-Mm hmm.
-But I'm not

I'm not a creative person.

If you can suggest a few fun projects

-And it would be (inaudible).
-You know, I just figure what could be a good idea.

Well actually

I mean, because it have to be strictly Arduino.

But for example, if you look at “Little Bits”.

They have raised this kit called “Little Bits.”

But they have electronic components

that you can snap together magnetically

They're designed for kids

and you can build some fun projects with it

and you don't need to do any programming or anything.

So, that's where – a good way to get kids started.

-(Little Bit junior). So like...

-they (have) a way of concept
-Yeah.

-but I need to like create some concrete examples
-Okay.

-of what can be done.
-Yeah.

-And I'm running out of examples for...
-Yeah. (I’m trying to understand).

Because normally somebody who's like seven is just

on the edge of being able to use Arduino.

Because, you know, using Arduino

requires you to understand written text.

And so normally

young kids don't – they're not necessarily

they don't understand written text

until they are probably, you know, seven years old

six or seven years old.

And so, I'm going to

at the moment I could have a very good idea.

One of the things that we

we've done now is that we made this board

and with Intel that is called the Arduino 101.

And kind of looks like that basic Arduino

but the processor is much more intelligent.

So a couple things it has is that

it has a motion sensor.

So, if you move around the board

it detects movement and it also has bluetooth low energy

So there is this guy the in the US

who wrote a software that turns all the movements you do

in the port into midi notes.

So if you have a computer

you can connect the Arduino to the computer

as a midi controller.

And so as you shake it in different ways

it make sounds.

So, we did a workshop for those ones

with that one and it was very funny because

by making modification to an existing code

that you could find online

then kids could just, you know, make different sounds.

And also on the computer

if you have a – do you have a MAC or...

If you have a MAC

you just need (Datatrend) which is free on the MAC.

-This is all good.
-And essentially, you can associate that

to a specific musical instrument.

And then you basically play

by shaking, moving and, you know...

-It would be good for Christmas actually.
-It's...

-That's a great idea.
-kind of like cute application

that doesn't require you to actually deal any circuit.

And so, that one was a –

I use that in a workshop with the notes

And, you know, and they loved it

because it's just simple concept.

You have an existing software

you just make a few modifications

and you get different variations of these

and I think that's kind of funny.

I think everything that kind of makes sounds and music

tends to work.

Somebody years ago

build like an electronic drum set using Arduino

Again, they use like old CDs

and they glued this very simple sensor

(these piezo) sensors to that CD.

Then the Arduino

that's when you hit that particular old CD

and send a signal to the computer

which turns it into notes and plays the music.

And demonstration video was like, you know

looks like a one year old kid

with a drumstick going [drum sound]

and he totally love it.

It was – but the construction is simple

because you recycle old CDs, old mouse pads

or something and you build it

and becomes a drum set.

So, this kind of stuff

you can find online as projects to build, you know.

Another thing that I would recommend

is that there is a company in London

that sells those online called “Technology Will Save Us”.

And it started by

these friends of mine were very, very nice

very intelligent people

and they make a few kits for kids.

One is like

it's like a game console made with Arduino

but it displays an eight by eight (pixel thin) with

which is a very super low resolution console

and you play few video games.

Another one is a kit

that helps you take care of a plant

so you can connect sensors into the plant.

And the third kit is a theremin.

So it's a musical instrument.

You move the hands near the

the Arduino it only makes different kind of sounds.

But it's a nice –

probably because you buy the kit.

The instructions are very simple

and in one day you can assemble it with your kids

and they play with it.

So it's kind of a, you know, it teaches kids

about the fact that you can actually build your own toys

which a lot of kids

are kind of lost this idea to build your own.

You have fun with this stuff

that you make yourself, you know.

Oh, yes?

So we're actually doing a sort of

visual interface for Arduino.

-Okay.
-And all we have is that

you know, a different laptops

you know, a the different – (libraries you need to use).

So as you can help bringing all those up in the (server)

and sort of compile over the Cloud

you know, through that.

We want to know whether there's any licensing issue

that I should be aware of and then putting it all online

and putting all the libraries

-and all the different (inaudible).
-So as long as you don't call it “Arduino”.

I mean if you call it arduino.sg

clearly that's a problem.

But, you know, actually so

a few months ago

we launched an online version of our IDE.

-Yes.
-It’s called “Create”.

And as of point

we have in the

in the list of things we want to do.

We have also a scratch-like interface.

But – so we also produced

the software called “Arduino-Builder”.

You should look it up – look it up – you look it up

it's “Arduino-Builder”.

So basically, we took out

all of the compilation part of the regular IDE

and we put it into a common line tool.

So if you use that one

to compile the code

it is exactly the same code

that comes out of the Arduino IDE.

So – and you can put that in the Cloud

and the license is very

I mean if you make improvement or modification

you should share it back but you can

then put it on a server and use it.

That one gives you the ability to be (compile).

So you get the same exact code as the Arduino IDE.

And also we add these features that make it easier

for Arduino to find where your libraries are

so that some parts of the compilation

are better automated now.

So including other libraries

you know, other codes need some libraries

and obviously so I'm not sure

if including those libraries will expose any other...

No, if you

I think normally if you put the libraries on the server

in whatever format

as long as when people download it

they understand that this library is from Adafruit

they made it and that you're not claiming

to own anything

but yeah, the library is GPL

so you need to basically provide people

with a link to say where you downloaded it from.

