Embedded microcontrollers are tiny computers that cost from under $5 to well over $200 for more sophisticated devices. They are used in motor vehicles for anti lock braking systems and in car entertainment systems, domestic appliances to brew your morning coffee or to wash your clothes and they are also used in avaition for autopilot systems and GPS navigation. Many hobbyists and experimenters have taken to these tiny single chip or small circuit board computers to interface real world items to control programs for turning on and off lights or recording a temperature log or for desktop manufacturing in rapid prototyping machines like reprap.
A small selection of devices on the market are shown in the table below
| Device Name -> | Picaxe | Arduino | Beagleboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| IDE licence type | free for education or private use. | open source | GNU / Linux |
| Hardware Type | Single chip | Single chip plus power and communications interface | Fully developed system with ethernet, video, large memory and linux support. |
| Approx cost AUD | $5.00 | $30.00 | $150.00 |
| Powered by. | battery or plugpack PSU | USB or 7-12VDC | 5VDC plugpack |
All these devices are supported by an integrated development environment (IDE) to make programming easier and more accessible to those new to programming. For the Picaxe the programming language is Basic, for the Arduino it is an easy to learn variant of C code and for the Beagleboard there are many options available, with c++, java and python among the more popular choices.
For details and images of controllers, please see ... embedded controllers
To see some examples of what is possible with these devices click here.