Atmel and Arduino, an open-source electronics prototyping platform and community, are collaborating on several development boards using Atmel AVR and ARM-based microcontroller (MCU) products. The Arduino boards use several Atmel products including the Cortex-M3-based SAM3U MCU, ATmega32U4 and AVR UC3 MCUs. Arduino is an open-source, community-based prototyping platform that offers accessible hardware and well-documented software to electronics enthusiasts.

The community encompasses artists, designers, students, kids, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Committed to offering the shortest learning curve, Arduino has developed several boards featuring Atmel's AVR and ARM-based MCUs leveraging its complete, flexible software and hardware environments.

Platforms

• Arduino Leonardo: Based on the Atmel ATmega32U4, it is a low-cost Arduino board which includes a simpler circuit as the Arduino UNO board. The software on the board includes a USB driver that can simulate a mouse, keyboard and serial port. In addition, the bootloader includes a serial port and USB mass storage driver.
• Arduino Due: The newest board to Arduino's collection, the Arduino Due is based on an Atmel Cortex-M3-based microcontroller, also known as the Atmel SAM3U ARM-based MCU. This MCU can run up to 96MHz and will be available to the Arduino community by the end of 2011.
• Arduino WiFi: This board is for hobbyists interested in WiFi applications. Arduino WiFi includes an add-on module using the Atmel AVR MCU and an H&D Wireless module that provides developers with a powerful WiFi interface.