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SparkFun Electronics (sometimes known by its abbreviation, ''SFE'') is an
electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, an ...
in Niwot,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. It manufactures and sells
microcontroller A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs ( processor cores) along with memory and programma ...
development boards and
breakout board Breakout or Break Out may refer to: Narratives * Breakout character * Breakthrough role, also known as a "breakout role" Television * ''Breakout'' (Singaporean TV series), a 2010–2011 Singaporean TV drama broadcast by MediaCorp Channel 8 * ' ...
s. All products designed and produced by SparkFun are released as
open-source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...
.


History

SparkFun Electronics was founded in 2003 by Nathan Seidle when he was a Junior at
University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado s ...
. Its first products were Olimex
printed circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a laminated sandwich str ...
s. The name 'SparkFun' came about because one of the founders of SparkFun was testing a development board, and sparks flew out; ''Fun'' was chosen because the company's self-stated aim is to educate people about electronics. In January 2011, an education department was formed to outreach to local schools,
hackerspace A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" ( 501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology ...
s, and events.


Open-source hardware

During the Open Source Hardware summit in October 2010, SparkFun was one of the contributors in drafting the first OSHW definition. All products designed and produced by SparkFun are released as
Open-source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...
(OSHW), with schematics,
EAGLE Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
files, and datasheets posted on each product page. Product images are licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0


Contests


Antimov

This contest was based upon violating the 2nd and 3rd laws of robotics, where a fully automated robot would destroy itself after interacting with props and objects in a performance. The competition was retired in 2011.


AVC

The Autonomous Vehicle Challenge is a recurring contest held annually by SparkFun. The objective is to build an
automated vehicle Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle (car, aircraft, watercraft, or otherwise).Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,Group Coordinated Control o ...
that can circumnavigate a course without human interaction. As of 2015, aerial vehicles are not allowed.


Projects

SparkFun has become one of the favoured suppliers for those without mainstream suppliers as well as the increasingly popular "
Maker Maker(s) or The Maker(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Maker'' (film), a 1997 American drama film *'' Makers: Women Who Make America'', a 2013 American TV documentary, a 2014 TV series, and related media *Maker Studios, now part of D ...
" community, particularly for the
Arduino Arduino () is an open-source hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardware products are licensed und ...
and related devices. Whilst many of the non-component products sold by SFE are from other manufacturers, it does manufacture and sell some of its own complete products: * The Port-o-Rotary phone * Picture Frame Tetris * Giant NES controller


Legal disputes


Trademark dispute with

SPARC International SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed i ...

On October 16, 2009,
SPARC International SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed i ...
sent a
Cease and Desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...
letter demanding SparkFun stop using the "SparkFun" name and immediately transfer ownership of sparkfun.com to SPARC International. The letter claimed the SparkFun trademark was too visually and phonetically similar for companies in the same industry. The two companies signed a
trademark coexistence agreement A trademark coexistence agreement is an agreement made by two parties to use a similar trademark for marketing purposes without interfering in each other's enterprises. Agreements of this nature are often made as parties only require regional use ...
on April 2, 2010.


Fluke trademark infringement

On March 7, 2014, U.S. Customs and Border Protection informed SparkFun that a shipment of
multimeter A multimeter is a measuring instrument that can measure multiple electrical properties. A typical multimeter can measure voltage, resistance, and current, in which case it is also known as a volt-ohm-milliammeter (VOM), as the unit is equipped w ...
s meant for sale on SparkFun's website had been seized. The Port of Denver deemed that the yellow protective jackets on the imported multimeters too closely resembled the
trade dress Trade dress is the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers. Trade dress is an aspect of trademark law, which is a form of intell ...
of
Fluke Corporation Fluke Corporation is a manufacturer of industrial test, measurement, and diagnostic equipment including electronic test equipment. It was started in 1948 by John Fluke while he was employed at General Electric. History Fluke Corporation was ...
's competing multimeters. Rather than pay the cost of shipping the imported multimeters back, SparkFun chose to have them destroyed. In a letter to SparkFun, Fluke announced that they would be supplying the company with a shipment of genuine Fluke products and equipment as a gesture of goodwill and support for the maker movement, which SparkFun accepted.


See also

*
Digi-Key Digi-Key is a privately held American company that distributes electronic components. Headquartered in Thief River Falls in the U.S. state of Minnesota, the company is the fourth largest electronic component distributor in North America and the ...
*
Mouser Electronics Mouser Electronics is a global distributor of semiconductors and electronic components. With over $3 billion in annual revenue, Mouser is ranked as the seventh largest electronic component distributor in the world. The company has 27 locations ...
* Adafruit Industries * RS Components * Element14


References


External links


SparkFun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparkfun Electronics Electronic component distributors Companies based in Boulder, Colorado Companies based in Colorado Online retailers of the United States Privately held companies based in Colorado Open-source hardware American companies established in 2003 Retail companies established in 2003 Electronics companies established in 2003