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Archive: Arduino
February 13, 2009
5 companies building the "Internet of Things"
The "internet of things" is a concept that describes a wireless network between objects. In a way, it parallels the current network of addressable web pages (aka the "world wide web"), except "the internet of things" would include addressable inanimate objects that could be anything from your home's refrigerator to the shoes on your feet. Although this world of web-connected things has been much discussed for years, we've seen little movement pushing the concept forward. At least, until now.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 13, 2009 07:00 AM
Arduino, News from the Future |
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TinkerKit: a physical computing toolkit for designers
Tinker.it is working on a new collection of prototyping components for Arduino hackers:
TinkerKit is an Arduino-compatible physical computing prototyping toolkit aimed at design professionals.
The interest in physical computing as an area in development within the creative industries has been increasing rapidly. In response to this Tinker.it! is developing the TinkerKit to introduce fast iterative physical computing methodologies to newcomers, and particularly design professionals.This project is currently under development by Tinker.it! We will mostly be documenting the early stages of prototyping and user research here. This is not yet commercially available.
TinkerKit: a physical computing toolkit for designers
Posted by Brian Jepson |
Feb 13, 2009 04:30 AM
Arduino, Electronics |
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February 10, 2009
Wearables and interactive performance workshop at ASU
In May there will be an extended workshop in wearable art and interactive performance at Arizona State University:
Workshop participants will explore emergent electronic technologies for performance and installation framed by the theme Lunar Outpost. Interactive technologies offer the means to extend, manipulate, and add color to our environments in a new manner. Workshop participants will work with Arduino micro-controllers and Bluetooth to create networked sensor systems for the control of lights, video projection and sound. Projects will emerge from group discussions and experimentation and can include interactive costumes, props and sets, or responsive environments. Students will learn methods for creating soft, sewable electronics as well as more traditional circuit building.
The workshop will run from May 18-29 at the Tempe, AZ campus. Workshop leaders are John D. Mitchell, Hilary Harp, Galina Mihaleva, and special guest Keiko Courdy. The application deadline is April 10.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 10, 2009 09:00 PM
Arduino, Electronics, Events, Wearables |
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How-to Tuesday: Arduino 101 the button
This is the second installment of a series about programming our favorite little micro-controller, the Arduino. Last week I covered connecting and blinking an LED. This week I will discuss connecting a push button that controls the LED. This is the simplest way to use a button. However, it isn't always the best way since it doesn't account for 'debouncing'. In the next installment of this series I will talk more about 'debouncing' the button input and why it is important. Also, I will have a fun and easy project that incorporates what we have learned so far in this series.
Check out what people are doing with the Arduino on the MAKE website.
In the Maker Shed:
Make: Arduino
Related:
How-to Tuesday: Arduino 101 blink an LED
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 10, 2009 08:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, Maker Shed Store |
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February 9, 2009
DIY USB Arduino plug
Nothing terribly clever here, but sometimes you've got to build your own tools before the real fun begins. I've been doing some mobile Arduino development and I got annoyed with carrying around a bulky coil of USB cable. I could buy a pre-made A-to-B gender changer, but not at 10pm on a Sunday, when I need instant gratification! Plus, in these hard economic times, why purchase something new if you can avoid it?
So, I chopped the ends off an old cable and spliced/soldered the four wires of the USB A male end to the USB B male end. I wrapped it in heat-shrink and electricians tape, and now I've got a little stub to jack an Arduino into the side of my laptop. The plug fits in the same small case as an Arduino, a breadboard, and a few LEDs, resistors, and hookup wires.
What have you made instead of purchased lately? Let us know in the comments and put your photos up on the MAKE Flickr pool.
Posted by John Park |
Feb 9, 2009 03:30 PM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, Remake |
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Haptic Compass
You've heard of magnetic orientation in migrating birds, the theorized "sixth" sense that allows them to see the earth's magnetic field using deposits of magnetite in their beaks. To see what this experience might be like for a human, you can build a north-sensing feedback device into a belt using some pager motors, an Arduino, and a digital compass.
Last night I built a haptic compass, also known as the Clown Belt. This is a belt which features twelve vibrating pager motors equally spaced around the perimeter of the belt. The control box uses a digital compass to determine which way is north, and continuously buzzes the appropriate motor. The effect is subtle but noticeable. I feel like I've been granted a strange new sense of direction.
The belt has additional features: it can be connected via serial to my iPhone which delivers up a bearing to an arbitrary destination. I have a first generation iPhone, which means my current location is highly approximate, but for distant locations it works great. It can also be controlled wirelessly over an XBee RF link, but the peculiar application of that is the subject of a future post.
