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FEATURE

Arduino: The Next Generation

whole host of digital makers got

started using the Arduino Uno, and

it’s still a great board for beginners,

but perhaps a little lacking for

more advanced projects. It’s quite a

large board, there are limited power

management options, and connecting to a network

can be a trifle awkward. Enter the MKR series of

boards that first launched in 2016. 2018 has seen

the line bloom to eight boards, all in the same form

factor, but each with different connectivity options,

ranging from widely used protocols such as WiFi

and Bluetooth, to more niche options such as Sigfox

and LoRa.

HackSpace What are the key problems that the

MKR boards are designed to solve?

Fabio Volante The idea with the MKR form factor

is to respond to the needs that small and medium

enterprises were asking for... basically, the concept

of the MKR is not only the form factor but also

having a microcontroller, a secure crypto element

(with hardware that can handle certificates),

and also power management, both for battery-

powered devices and also low-power management

and connectivity.

HackSpace In the past Arduino has made a range

of boards, but generally left creating add-on boards

(known as shields) to third parties. You’ve now

announced a series of MKR shields. Is this a change

in tactics?

FV [We have created] some professional shields that

can be used even in production. Some of the shields

that we release have the RS485 connectivity, they

have the CAN bus interface. There is an Ethernet

shield – we designed them because we saw people

wanted to retrofit their equipment, and send signals

to the cloud directly from the board.

We created these to respond to the need for

professional shields, because in some cases the

[third party] shields were high quality, but in some

other cases they were made for hobbyists and just

throwing Chinese technology onto a shield. So, all

the shields we have provided, such as the CAN one

or the RS485, they have galvanic isolation, they use

high-quality components, high-quality terminals, a

high-quality PCB, and so on and so forth. We wanted

to have a flagship range of shields.

We will be releasing other shields from now until

the end of the year. We’re working on eleven or

twelve more that solve specific problems, not only

for the professional market, but also for home usage

of the Arduino, and we are working with partners as

well that are developing other shields.

We want to have people into the MKR format

so we are also trying to do a better job of releasing

more specifications so people can start developing

shields. We would like to create a great ecosystem

around this MKR form factor, and we are looking for

makers and also partners to develop professional,

hobbyist, and educational shields.

A

Hardware designed for professionals

BOARDS

FOR MKRS

Above

The MKR boards are small enough for most embedded products

but still pack plenty of processing power