We call it the
FLORA.
Adafruit created the FLORA from scratch after many months of research
and we really think we came up with something that will empower some
amazing wearable projects.
The FLORA is small (1.75" diameter). We wanted the smallest possible board for our wearable platform.
It's based on our experiences shipping our own, shipping, customer-tested
Atmega32u4 Breakout Board.
The FLORA comes with projects at launch, the FLORA addressable and
chain-able 4,000 mcd RGB LED pixels and premium stainless steel thread.
The FLORA has built-in USB support. Built in USB means you plug it in to
program it, it just shows up. No additional purchases are needed! Works
with Mac, Windows, Linux, any USB cable works great. Currently the PCB
comes with a mini B connector but future versions may change to
microUSB. Either will work great.
The FLORA has USB HID support, so it can act like a mouse, keyboard,
MIDI, etc. to attach directly to cellphones. Our iPhone/iPad/Android app
coming soon.
The FLORA's modules include: Bluetooth, GPS, 3-axis accelerometer,
compass module, flex sensor, piezo, IR LED, push button, embroidered +
capacitive keypad, OLED and more.
The FLORA has a small but easy to use onboard reset button to reboot the system.
The FLORA is fabric friendly. The FLORA does not use FTDI headers (built
in USB support) headers of any kind sticking out can grab and tear
fabric.
The FLORA has an onboard 3.3v 100mA regulator with protection schottky
diode and USB fuse so that power is consistent and can power common 3.3v
modules and sensors.
The FLORA has onboard polarized 2 JST battery connector with protection
schottky diode for use with external battery packs from 3.5v to 16v DC
in. Can be used with LiIon/LiPoly, LiFe, alkaline or rechargeable
NiMh/NiCad batteries of any size.
The FLORA does
not have a LiPo charger included by design, this
allows safe use with multiple battery types and reduces risk of fire as
it is not recommended to charge these batteries on fabric.
The FLORA has onboard power switch connected to 2A power FET for safe
and efficient battery on/off control. Often FETs are not included in
other designs that leads to switch failure as small SMT switches are
rated for only 20mA current use.
The FLORA power system is specifically designed to allow easy control
and power of a large quantity of digital RGB LED pixels such as the
FLORA pixel series of accessories.
The FLORA is extremely beginner-friendly - it is difficult to destroy
the FLORA by connecting a battery backwards due to polarized connector
and protection diodes. The onboard regulator means that even connecting a
9V battery will not result in damage or tears.
The FLORA has 4 indicator LEDs: power good, digital signal LED for bootloader feedback, data rx/tx.
The FLORA has an ICSP connector for easy reprograming for advanced users.
The FLORA has 14 sewing tap pads for attachment and electrical
connections. Data buses are interleaved with power and ground pads for
easy module and sensor attachments without worrying about overlapping
traces which are not possible with conductive thread.
The FLORA works with the Adafruit-fixed Leonardo bootloader (not
released) and will work with any future released Leonardo-compatible
bootloader. FLORA is currently using our Adafruit bootloader and
Adafruit USB vendor ID.
The FLORA comes with Adafruit's support, tutorials and projects.
Adafruit has dozens of projects that will be released with the FLORA in
2012 and has staff 100% dedicated to creating tutorials and projects for
use with the FLORA.
The FLORA is made in NYC at Adafruit, it was designed by Limor Fried
(Ladyada) she is an Electrical Engineer with a proven track record of
providing over 26 high-quality libraries for Arduino/Arduino IDE, over
100 tutorials, open-source code and contributions to the Arduino
project. She was a member of the MIT wearables group and likes to sew.
