MCU LaunchPad Evaluation Platform | Microcontroller Kit from Texas Instruments for MSP430™ , C2000™ real-time and Stellaris® ARM® Cortex™ microcontrollers

Get started with the LaunchPad Evaluation Platform from Texas Instruments

Get started with the LaunchPad evaluation platform from Texas Instruments. LaunchPad kits are available for MSP430™ microcontrollers and C2000™ microcontrollers with the Stellaris® ARM® Cortex™-M microcontroller kit. These low cost kits provide developers with everything they need to start developing new applications.

2013 BoosterPack Design Challenge!

Our MCU BoosterPack Design
Challenge winners!

Thank you to all of our participants who entered the 2013 MCU BoosterPack Design Challenge! We were wowed by your designs and impressed with each individual entry. Stay tuned for exciting news from the MCU team, and as always, be sure to follow our Make The Switch blog for the most current news and events!

Precision Charge Amplifier BoosterPack

By Nolan Manteufel

The PCA BoosterPack is designed for those learning how to use an MCU to bias a charge amplifier, read a sensor signal, save data to an SD card, and more. It allows for experimentation with various components, including those in a precision circuit or designs for a precision sensor!

Watch the video here!

Stellariscope

By Pierce Nichols

The Stellariscope BoosterPack is a driver for the anode 60mm 8x8 RGB LED arrays. The result is a board that makes it easy to drive big arrays of LEDs!

Check out the video here!

12-Servo BoosterPack for Stellaris LaunchPad

By Joe Kroesche

The 12-Servo BoosterPack encompasses features perfect for attaching the board to a robot like a hexapod, all controlled from a Stellaris LaunchPad.

View the video here!

See the official contest rules

Mark your calendars!

Submission: 1/15/13 – 3/1/13 (11:59:59 PM CST)

Judging: 3/1/13 – 3/15/13

Winners announced: 3/22/13

Design West 2013: 4/22/13 - 4/25/13

Prizes

Three (3) winning designs will receive:

A round-trip flight to San Jose, CA with a complimentary three-night stay in Silicon Valley for the opportunity to be featured in the TI booth at DESIGN West 2013!

A chance to have your winning BoosterPack design manufactured and sold by CircuitCo Electronic

Their choice of one of the following tools from Total Phase:

Beagle USB 480 Protocol Analyzer
I2C/SPI Kit
CAN/I2C Kit

Judging!

A judging panel led by Mouser, CircuitCo and TI will decide the three BoosterPack winners.

Likes on the Project Entry page can show real-time support for designs, so get everyone you know to rate your design!

Categories for consideration:

(i) Originality and creativity
Strut your stuff! Solve a unique problem or demonstrate mind-blowing features and capabilities with your BoosterPack design!

(ii) Quality of design
Your design should be well-thought out and technically sound. Be sure that you smooth out the kinks and debug any errors along the way!

(iii) Marketability
A winning submission should appeal to a broad customer base. The design should be attractive and have the potential to be successful if productized.

(iv) Level of engineering description and analysis
When submitting your design, be sure to be descriptive and clear about the build process, show off any prototypes you may have created for feasibility testing as well as share any code you may have written to test your design.

(v) Documentation and functionality design and process
Photos, videos & detailed write ups go a long way! Transparency about what you did during your design process helps us understand how you went from idea to implementation.

(vi) Usage of TI ICs for critical components.
Use TI components whenever possible! TI has a broad portfolio of devices ranging from embedded processors to high performance analog. And don’t forget about TI’s great sample program!