You know servos? They have 3-wire connections: Ground / Voltage / Signal. This standard layout has been adopted by many manufacturers for peripherals and sensors. Look specifically at Phidget sensor modules, and practically any hobby-servo on the market.

The SB-GVS shield lets you easily interface this sort of device to your Arduino's 12 digital and 6 analog I/O ports! And it also features a I2C port for peripheral networking (at the sacrifice of 2 analog I/O ports, which share the same pins).

• Ideal for servo & sensor accessories (Phidgets, Seeed Bricks)
• Full break-out for all 12 digital lines & 6 analog lines
• BlinkM-style I2C port
• Power filtering & bypass capacitors
• Pin13 LED indicator
• Reset line brought up from Arduino
• Optional lock-tab sockets available for secure wiring (standard on Phidgets devices, but is still compatible with included 0.1" spaced pin headers)

When looking at possible sensors, look for the interface required. If it says "Interfaces with analog port" or "Interfaces with digital I/O" or similar, you'll most likely be able to interface it to your GVS shield's analog or digital ports.

Note: Some sensors are may be 3.3V compatible only. You must assure they are 5V tolerant to work with this shield!

The Solarbotics GVS Shield is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license.

Parts Included:
 1 x  Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
 1 x LED (Pin 13 indicator)
 1 x 470 ohm resistors (Yellow / Purple / Brown)
 1 x SWT10 Switch (reset)
 3 x 0.1µF Ceramic Capacitors
 1 x 330µF Electrolytic Capacitor
 2 x 4.7k resistors (Yellow / Purple / Red - for I2C network)
 1 x FPin3 3-position Female Header Socket Strip (Serial comm.)
 1 x FPin4 4-position Female Header Socket Strip (I2C port)
 2 x MPin36 36-pin Male Header Pin Strips (for snapping into 3’s) or the optional 18 locking 3-position connectors (Part: MPin3-Lock)
 2 x MPin6 6-pin Male Header Pin Strips for Arduino mounting
 2 x MPin8 8-pin Male Header Pin Strips for Arduino mounting

Note: You will need your own Freeduino-SB or Arduino

• [Documentation]: SB-GVS PCB Prints - Dec 2009
• [Documentation]: SB-GVS Production Files - Dec 2009
• [Documentation]: SB-GVS Sensor Shield Manual - March 12, 2010
• [Documentation]: SB-GVS Sensor Shield Manual - December 7, 2009
• [Support Software]: Solarbotics SB-GVS Shield source documents