There are some amateur radio groups.

Robotics group in Eden Prairie or somewhere southwest.

Maker movement and many kits using Arduino (microcontoller)
http://www.tcmaker.org/blog/2012/01/minnesota-2020-inside-the-maker-movement/

RepRap development in meetup groups like http://msp3d.com/ (3d printing)

Even Radio Shack has a lot of kits and components available nowadays.

Does "outstate" mean rural Minnesota or "out of state?"

> I was involved with this group years ago. Live outstate. Using opensuse
> 11.3 (used SuSE since 6.1, tried others). Just posted links to Linux
> programs using serial port here:
>> http://community.freepascal.org:10000/bboards/message?message_id=715768&forum_id=24083
>>
> 
> I have had some luck with AVR microcontrollers on serial port.
> 
> But I can't figure out how to put any little electronics hardware
> together. I need to reconnect to the Twin Cities tech arts scene.
> Suggestions welcome.
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>