ARP is aimed at introducing affordable robotics in India / Third World countries. Our aim is to introduce a robotics platform with is around USD 20 and is capable of basic feats like line following line following, Object avoidance , photovhore , remote control while being scalable/reprogrammable. We are inspired from Asuro , but find it too restricting. So we plan to develop our own. We have tried to cut costs where possible without loosing functionality. Given below is Arduino/Freeduino based ARP USB main board,which will be on sale for about 9.95 USD or Rs 450.
Board Specs -
Atmega8 main uController
Full arduino compatability with Software and Shields
USB using Custom CDC driver
USB / DC 5v option
Autoreset when programming.
Still a lot has to be done. All Ideas on cutting costs are welcome ...
**nice. it sounds powerful and affordable. **
does it have servo control?
**A Simple motor shield **
There will be another motor shield which will go in the final kit , It will give 3 pin connectors for all the I/O ports fot easily connecting servos and other sensors.
And it will also have a L293 for basic motor control.
We already have 20 - 22 USD
We already have 20 - 22 USD Freeduino USB in India , Our halfs the cost. You can buy 2 in price of one 
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And this is first proposed beta we would be able to take the costs even lower once we start selling.
About quality , its just that the lighting is bad , the kit looks fine.
And about being nothing new ? This is a single sided USB with All DIP components , I havent seen that before. Once we release the files people can make it themselfs too like single sided serial.
Oooooooh cool
very good for a guy with a 6 buck allowance…
you mentioned shields? it supports any shield, right?
@Rudolph, thanks. i didnt wanna be grilled for being a spammer.
Yes it supports all shield
Yes it supports all shield which arduino and the likes support.
Yep the whole idea is to make it affordable , A decent Robot kits costs USD 100 + we are trying to make is under USD 20 so that in bulk when bought for say a classroom it can be even cheaper … .
This is not realy a money minting plan , I just want to make things affordable for student community in India . Also as it would be DIY you can always make it yourself with a soldering iron and some FeCl3 
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Come on look at the board
Come on look at the board atleast , Its a single sided USB .
Also the transistor based TTL convertor is not really reliable :|. So I also had made a single sided Serial with Max 232 with just 4 wire jumpers which i will release later.
Here is the proto version 1 of Single sided serial i had built ... version 2 has just 4 jumpers
As for Mega 168 / 328 once i can source them easily in India i would put them in , they should be just fine. For a start production cost of the board is about the same as the cost of a single ft232rl so for me its an objective achived.
When and Where Can I Buy It?
I come from Indonesia. I am very interested in developing sigle sided USB based Arduino for educational tools. This is has a great potential to become standard tool in our country. When and where it will be released? I need to know yaur time schedule so that I can make planning. Thank you.
hi, im also looking at some
hi, im also looking at some arduino clone here in my country (philippines) and i found this : http://www.electronicslab.ph/forum/index.php?topic=6698.0 I am in no way connected with the seller of these kit, just thought of posting it. peace.
When commenting…
When commenting it is critical that you actually look at what you are talking about.
This is a USB Arduino clone that someone can actually make as a hobbyist at home… single-sided board, no FTDI SMD soldering…
Keep up the good work ngcoders!
Still active?
Is the project still active?
I was just interested in what you had so far… and had left to do.
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