So that they know that this is an Adafruit product.

Adafruit is happy if you use their code.

They don’t complain.

They only get upset where

there has been a number of situation where, you know

Adafruit are really good because they make

hundreds of libraries

And then they called them “Adafruit_something”.

So that people understand

that they have to thank Adafruit

for their work.

And there's a number of people who download it.

They removed that “Adafruit_”,

they maybe modified couple of lines

and then they put it out as their own library.

So they kind of take away

the credit from Adafruit which is, no

not nice.

-But if you don't do that, then you’re okay.
-Very nice.

Very nice.So basically, most of the audience were all

they knew all about Arduino.

So who – do you use also Arduino in your profession?

-Is anybody were using it as a profession?
-Yeah.

Can I – can you show me the hands?

Oh wow, that's nice.

So, what do you build with Arduino?

Not me, my staff.

-All we did was
-Okay.

we connected the dissolved oxygen sensor

-with Arduino
-Okay.

and tied it up to a actuator to turn on an aerator

Okay.

so we put them on fish ponds and prevents fish kills

-from lack of oxygen.
-Wow.

Very cool. Nice.

Any other application that you build

that somebody wants to talk about?

-Yes.
-I got a intern at home

and starting in 9th of January.

-I used to work with Raspberry Pi.
-Okay.

And probably not – when it comes to (storage menu),

so I want them to work on sensor.

(May I call this sensor)?

-Yeah.
-Like it (with) a drone.

-Oh, wow.
-And so we can start mapping the air quality in cities.

Oh, wow. Yeah that's...
-So with the – I'm not an expert in Arduino.

So, maybe you got some tips whereas like

where would you actually start?

Well, effectively almost

any Arduino would work

because you just need to store the data somewhere.

We're about to launch a board which is kind of like this

small and it's just the same processor

that we have in Arduino 0 which is a 32 bit

ARM processor and it also has a

micro-SD protector.

So you put a micro-SD. You protect the sensor

and when it flies around,

you download the position.

And the value from the sensor, you store it in the SD card

and when the drone comes back, hopefully.

You take out the SD card

and you get a CSV file to download.

So to build that code is very simple

and essentially this was designed for

this kind of activity.

Well, it's going to be called “MKR zero”.

Are you broadcasting this?

-Yes.
No. (inaudible) – that's catchy.

Yeah, there's going to be a border or in a (Adafruit makes)

-King size SD card.
-As we go – try to – yeah, it's kind of similar.

-Question.
-Yes.

I have a question from my friends.

They're asking,

“What's the most impactful Arduino project

-that you've encountered so far?”
-Oh wow.

Yeah. That's a difficult question.

I should prepare for this question like every month I decide.

It's very difficult because every time I feel that

we found something that's very impactful

then somebody comes up with

something else that's crazier.

And I don't know. To me it's very interesting to see

for example, if you look at the open source 3D printers,

including the major (board).

They all kind of started of with the Arduino

as there hardware platform

and the work that is – a lot of people hae done

using Arduino to understand

how to control motion in these kind of machines

has generated a body of knowledge

that gets used in rebreathers and people

made sealing machine based on the same idea.

People made open source laser cutters.

People may even – cake decoration robots with that.

Somebody made a machine that tattoos

your – our wrist.

Like you put your wrist – your arm inside

and it tattoos stuff on your arm.

And it's interesting because this is all based

on this very interesting phenomena

this layering of technology.

So we in a way simplify

the access to electronics and software

and then somebody start building something

that was called “motion control”

and they work is equal to Grbl

which is like a software that takes G-code,

they are using – (skills) the machines

and controls the stepper motor.

And then on top of that, people started

to create all the different things

and they could – this thing called “RAMPS”.

This shield that a lot of 3D printers used RAMPS.

And then that particular

combination of Arduino

mega plus RAMPS, steam power

like a ton of printers.

And so it's interesting, you know this, you know,

people understand and they build

and somebody else comes and builds on top of that.

And then now we have

a lot of these 3D printers

that are enabled by the work that

people have done, you know, by collaborating

in different ways.

So I think that's broad enough,

you know, like a

crazy lifesaving project

but it's – to me it's very important because

it shows that, you know,

if you work together you could kind of

create – you can create

a body of knowledge that becomes useful.

So if somebody want to build

some kind of a machine with

an x, y, z axis machine.

A little bit like a 3D printer.

They don't start from zero.

They can create that

and build something with it.

And doing that, it's kind of knowledge

is an important, you know, tool.

Then obviously, you know, people have built

machines to analyze the DNA

and then build a machines that can

incubators for kids in

and people have build, you know, tools for

people that cannot speak, also they can, you know.

At the Maker Faire this year,

somebody build a glove

for people that cannot speak

so they can use sign language

but then the Arduino – store gigabyte from Arduino

that understands the signs

and uses the mobile phone to speak the words.

So if somebody cannot speak

they can sign and the phone (cannot) speak

which enables people to use

sign language with people

who don't understands sign language.

I think it's a very important innovation.

And so we gave it – we give this project

100,000 euro as a price at the Maker Faire.

But this type of project was

somebody made a sensor that allows

blind people to go on bicycles.

Yeah. It was kind of – (like a thesis).

It allows blind people to participate in bicycle race.

