The original version of the Arduboy was 1.6 millimetres (0.063 in) thick, with the height and width of a credit card, and was initially designed by Kevin Bates, an american Arduino enthusiast, as an electronic business card.[1][2]
In preparation for a consumer version, the developer moved to Shenzhen, China to work on the Arduboy at the HAX accelerator.[3][4][5]
Later consumer versions replaced the first version's touch-sensitive panels by physical buttons, and include a protective plastic case, raising the thickness to 5 millimetres (0.20 in).
A non-production smaller formfactor "Arduboy Mini" was demonstrated in 2019.[6] Another non-production system, the "Arduboy Nano" was demonstrated in 2021 with a smaller formfactor than the Arduboy Mini.[7]
Consumer versions
A Kickstarter campaign was being planned in 2014.[8] Development was funded through a Kickstarter campaign in 2015.[9][10] The launch price of the original Arduboy was either $29[5] or $39.[11][12]
In August 2020, Arduboy announced 'Arduboy FX', an upgraded version that includes a flash memory chip that stores over 250 games on the device itself. This version shipped around 2021 at a price of $54.[13]
Tetris Microcard
Arduboy-based Tetris MicroCard
As well as the open-source Arduboy itself, a single-game version featuring an officially licensed (non-open) version of Tetris is also available.[14]
The compute platform of the Arduboy is based on that of the Arduino.[15] Both the Arduboy and the Arduboy FX use an 8-bit ATMega32u4 microcontroller as the primary processor, RAM, and storage device of the system.[16][13] The system ships with 2.5 kilobytes of RAM.[15]
The Arduboy has 32 kilobytes of flash storage,[15] as well as 1 kilobyte of EEPROM.[16] The Arduboy FX features additional storage through the use of an official modchip, installed either from the factory or aftermarket.[13][16]