I first heard of this hack in a March 2007 Wired article, titled Mixed Feelings, which describes a few experiments that show how our traditional 5 senses can be tricked into proxying data from external extra-sensory devices:
The world is full of gadgets that detect things humans cannot. The hard part is processing the input. Neuroscientists don't know enough about how the brain interprets data. The science of plugging things directly into the brain -- artificial retinas or cochlear implants -- remains primitive.
So here's the solution: Figure out how to change the sensory data you want -- the electromagnetic fields, the ultrasound, the infrared -- into something that the human brain is already wired to accept, like touch or sight. The brain, it turns out, is dramatically more flexible than anyone previously thought, as if we had unused sensory ports just waiting for the right plug-ins. Now it's time to build them.
Vibrating belts can give you the ability to sense direction. Rare earth magnets, implanted in your fingertips, can enable you to detect the electromagnetic field surrounding live AC wiring. If you could choose to sense anything beyond the typical 5 human senses, what would it be, what device could you build to detect it, and how would you jack your existing senses into that new data feed?
Posted by Jason Striegel |
Feb 9, 2009 03:00 AM
Arduino, Electronics, hacks |
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February 8, 2009
Maker Shed weekly wrap-up
It was a busy week in the Maker Shed. We announced 2 new kits, the Deluxe learn to solder kit and the Arduino controlled servo robot. We had a lot of great builds and reviews too!
We started the week with my How-to Tuesday: Arduino 101 blink an LED, which seemed to be very popular with all the people getting into programming these amazing little micro-controllers.
Collin had a great how-to video about making games with Meggy Jr. I really like his unique sun-catching game that he programmed. I have to pick up a Meggy Jr. and try my hands at programming my own game.
Later in the week I made a post about building my new favorite kit by Gakken, the Stirling Engine Kit. It's an amazing kit, full of high quality parts. I really enjoyed learning about how these engines work. I have a few plans on hacking this kit, but more on that in a later post.
Gareth finished up the week with 2 great posts from the Maker Shed. His first post was a review of the SERB Robot kit. He was really impressed by the quality and completeness of the kit. I plan on doing more posts about programming this cool kit in the near future.
Gareth also posted a great excerpt from the book Eccentric Cubicle. I don't own this book, but after reading this excerpt it's a must-have for my book collection. What a great read about finding hidden gems in the scrap yard.
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 8, 2009 01:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, Kits, MAKE Video, Maker Shed Store, Reviews, Robotics, Science, Something I want to learn to do... |
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February 6, 2009
Art and Code Symposium
Registration opens today for the Art and Code symposium -- it's a low-key conference teaching a variety of tools specially developed for use in the arts and education to artists, young people, and everyone else. Among the presenters will be many of the people behind these tools, including the creators of Processing -- the software environment used with the Arduino.
The organizer is Golan Levin - check out his TED talk, The Truly Soft Side of Software, from 2004.
From the Motivation:
Just as true literacy in English means being able to write as well as read, true literacy in software demands not only knowing how to use commercial software tools, but how to create new software for oneself and others.
...
Recently, a number of projects dedicated to democratizing the education of computational thinking have coalesced. Emerging primarily from the arts sector, a set of new programming environments (and accompanying pedagogic techniques) have been developed by artists, and for artists, that help regular folks and other non-computer-scientists learn to program. Using visual and musical expression as the "hook", thousands of people have not only learned to code using these new environments, but found new reasons to code in the first place. These environments - many of which are free, open-source initiatives - have made enormous inroads towards expanding the computational abilities and interests of hundreds of thousands of creative people worldwide. You too can join this movement!This conference is for:
- Teens, undergraduates, and graduate students who wish to combine art, design and computer science;
- Middle-school and high-school teachers who want a more expressive way of teaching programming and computer arts;
- College educators and professional artists who want to learn the most cutting edge environments for interaction design;
- Anyone who has been wanting to learn how to program their own software, but hasn't known where to start!
The event will be held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, on the weekend of March 7-9th.
Posted by John Maushammer |
Feb 6, 2009 07:00 AM
Arduino, Arts, Events, Kids |
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Valentine's Day gift ideas from the Maker Shed
Valentine's Day is just about a week away. Instead of giving the same old chocolates and flowers, why not make a unique gift? Luckily there is still time to pick up something from the Maker Shed. We have a lot of really cool kits for less than the cost of a dozen roses.
We'll make this Valentine's Day even sweeter by giving you 10% off the Open Heart kit. This special deal only lasts for today, Friday February 6th! Enter "OHLOVE" at checkout for the discount.