-Wow.
-So they have a special three-wheel bicycle

and this sensor has a bunch of

sensors that detect obstacles

and so the person who rides the bike

and the sensor tells

person if there are obstacles around and they just race.

So they gave it with the school.

They could have blind people race in the paralympics.

There was another group that

build a video game for dogs.

A video game for dogs.

It's essentially a box

with three buttons.

And it releases these biscuits for dogs.

So the dogs sees a a light on,

they go – they (keep) with their, you know,

paw and they get a...(cookie)

And then the more they learn how to do

this, the more their gain

becomes complicated.

So the dog has to kind of go all

the sequences and everything.

And apparently, it keeps the dogs busy

while their bored.

And they are happy.

So there was industry

installation of this kind of projects and

every year there's – weren't more.

So it's kind of hard to...

Yes.

I have a question.

So as you mention the Arduino 101 just now.

-Yeah
-And meanwhile, (called out) Arduino 101

which is on internet (and how can we)

has a potential for of (mesh network)

-Oh yeah.
-And I'm wondering when

we're to expect Arduino of having

his time neural network speed.

Yeah. Actually you can use it now.

There is a thing called the

“The Intel Pattern Matching Library”

you can build it.

Intel is not really great at explaining

to people how cool is the product

into – because with this name nobody

would – it's a pattern matching library.

So basically, what happens is that

in the silicon, there is

essentially a neural network implemented

there are some neurons implemented in silicon.

So the idea is that,

you can either train

the neural network directly in the

Arduino 101 if have seen – whole

learning process that you want to do,

or if you want to work

on more complex stuff.

You should get the data

use some kind of a software to train

the neuron and then you download

the information in the network.

But essentially the idea is

more of the potential use.

They use – you connect sensor to this

network and the network can

basically interpret the data from

sensors even if the processor is off.

So for example, if you are

making like a fitness band

like FitBit, the Neural network can

use that accelerometer the board

has a 6-axis sensor.

You can interpret the data.

You can understand that

there was a step,

or somebody who's running, or we’re going up the stairs.

So – and then you count data

but you wake up, the processor

just say “He took a step” turn off

or “she was running for two steps”, stop.

So by doing this, you can save

dramatically the power

and also this kind of motion

a construction algorithm.

They tend to be very, very expensive.

They're not open source.

So if you train network to do it for you

(it's turning off).

You get better quality with the

not having to license those things.

And at the moment

the examples that you find are mostly inside

you press the button,

you shade the board

and the board learnsthat movement.

Every time you do that movement.

it pauses – “oh, you do a movement.”

So the examples are not exactly

exciting but they show you

that there's a lot of potential in that thing.

Westworld. I know you don't watch TV but...

-Sorry?
-Westworld.

-Yeah.
-Oh, yeah.

-You've seen this?
-Westworld.

I don't know. Westworld. All right.

The neural network is not powerful enough

to create this sentient being

actually, what is the last episode,

-it's like this week.
-Ninth season.

-Season 9.
-Ninth season.

Okay. Yes. I was waiting

for the last episode.

Yeah, I know it's not enough

to create – it's normally I think equivalent of

the brain of a tiny insect

tiny insect but still you can create to do some useful stuff.

And mostly, you know, you can do it

optimizing the power, or

optimizing the computing capability.

So that processor has a lot

of features in there.

Is anybody here a teacher like William?

Have you ever taught an Arduino

workshop for somebody else?

Okay, good, good, good.

Have you ever taught Arduino to kids?

Oh, wow. Okay. That's great.

Because you know, it's not

it's not always easy now to teach kids

because they feel like super excited

or you kind of like keep

them focused, you know.

You have – did you have a

did you have a teacher that doing to kids?

What age?

The youngest was my son.

Okay, that's four.

Arduino, for like a four-year old.

Yeah. He looks at the printing and

(how we do things). Okay.

They understand the hardware.

Yeah. I think – I know you're more

thinking about the coding parts

but they're doing the hardware, no problem.

(Mike) is good and faster than I do.

Wow. I think one frequent asked question

which I always get from teachers

You hold it.

Yeah. One of the frequent asked

questions that I always get,

not only as a teacher

but from teachers would be,

“Yeah, all this Arduino is cool,

but what has that ever do with education?

What has that got to do with..."

You know, I don't say

– or my kids are young

or we are from the (Arts stream), you know.

What does this have

to do with (Arts)?

Well, when you hear this

kind of remarks,

what would you say to them?

Oh, wow.

Well, the funny thing is that

sometimes you hear people say

that people who are technically

oriented to technology,

they don't really like the (Arts).

But I have to say

that sometimes people who are into (Arts),

they are little bit, you know,

they kind of – they don't

they're not – they don't say,

you know, kind of – in a way,

they're also the one's

who don't understand that technologies.

You know, it goes “Creative”

– a community.

And a lot of (arts)

is done now with technology.

Like contemporary art's

are using computers,

they're using electronics.

One of the first community

to adopt Arduino

after my students were musicians,

building new interfaces for

– there was even a

conference school,

New Interfaces for Musical Expression.

So, you know,

and then it would be at a

bunch of stuff using things

like Arduino.

And a lot of the current

interactive installation define

from artist are built using

, you know, technology.

A lot of exhibitions

in museums are Arduino.

Even the New York Times

wrote an article like five years ago

saying that if you used an Arduino,

you could build installations

for museums that would

, you know, be cheap and

- so one of the things

that I think is very interesting

that's happening right now,

is that if you use something

like Arduino to teacher.

