IO-Board: An Arduino based modular electronics toolkit

IO-Board: An Arduino based modular electronics toolkit

Lammens, C.T.L.F.

Kooijman, A. (mentor)
Geraedts, J.M.P. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Design Engineering

Master of Science Integrated Product Design

2012-02-20

The project ‘an Arduino based modular electronics toolkit’ handles the research and design of a modular electronics prototyping kit, targeted at Industrial Design Engineering students at the Delft University of Technology. At first, during the analysis phase, interviews were conducted with the different stakeholders. These interviews included teachers, students, and lab staff. The interviews resulted in a list of complaints of these stakeholders. Main complaints were about the bad connections between the Arduino and the breadboard, and the lack of debugging tools. Next an overview of different hardware and software platforms was made, and a literature study was executed. The literature study confirmed that the problems, reported by the different stakeholders, are also present at other educational institutes. The input of this analysis was used to generate a list of wishes and demands. The list of whishes and demands was used during an idea-generation process. The different ideas developed during this creative session were then elaborated into two concepts, of which prototypes are made: the 1-4-ALL-board and the IO-board. The IO-board turned out to be the most pleasing design, according to the list of wishes and demands. Main features of the IO-board are: 6 analog inputs, 6 PWM outputs, 6 digital I/O, and 8 included modules (2x pushbutton, 2x LED, LDR, potentiometer, 2x clamp terminal). The design of the IO-board was finished during the embodiment design phase. Minor adjustments and improvements were made to the product. Production drawings were made, and three complete products were manufactured. The first models of the IO-board were evaluated during a user test. Nine students, of different faculty’s and study-years, worked on different assignments using the IO-board, and the regular breadboard. The usertest showed that the IO-board does not influence learning in a negative way. The IO-board does improve usability, and 8 out of 9 students prefered the IO-board above the regular Arduino. The test resulted in a re-design of the supplied Quick Start Guide.

Arduino
electronics
microcontroller
education
design
engineering
mechatronics

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b5df2f68-9581-416a-9b78-36864afeb1f3

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Lammens, C.T.L.F.