Intel’s Tiny Curie Chip to Power $30 Arduino Board

Intel has partnered with Arduino to produce the Genuino 101, the first outing for its Curie would-be microcontroller-killer aimed at the maker market.

Instead you get a 32-bit Quark, the low-power Intel chip aimed at the Internet of Things market with 384 kB of flash memory and 80 kB of RAM, combined with a digital signal processor, Bluetooth LE radio and 6-axis sensor.

The Genuino 101 (known as Arduino 101 in America) is the first development board to use the Intel chip, and it’s targeted at students and makers on a budget.

Although the low-power chipset was initially designed for wearables like smartwatches and smart buttons, it has firstly been used on the Arduino 101.

The Curie chip module, intended for wearables like smart pendants or bracelets, was introduced in January but it was unclear which products would start using it first.

The Arduino 101 microcontroller board will be available commercially in the first quarter of 2016 with $30 suggested price tag.

“We worked closely with Intel on the development of this board and are expanding our educational courseware to incorporate the connectivity and advanced features expected by today’s student developers“, said Massimo Banzi, co-founder and CEO, Arduino.

The board isn’t really small enough to build a decent wearable – it’s 7cm long and 5.5cm wide – but it’s OK for prototypes and getting familiar with Curie’s capabilities. The boards will also be the featured prototyping tool for contestants on Americas Greatest Makers, a new reality TV competition slated for debut in 2016.

Hopefully the combination of Arduindo’s reach into the community combined with the power of “Intel Inside” will make the Ardino 101 fulfill its potential for both established makers and the next generation. Arduino notes that the Arduino 101, fitted with the Curie, is ideal for learning institutions and entry-level makers. The CTC physical computing curriculum is now adapted by 300 elementary and secondary educational institutions to introduce the basics of electronics, mechanics and programming.

Arduino 101 will be marketed for innovative developers and curious students.

The 7 centimeters x 5.5 centimeters chip module will include various features. “Young folks who are building things are used to interacting with robots and cars through their cell phone, and this lets them do that”. The company has also been plagued with declining PC sales and would be averse to missing the next wave in computing.