As any geek parents will know, the original UDOO board was pretty amazing. It was the next logical step on from the fabulously ground-breaking Raspberry Pi, and combined the Pi with Arduino, letting you run the tiny computer as well as control electronic projects. Well, this year the people behind UDOO created a new kickstarter – the UDOO neo.
It includes the Raspberry Pi and an Arduino board as before, but this time there’s a 9-axis sensor, magnetometer, accelerator, and gyroscope, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and it now runs Android. So now you can add the board into your gadgets and projects – it’s genuinely the first all-in-one computer for Makers of the 21st century, and an optimal platform to build drones, robots and IoT devices.
When the UDOO Neo was launched on Kickstarter, on April 20th, the UDOO Team wasn’t expecting an overwhelming response; the goal of $15,000 was reached in only 80 minutes.
“We were aware of the great interest in UDOO Neo, but no one could imagine this. It’s a confirmation that we are on the right path: the time is ripe for mass global engagement in the IoT universe, and UDOO Neo happens to be the right answer to the increasing demand for easy-to-use educational tools” states Maurizio Caporali, Product Manager of UDOO.
After 45 days of the campaign, the curtains closed on $268,415 from over 3,000 backers worldwide.
“UDOO Neo is like a LEGO brick, to build new smart objects and learn by doing” says Michelangelo Guarise, 29, Community Manager of the team. “A truly open-source hardware tool, to program in any language, everywhere, and create whatever’s on your mind: this is UDOO Neo.”
“We are excited about such enthusiastic feedback” adds Luca Pisani, 28, software developer, “but there is still a long way to go, especially in the digital education domain: we aim to create the ideal platform for schools to give students the opportunity to program starting from primary school.”
Best of all is that this brilliant educational tech is so affordable; it starts at $49, and if you’re keen to get your hands on one it should be shipping in September.
The UDOO Team has launched the UDOO Neo Twitter Contest, open until September 18th, to reward the 3 most creative project ideas with a UDOO Neo.