For example you can

– you can do use

a lot of technology

that you have all in the same place.

But a lot of teaching unfortunately

is still divided by subjects.

So you do things in Arts,

and then you do Math,

and then you do Literature,

and then you do

– and you do is like all

, you know, we called it (silos), sometimes.

They're separated, you know.

While if you are building

a project using Arduino,

you might need to put together

some of your understanding

on Physics

because you're trying to make

some to evolve, you know.

I was once I was trying

to build some kind of a

a robotic armor,

to draw something on paper

and I realized that,

oh wow, now I have to

remember all those (Economics)

with formulas that I always hated

when I was a student.

Why did I hate them?

Because people, thought me

those (Economics) with formula

without ever explaining to me

why would I need them.

And then I have

the problem that

I have an XY coordinate

and I have to turn it in

two and three angles.

I said, “Oh, take a moment

(inaudible).”

So in a way this kind of project-based

learning with learning by doing.

And as if I have to say

you put together all your knowledge

and then suddenly you move

from one – visibly

go now so you find your ways kind of

a toy that uses Physics

and then uses Music.

Then you need to produce sound

from them to hear.

Oh, I need to make a sound.

So I need to know about frequency

and I need to know about notes.

I need to know about echo

and all these kind of things.

So, suddenly all you - things you learned

in Music they go into

your project.

So building projects with this

kind of technology in my opinion,

is very powerful

because it teaches kids.

And when you're trying

to solve the problem

you bring in everything

you know about life.

That's why for example say

the farmer learning about Arduino.

Because in a way,

they bring some life skills

about that subject that

unless you're also a farmer you don't know.

All you have do is ask.

Sorry?

Hi sir, my name is (Gabrielle).

So I teach a robotics

at school music and (inaudible).

Okay.

And later they (inaudible).

So the thing now is a lot of student

are very excited to use

(scratch programming)

Yeah.

But the thing is a lot of students

want to learn (syntax),

but the school teachers do not allow

their students to learn (syntax).

So what do you think

could do that experience teach

to learn syntax building? That's it.

Well, mm mhmm.

I mean (Scratch) is really good

to teach your young kid.

You get going very quickly.

But then obviously there is

a point where

if you become an expert

there's also personal productivity.

So if you're an expert,

(but they used I don't) want to

– and you know that as we

the big people who have built tools

for Arduino where

– even the (aim) of tool

shows you the Arduino code

generated us.

So that one is a good idea

because once you build the project

you kind of stop

because it's too complicated,

then you generate the code.

You cut it and paste it to Arduino

and you could (ping).

And then kind of, you know,

then it keeps getting mapped

the blocks to the code.

But you need to get to the point

that they are trying to do something,

that they cannot do

with visual tool

and then they are motivated.

Even with the adults it's like,

when I started teaching,

the first lectures I did it

in a way I saw people teaching in university.

So started teaching people about electricity,

electrons, current, atoms.

And then everybody was, you know,

getting distracted.

They would browse a data

and make it a wifi.

I said, “Oh, wow”.

Even I turned off the wifi

or I become a different teacher.

So, I said this was the second option.

And I realized that, you know,

when I was kid I learned

by doing things.

And when I started learning

what all the (gist) as a kid

was the moment something

I was trying to do, required me

to learn about knowledge.

So in that particular context,

that piece of knowledge connected with

my situation and I was open

to that concept.

But if I try to learn

a bunch of things completely

in abstraction with no connection

with my life,

what's the point of this knowledge?

It goes away.

So, if the kids get to the point

that they want to do something,

but they can't do it

because the visual tool cannot do it,

in that moment they are

ready to invest the energy

to move to their (level).

Yes?

If you had to put Arduino

and all of these maker community

in one sentence to someone

who never heard it before?

Oh, wow.

Because a lot of people ask me

this about what is it

I can't define this?

Well, the reason of usual definition of making,

which is kind of boring.

It is difficult to create

like a simple one sentence definition

also because I noticed

that even in the maker of community

a lot of people have a different

way to think about it.

To me the important part, is that

– it is in a way a movement

that is connected only with

essentially a DIY attitude,

so do it yourself attitude,

which it's essentially

a technological extension

of the DIY community,

which in a way is

- uses different, you know,

learning by doing

and this kind of constructing

a little bit too technicality's term.

But in education this makers

are called constructive in term,

– you build up your knowledge.

But in way, so it is essentially,

it's a DIY community

that embraces every activity

with a technological angle.

So they used digital technologies

The people who do this are not necessarily

an expert training at field

of technology

They may be somebody that's been speaking at other

technology and they used

and in the field they used technology

and they do a lot of learning by doing,

learning by making projects.

So it's the hands on learning and a deep

another aspect that makes maker different from

other previous communities

that it’s learning from other people.

It's also called peer to peer learning.

It happens because makers use internet.

They communicate with people.

A number of makers that's making complex concepts

to learn them with a lot of pain

and then wrote articles online to explain them

in a different language,

making it easier for other people to do that.

And so, I don't know, I should - I think

I should sit down and probably try come up

with a very elegant phrase to say this.

At the moment, I don't.

There's a couple of people who has,

a couple different publishers who've asked me to write

a book about makers.

But then it would require me to go, all this kind of thinking

and come up with clever definitions

or intelligent ideas.

And so sometimes, yes, kind of.