Here are some of the things we made with the Open Heart kit:
How-to Tuesday: Valentines LED display
We have a lot of kits for under $20 that would be the perfect gifts. How about making a MiniPOV and display a cool Valentine's message? If you make something for Valentines Day, don't forget to take some pictures and put them in the Make: Flickr Pool. Thanks!
In the Maker Shed:
MiniPOV kit
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 6, 2009 01:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, Maker Shed Store, Wearables |
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February 5, 2009
Easy sensor graphs from Arduino
Among the wealth of helpful info over at Tom Igoe's site, I ran across this handy strategy for graphing sensor data in OS X -
I've been looking for simple ways to graph the data from a sensor attached to a microcontroller lately, because it's such a necessary activity if you want to look at sensor data over time. Using Apples Grapher program, which comes with OSX, I found a simple way that involves only four lines of code on an Arduino or Wiring microcontrollerThe process involves using 'screen' in Terminal, to collect the data but the Arduino IDE's serial monitor could also be used to copy the data into a text file. OS X's Grapher app proves to be quite the useful tool once again. - Sensor graphing with 3 lines of code!
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 5, 2009 04:00 AM
Arduino |
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February 4, 2009
HOW TO - Make a "Dot • Watch"
HOW TO - Make a "Dot • Watch" by Dave at Pop Sci, nice!
Trying to squeeze some new life out of the tried-and-true clock paradigm can be a frustrating design challenge. Likewise, creating a clock from the absolute minimal number of parts (e.g., no more than 6 components) can lead to some sleepless nights. Finally, trying to shoehorn everything into an itty-bitty space (roughly 2-x3-inches) and make it a portable, battery-powered clock can make even a seasoned project builder scream “Uncle!” Getting everything to work like, err, clockwork, priceless.
The Dot • Watch is a new spin on the classic microcontroller clock project. It’s small, portable, low cost, and sports a unique timekeeping function. If this method of timekeeping interests you, you can purchase a more “refined” watch with a similar time display function from Tokyo Flash.
Driven by an Arduino microcontroller clone, called Freeduino, Dot • Watch forces you to do some fast number cypherin’ to tell the current time. Rather than displaying numbers on a screen, Dot • Watch uses an 8x8 LED matrix to depict the current time. In this context four columns of “dots” are used for displaying time in a 24-hour format.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 4, 2009 08:30 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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Kite flies with LEDs + accelerometer
With a bit of testing, coding, and sewing, Casey upgraded a kite with Lilypad Arduino, accelerometer and LEDs. The finished product displays its orientation to the operator and puts on a bit of a light show during dynamic maneuvers.
The project required a decent amount of planning for proper installation of the sewn circuit and working with conductive thread turned up some interesting tips -
A nice thing I learned about conductive thread is that it will melt onto itself similar to nylon based threads. Melt isn't exactly the right word, it was kind of a mix between soldering and pushing melted plastic around. Anyway, it took away the frayed ends making the knots very clean. I would do this after sewing three loops through each hole (also called pin) on the boards. This ensured a solid connection.Looks like a lot of fun. Sadly no video of the blinky flyer in action as of yet :( - Blinking In The Sky
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 4, 2009 05:00 AM
Arduino |
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Making games with Meggy Jr.
I recently assembled a MeggyJr. RGB kit and was pleasantly surprised at what a solid handheld gaming system it really is. Inspired by Meggy's bright and blinky LED matrix screen, I decided to try my hand at some basic game development. Because I'd never written a game before (though played more than my fair share), I expected the process to be a bit tough - thankfully I was mistaken. Armed with the excellent programming guide from EMSL and previous experience with Arduino coding, coding up my game was a snap.
I started off by opening up the most basic example sketch provided with the MeggyJrLibrary - MeggyJr_Blink. Then I added a few lines altering the position of the blinking dot with every button pressed. A few minutes of improvised coding and uploading later, I was thoroughly entertaining myself with a screen full of flashing colors. After some refinements, improvised animations & sound, came the result of all my pixel-pushing - "Dot", a simple and colorful action game. You can download the source code for Dot and give it a go on your own Meggy. Please hack/mod the game to your heart's content. I commented its inner-workings as much as possible in hopes that future authors might find it useful.
Of course Dot isn't the only title available for Meggy, there's a bunch of good games you can download for the kit over at Google Code. (Gemkeeper's my current fave) Have fun!
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 4, 2009 04:00 AM
Arduino, Gaming, Kits, Maker Shed Store |
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Big Bro: Arduino controlled robot
This is just the beginning of a much more powerful and intelligent robot. The R/C car is powered by an Arduino and a custom made motor controller. This looks like a really good platform for further development. It has power, speed and plenty of room for more electronics.
