Arduino Announces Educational "Make Your UNO" Development Board Kit

UPDATE (11/03/22): The Arduino Make Your UNO Kit is now available, priced at $58.50 and including all the components required to put together a fully-functional Arduino UNO-compatible microcontroller board, a USB Type-C serial adapter, an Arduino-powered synthesizer, and with a handful of spare components added for good measure.

Those interested in buying the kit will find it for sale on the Arduino Store, with resellers expected to receive stock shortly. Unlike the earlier Arduino UNO Mini, the kit is not limited-edition and should be a regularly-stocked item.

Original article continues below.

Arduino has announced another new product for fans of its classic UNO board design, and it's somewhat more hands-on than its usual offerings: the Make Your UNO Kit teaches electronics basics by having you build your own Arduino UNO board from through-hole components.

"Learn the basics of electronics by assembling your Arduino UNO, become familiar to soldering by mounting every single component, and then unleash your creativity with the only kit that becomes a synth," Arduino announced of its latest product at the Maker Faire Rome this weekend.

Arduino's iconic UNO board, launched as a successor to the company's Duemilanove, has long been a go-to development board for those breaking into the Arduino ecosystem. Since its release the company has shipped over ten million units, a milestone it celebrated last year with the release of the limited-edition Arduino UNO Mini.

The Make Your UNO Kit, though, is something different. The traditional UNO design uses a majority of surface-mount technology (SMT) components already soldered at the factory, with a DIP-packaged microcontroller in a socket the only easily user-replaceable component. The Make Your UNO variant, though, switches to through-hole technology (SMT) — because it's a device you assemble yourself, component by component.

It's not the first through-hole Arduino UNO compatible to hit the market, but it's the first to come from Arduino itself. It's also packaged as an educational kit, not only walking the user through assembling the UNO board but coming bundled with sufficient components to build a range of projects — culminating in a home-brew musical synthesizer.

Arduino has not yet announced pricing and availability for the kit, but has opened a mailing list for those who want to be alerted when it goes on sale.