I'll just give you an example I think, you know,

when I started working on microcontrollers

before I made Arduino,

I was working with teachers because, you know,

before I started teaching

I was working in a – I was working

and I was doing software for a long, long time.

And then I was working in investment fund,

in a venture capital fund.

And after that okay, this is not for me.

I don't like this.

I want to go to something

that has got something to do with, you know,

maybe something and maybe helping people

so I started teaching in the school.

That's why I used (pictures)

because they were - they're very

the most easy one to find on the market,

because Italian's were using the pictures

to hack satellite tv's.

So they can watch their – the football game.

So they – you could buy them anywhere from.

But then after a while,

we found a lot of limitation in the (pictures).

And we want something that would have a good

free open-source C compiler

and in the end we ended up using the AVR

because one of my

(in a way) mentors, yes, (inaudible) told me

I'm going to look at the AVR,

but at least the reason why we ended up using it,

is because the old community,

which was not called makers back then

who read all their AVR documentation

which wasn’t clearly written

digested it and they wrote their own articles,

they explained the same stuff

in the language that humans would understand.

So we started to work with AVR's, for

also for that reason

because the documentation was, you know,

unable - in a format

that wasn't an official datasheets

but also articles like people

explaining how to do this.

So I think in a way, you know,

this is a community

that were kind of helping each other

kind of part of the - the sharing

is part of the package.

(Inaudible), is someone who is

hoping to go beyond other than looking

to the (inaudible) besides the services like

easy work or rather

a relatively easier introduction into (inaudible).

Yeah, by using Arduino you said that

-that the development.
-Yeah, but like beyond

(inaudible) coding and (inaudible).

(For you), when you use Arduino, you're doing C++.

So, the question is that,

unfortunately there's a bunch of people

who called themselves professional developers

where not all of them

are professionals but some of them

called themselves professional.

There is this (fellow) Arduino is not a real

thing so you're not doing (embedded).

You're doing an (embedded) it's C++.

So you can actually take it

out of the Arduino IDM, and use

the common language you want.

And there's a bunch of people that use Arduino

to build actual products.

Somebody even wrote an article that a few

maybe a year ago saying that

they will use an Arduino in industrial equipment.

And they thought that was (functioning)

and the people should stop

in a way considering Arduino,

just as for providing to,

because it's kind of stable.

And one of the advantage of Arduino

gives you is that

its productivity.

It was easy

because this company (Siemens) made this

small industrial computer that's

based on the Intel Galileo

and they give the documentation,

so it shows you how to use the official

Intel IDE for this processor.

And the set up

setting up with development environment

takes the first 20 pages of

the manual, 20 pages

of like hard core C language -- literally

Option B. You take a USB cable.

You plug it in this thing.

You download Arduino.

You select Intel Galileo Generation 2.

Select the blink. Press the button,

30 seconds later there it is - easy.

So the instructions you can write them

in a fortune cookie in a Chinese restaurant.

Snap it and then

the instructions are on the fortune cookie, you know.

So to me that was very important

because I know a lot of people

who develop software

they goes in to industries.

They run companies

and they have been here doing software

in different ways and they will have

a lot of – they would waste a lot of time,

trying to learn and try to development

many kind of, you know, old style.

While Arduino allows them

to be productive today, you know.

So one of the things,

obviously you want to do is,

because I'm talking at the arm

based Arduinos or the Intel based Arduino,

because they are more powerful.

Also the industry thing is that,

if you start with Arduino and you make an (inaudible).

If you look at the place

where you keep your sketch,

Arduino converts the code into

full blown C++

and then compiles it.

And you can even keep the assembly language

that was compiled.

So if you want, you can use the Arduino code

to see from the function

to the binary.

And then you can open the source code

and go those are DigitalWrite.

Okay, good. Let's look at

what DigitalWrite does.

And by looking at the source code,

you can then go back and understand

every single thing that's happening

to the code down

to the (metal),

which is something that you might not

be able to do without tools because

they don't know the source or

the source is insane.

This may go back in median files.

So in a lot of schools, they use

Arduino to teach and make the development

because if you look at the (APIs),

the code is so steeple

that a bachelor student

can learn everything in a few days

from high level to

what happens in the processors.

So, I think you can make more comp

make use of more complex Arduino

where you can use Arduino in a way to

move to more complicated.

Oh, question?

Hi, (I'm Donna). I'm living in here.

I guess my question is,

do you have anything to say

to people who do not appreciate

the open source culture as much?

Well,

I think the people who don't appreciate

the open source culture

are becoming less and less.

And the biggest example to me

is Microsoft.

So Microsoft used to be

officially from the Excel side

their worst enemy of open source.

That is the famous Halloween (memo)

that Gates wrote that's like it makes

the history of open source.

And now, I worked with Microsoft.

They are completely different.

Now they completely

they are so sold on their open source concept

that they say, to me they're now they are

in open source company.

They are then selecting big sites

to protect the source code.

Before there were a proprietary company,

selectively releasing.

They even shutdown the open source

group they had because now,

they don't need a separate open source code.

Every team

I worked with, releases code.

They release the code for everything,

you know, for .net or - so in a way

that's obviously they don't release

the code for everything.

But they're, you know, they made

a huge transformation because

this thing, the multiplication,

the value multiplies with the open source.

Last year we participated

in a study that people were making

about Internet of Things developers.

And this survey

was like a worldwide survey

of thousands of developers.