For now it´s just remote controlled, soon it will have some intelligence. I will try to add microphones and use them as sound sensors. If I add for example 4 microphones, one on each side of the bot I could detect where does the sound comes from and make it move in that direction, then a couple of distance sensors to avoid obstacles.
It has a very unusual steering system that seems to be actuated by a servo mounted to the rear axle. This controls the lean of the entire car and allows it to steer.
More about the Big Bro [letsmakerobots]
In the Maker Shed:
MotorShield for Arduino Kit
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 4, 2009 03:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, Robotics |
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Arduino fortune teller
MAKE reader Pauly left this link over at my How-to Tuesday: Arduino 101 blink an LED post yesterday. He made an Adruino powered fortune teller. I really like how he used an old cigar box as the enclosure. It looks like a really cool instructable, thanks for posting it!
This project gives the user a fortune and lucky number like from a fortune cookie. This was made as a Christmas present.
More about the Arduino fortune teller
In the Maker Shed:
Make: Arduino
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 4, 2009 01:00 AM
Arduino, Arts, DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables |
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February 3, 2009
Arduino controlled servo robot kit
New kit in the Shed today gang - The Arduino controlled servo robot kit is a great kit that includes everything you need to begin experimenting with robots, Arduino micro-controllers and open source hardware. Solder-free & ready to run out of the box.
Features:
- Fully programmable using the optional Arduino Duemilanove micro-controller. (an open source micro-controller and development environment)
- High quality laser cut acrylic chassis. (with illustrated assembly guide)
- Solder-free.
- Ready to run. (pre-loaded program)
- Easily expandable and modifiable with extra bolt holes and included breadboard.
- Open source design. (licensed under Creative Commons 3.0 (Attribution-Share Alike))
- Dual ball bearing rear wheel.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 3, 2009 02:30 PM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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How-to Tuesday: Arduino 101 blink an LED
This week is the first part of a series about getting started with the Arduino. A few weeks ago I posted a quick how-to on using a force sensor with an Arduino and I received a lot of positive feedback. This led (no pun intended) me to the idea of a creating a series of how-to's about our favorite little micro-controller, the Arduino. These are really informal how-to's, they are meant to show you just how fast and easy it is to work with the Arduino.
This week is all about your first project, blinking an LED. In the weeks to follow I will cover everything from simple buttons, to working with motors, circuit bending, GPS units, and more. It will be fun, I promise!
Check out what people are doing with the Arduino on the MAKE website.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Arduino, including the IDE and USB drivers, can be found here.
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In the Maker Shed:
Make: Arduino
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 3, 2009 08:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, MAKE Podcast, Maker Shed Store, Something I want to learn to do... |
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DIYtar evolved
Larsby demos the newly styled revision of his Arduino-based DIY keytar incorporating a Fatar keyboard bus and playstation analog stick. The new look seems reminiscent of traditional accordian stylings (which is a good thing). Take a look back at the project's earlier stages to see how far it's come and download the source code from Larsby's site.Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 3, 2009 04:00 AM
Arduino, Music |
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February 2, 2009
Connecting a relay to Arduino
From the MAKE Flickr pool
After fielding a few questions about connecting relays to an Arduino, Anachrocomputer drew up this basic schematic for proper wiring.
Why use a relay with an Arduino board?
Individual applications will vary, but in short - a relay allows our relatively low voltage Arduino to easily control higher power circuits. A relay accomplishes this by using the 5V outputted from an Arduino pin to energize an electromagnet which in turn closes an internal, physical switch attached to the aforementioned higher power circuit. You can actually hear the switch *click* closed on even small relays - just like the big ones on street corners used for traffic signals.
Sparkfun recently posted a nice tutorial on using relays to control mains supply power - strongly recommended for those interested in controlling 'wall powered' devices - Controlling Big, Mean, Devices
Update: Anachrocomputer adds - Another reason to use a relay is for electrical isolation. The switching contacts of a relay are completely isolated from the coil, and hence from the Arduino. The only link is by the magnetic field,
represented in the diagram by a dotted line.
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 2, 2009 04:00 AM
Arduino, Electronics |
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February 1, 2009
Making Mr. MIDIShield
After finishing my second prototype of a MIDIShield for Arduino I've dug into writing a useful sketch to use with it. It's been tougher than I expected working with timer and interrupt settings for the AVR - though dealing with incoming MIDI data was pretty straightforward. The rough spot comes when I try to communicate with the DAC chip (MCP4921) within an interrupt. So far, using the "HelloSineTone" example from the Arduino Pocket Piano shield has proved unsuccessful. Hmmm, more development progress to come …
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 1, 2009 03:00 PM
Arduino, Electronics |
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