And they estimated that there were

4.5 million people in the world that defined themselves

as IoT developers

And they defined it,

around 80% of them says that,

either they would only work with open source

or they only work with open source tools

or they even, you know,

imagine to open source part of their technology.

So in a way right now,

any say company knows that

in order to convince developers

to use your technology,

you have to make the open source.

Even in US to make the (inaudible) knowledge

of (inaudible) so back in the days

like there was this company

Broadcom that was making this Wi-Fi module

that were (inaudible), you know.

Probably some of the best Wi-Fi chips

but in documentation it was impossible to get.

Then they sold this kind of

(inaudible) to Cypress

and one of the first thing the Cypress gave was to

open all the documentation and put (your light).

And, you know, openness of information

open source

clearly multiplies the value of

whatever you call it.

If you are doing

and

I think there's less and less people

they can defend

not to be the open source.

Clearly there are situations when you should keep some code,

not open.

Because I – we have to be

an expert and admit that open source community

it is not always

not always everybody plays

a fair game.

There's a lot of people that

there are basically

they take from the open source community

but they don't give anything back.

Like the people who are making this

you know, compatible Arduino boards.

And they're making

hundreds of thousands of them.

They are using all the work that we did

and they don't contribute anything back.

And if you email them and say,

“Okay, you're copying Arduino."

"Can you at least put the files"

"for the board online?”

Sometimes there are even provide to you,

sometimes they'll tell you, you know, get lost.

So clearly there is a problem right now

in the open source world that

there's a lot of people that are more playing safe.

They are taking from all of us,

they're also taking money

but they're not either giving back

(software) work

or they're not giving back money.

So that's one issue we have in that open source world right now

is to remind people that open source work

if we both share.

If only one shares and the other one write

I mean, or cashes the money,

you know,

it doesn't work.

Yes?

I'd like to know the role of Arduino right?

I mean, today is okay,

you don't really (weary) where you started

from the time of graduating

or studying something happening

became dream of people in the night?

No, no. It took many, many years.

At the beginning I think,

me and my co-founder David Cuartielles,

we put the grand total of 700 euros,

which will probably like a thousand dollar

to buy one

a few - 300 PCBs

that people could use to assemble their own Arduino.

And then

after while we kind of have

some money together to build 100 USB Arduinos fully mounted

and it was very (slow) at the beginning,

you know, it's slowly.

We spent a lot of time explaining to people

what Arduino was

and so it was very gradual.

So I remember that in 2006

when we sold the first 10,000 Arduino,

made an – wrote an article on it,

because it was like a big news.

Even maker community in 2006

somebody selling 10,000 units

was like, you know, when Apple makes the MAC book

it was, oh my, god 10,000 units.

So it was very, very, very slow.

And it required a lot of work from our pipeline.

At the beginning, we spent and stay amount

going around Europe

convincing people to use Arduino,

teaching free workshops, you know,

speaking on somebody's floor

and doing those kind of stuff

to get people to adopt Arduino.

And working on the website

to make the documentation accessible.

And then slowly,

some people start to use Arduino,

they start to build good projects.

It's not to share the fact that they use Arduino

to build those projects

and the people say, “Oh, wow. What's Arduino?”

And then it got a multiplying effect.

So,

you know, now it's 11 years

that we have released Arduino.

And so

it takes a few years

and at the beginning they were a lot of people,

they're like, why are you doing this?

this is stupid.

So

but if the people who are doing that professional development.

They're like – we know this is stupid

why you're wasting your time with this?

Yes?

Are you saying completely aware of the electronic

potency we've seen on the internet

when you came across the designer?

They feel (inaudible).

Yes. There's a lot of projects in that area.

That's actually a product called Arduino (MKR)

-that the people deals a lot for that.
-We believe in (pipeline)

anything that goes (inaudible) to impress you in any way.

There's a lot of nice projects that are based on

like turning, maybe closing into light displays

or using them as sensor to make music or stuff.

I mean, there's a nice – a lot of nice things like that.

But there was fashion designer from Milan.

She made this corsett

that uses

(inaudible)

it's like a special metal that contract and expand.

So that this kind of the corsett expands and contracts,

teaching you how to breathe properly

or it uses sensors

to gather like air quality and stuff like that

and is going to use that

so they're (inaudible).

So (inaudible) because that they're

the concept was going to strain data,

but it was also kind of

ng you how to breathe properly.

So there are some interesting projects

like that.

I think right now

the problem is that

their technology is still a little bit rudimentary.

So this process about various people

there is not a lot of

a lot of projects are

made with like connecting and updating it

to a lot of means

and they build it up flashing in your face.

So I wouldn't really define that as spectrum.

This kind of, you know, they’re kind of techie.

There's no like in the real work

to use that impression properly.

So there still a lot of work to do also on the tools.

The tools that have been too rudimentary

they're not

also

the electronics

this mean you cannot already take that clothing

and put it into the washing machine.

So, you know, there's still quite a bit of work to do

to make a next step after

this generation of products

which were a brilliant work

by this woman called (Julia Beacon).

And (inaudible) with (her) work

but especially they have the same

faith in re-progressing, of that.

Yes.

Oh yeah, you.

-Hi.
-Hi.

If you meet somebody who has no

(inaudible) what real. What is he going to (inaudible)?

Oh wow.

Yes

it's another thing that I should

well, you know, to me

Arduino is a tool

that allows people to use electronic

as a creative means.

So maybe it's a little bit too

but in a way you know,

if it allows people

with no backgrounds

in electronics software

to be able to use electronics

to be creative anyhow.

And so,

I never really perfected

a better electrical (pitch)

because people also use Arduino

for all sorts of different things

so my generic elevator of pitch

sometime they don't apply to what they do.

So depending on who I talk to,

I gave them

I give them a different interpretation.

But to me it's a tool that enables people

with no background in electronics

or programming to use electronics

to be creative and innovative.

That's like a generic pitch.

Yes.

We often see a lot (projects) that

are amazing, that I believe.

But how about – can you tell us a project

that you’ve done yourself

that you're very proud of,

that is very significant to you?

Oh, wow. Yeah.

It hits me.

I have a strange relationship

with projects that (give light).

So when I stopped teaching in Ivrea,

because the school closed.

And before Arduino was able to give me

enough money to make a living,

I did a lot of projects.

I was working a lot in exhibition design

in Milan.

And so in Milan

there was a number of events

where people build these traditions of different kinds.

So I was building a lot of those kind of interacting exhibition.

So that's when I did like the most projects.

Then there's a number of things

I did with my students.

So in a way now,

I did – as new project

that are mostly for me or for work

or understanding was needed.

I think one of the interesting project I did

back in the days when we were drafting Arduino,

that with one of my friends

who was a student back then.

We developed the wallpaper.

They can work as a display.

So there – a wallpaper,

it's like a space – this was (a display).

So especially imagine there was a wall,

it was like 4 meter by 2 meter

covered in wallpaper.

But then,

you could turn the paper from black to white

and they were every pieces,

it was like 50 – yeah,

like 5 centimeters basically

and you could use it as a display.

You could write things on the wall.

And we developed that for Prada

for their store in Beverly Hills.

Well, we developed it as

this is product of the student value (that you will see)

and then after that they showed it to Prada,

Prada gave us money to develop it.

Then in the end

they didn’t put it into the store

but this - you had a 4 meter by 2 meter

prototype and we (inaudible) all of control.

And one of the application was that

people will send you a text message

and it say Arduino was to read the text message

and display on their wallpaper

as a big gigantic message.

That one was a

that one was a

I have – we – that we worked on it a lot to develop

those technology to be able to control (the pixels)

and that we did a lot of work on that.

Yes?

You are (Arduino), what was your

to drivers into entrepreneur to maybe

make idea to a reality?

And what is your advice on that (issue)?

Young entrepreneur.

When we – when I started working on Arduino,

essentially I joined this design school.

And I was teaching students

how to use electronics.

And the tools were kind of, you know,

even if they only work on Windows,

they were expensive.

And also there was this problem that

we use the (board) with a basic stack

which was a genius idea

when it came out

but the problem was that

bought tickets from the US,

go to view this everything.

It will be something that would

be less powerful than an Arduino mini.

It cost us $100.

And for that time

it was considered a fairly cheap

piece of artwork

because everything else that need

kind of better development

was much more expensive.

So the problem was that

if a student buys something

that costs $100.

They're not going to make

a lot of prototypes

because it going to be costly – they’re afraid of

blowing things up.

And especially don’t do prototypes

and they're afraid, they don't make it

because the only way to have a good idea

is to have 99 shitty ideas

and then suddenly like

idea number 100 and oh, wow!

This is good.

But

it's not like you wake up in the morning

and the first idea is good.

You have to go through the 99 crap ideas

in order to get to number 100.

So you need to make a lot of prototypes.

So you need to be unafraid

of blowing things up.

You need to be in a position that you feel

you can fix those, so that it's (true).

So that's why you are doing those elastic chips

that you can replace.

So we started to

I started to build tools for my students

first with the big chips

and (inaudible) and the students did the thesis

where we started using the (AVRs).

And then we developed like

like the part of the

part of their

some of the commands in Arduino.

Then we made I believe

so in a way, it was kind of a

we did

there was an identifiable problem.

The identifiable problem was not immediately

there's belief there's something that could make money.

So, sometimes when you try to create

something successful.

You have to define the problem

try to kind of work toward solving that problem.

But

don't be limited by the fact that,

now you cannot make money

because

back in those days,

there was a perception that it was not

money to be made with Arduino

because professional developers thought

that it wasn’t something they would use.

Now the issue is,

if those are not your customers,

you don't care what they think.

So they made fun of us.

And they said that we were stupid

and we made people stupid

because Arduino was stupid

and the examples are we got

and the web is great because (some states).

So the people who told me that Arduino

who was a – baby talk language for Pot heads

which you know

because a lot of Americans obviously see

artists are people who smoke drugs (noh).

And somebody defined Arduino

a tool for art is women and painters.

It was like, what the – you know.

So there was a lot of

(let’s call it) racist

who are making stuff (simple)

for people and, you know.

So the professional developers

thought it was a stupid idea

but that (was) not the market.

So then we ended up creating

millions of people who do embedded development

that completely outnumber

the professional developers.

And now they challenged

their market

because some people started to realize that,

you know, a lot of problems

can be solved with Arduino.

you don’t need a

and so in a way sometimes

if you are a young entrepreneur

you should – you should not be

you should not be limited by the fact that

the current way of doing something

tells you that your project

might not have success

because maybe you're trying to work

towards another group of people

that haven't understood yet

that their tools is changing their life.

So

clearly that requires that

you maybe have another way to support

your income while people understand what you do.

Okay. Can I have last question?

Oh wow, last question.

-It’s important now that I (inaudible).
-Very important

Okay now, I will have

Last question? Yes?

Yes, so the question now come

which relates to business.

I guess so, I mean okay,

original having genius create something

because of your journey,

in a sense it was not a (inaudible)

because yeah, well, you know,

Engineering, cool stuff.

I mean okay, it's firm, it's working,

it works well, it works (now)

there's program that (involves).

Marketing has a limited different approach.

You know, it's a bit maybe

from creativity what you can not say,

-but why did you (inaudible) is back?
-Mm hmm.

Yes, so what was the journey of your team

particular in this part?

Well, so it’s serious, you know,

I have a background in engineering.

I started electrical engineering

for then I dropped out university

so I actually don't have a degree

which is kind of funny.

Actually I do have a degree now

but it’s (inaudible) ceremonial.

-I have a
-Oh no. No.

I have a honorary degree

I have an honorary PhD in English.

You know, it was a funny getting education.

But for me, when that happened

some of my friends were like,

“Oh no, they didn't give you a....”

that's what a

that's exactly this people

they understood.

This is not about electronics,

it's not about software.

It's about tools for teaching people about

I was very honored to receive that

the University of Bath.

I get to dress like (Andre Diaz).

It was kind of like an (avid) Harry Potter's situation,

where you can kind of walk in to the abbey.

You know, and I was like “Wow!”

You know, so it’s kind of a weird.

Well, getting there, I was super honored.

The other guy who got the honorary degree was saying

that he was John Cleese

from, you know, from Monty Python.

So, that was very good – very cool.

So apart from me not carrying a degree,

I did software for a long time

but I always work with designers.

And also being from Milan,

I always kind of had new people

that were either designers

or worked as designers,

I (date) a designer.

So you know it – in a way that was

I was in a way

at the crossroad of being an engineer

but understanding what designers do,

appreciating what they do

and working with them

because we need – I need a lot of websites

in my past career

so I was working with graphics designers.

So that's why when I went to (Kiev)

they interview to go to this school in Ivrea.

And they try to keep asking this quick questions

to see if I understood about design

and I was able to, you know,

to show that I understood

enough of design to be there.

So in a way

this thing was created

(at least) at the beginning not for in here

it was never the idea to create this for engineers.

It’s always for people that are not engineers.

The engineers already know how to use it, you know.

They already know how to do stuffs.

So they don't need

they didn't

they don't need Arduino

barely use it.

That's how engineers

they use Arduino in the closet.

They don't tell their families,

they don't tell their friends.

But then they use it

because my theory that Arduino helps

makes beginner

enables beginners

and speeds up engineers.

So I know engineers that they use Arduino

to kind of sketch something very quickly

and then they – they revealed in some other tool

they use for work.

But Arduino needs to speak.

So to beginners, it gives you simplicity,

so professionals give us speed.

So in a way it was

that was a real thing, you know like it's

an embedded development tool

creating the designs

by technically a guy that never graduated.

An engineer was also some of kind of anarchist

ou know, my friend (David Marquez).

A guy whose degree is in theater like

(Sigel)

with features of the ITP before

learning about, you know,

going to Masters at NYU.

He was doing (lighting in theater).

So, if not

there was actually group of random people

with weird ideas.

So

I guess – I don’t know if I answered you question.

More or less...?

-No, that's your experience, you know.
-Yeah.

also I have to say, it seems to be

the use of the word “marketing”.

Because there are some cases

when I have to

when I deal with some, some north,

some engineers.

They consider the word “marketing”

like some kind of an insult.

Oh yeah.

These are all marketing.

It's like stating “Your mother has questionable moral”

you know, it's

while effectively,

the real problem of everything

that you create in life,

you said this, nobody knows

that you are a genius.

If you are a genius by yourself

in your room it doesn't help anybody.

You will be frustrated,

because if you think you’re a genius

and nobody understands what you do

so you

so you do something that's useful

that adds to society.

It is your duty to spend time,

explaining to people

what you do.

And if people don't understand what you do.

It's not their fault, it's your fault.

If few people don't understand what you say

and what you do.

It's your fault.

You can not say,

“Oh, nobody understands I’m a genius.”

No, you are a bad communicator.

Nobody understands what you are to society

because you don't able to explain.

And then obviously engineers know that’s not it.

To me it's about,

you know, if you have ideas

they need to be communicated.

You need to convince people to adopt these ideas.

That's why sometimes people adopt

stupid ideas because there are people

that have very little capability to think

but they’re really good at selling

their shitty ideas.

So we need more intelligent people

that are also able to sell intelligently,

otherwise the world will adopt stupid ideas.

That's the

Like Arduino.

Oh, maybe like Arduino, yes.

You know, other people will do projects

that challenge the status quo in a certain

area of human society.

And people will say

“Oh, that is stupid. And doesn’t you know,"

"doesn’t make any sense”.

So obviously, you have to be prepared,

you know, I need to get a lot of criticism

people write me hate emails, you know.

People email me like

"Oh, I hope they give our shitty company fails”.

“I want to see you cry.”

You know, so

anyway, thank you.

Thank you for that.

Okay, (the thing with Arduino time)

and I just want to invite anyone

who would like, you know

express a form of gratitude

how Arduino have changed your life.

And this is – this is important because...