A Maker by the name of “qquuiinn” has designed a vibrating timekeeper powered by Atmel’s ATtiny85 microcontroller (MCU). The device – which recently surfaced on Instructables – is described as a watch without a face.
Indeed, time is relayed every quarter hour via a series of pulses on a vibration motor in roughly the same format as an antique grandfather clock. Meaning, if it is 3:15, the motor will generate three long vibrations followed by a single short shake.
As noted above, the watch is built around Atmel’s ATtiny85.
“The ATtiny keeps the time, [while] driving the vibration motor. A transistor is used as a motor driver to current-protect the [MCU],” qquuiinn explained.
“Even though the vibration motor is small, it needs more current the the ATtiny can handle. Finally, there is a button to manually request the time. The entire setup is mounted on protoboard and powered by a coin cell.”
On the software side, qquuiinn programmed the ATtiny85 MCU with an Atmel-powered Arduino board.
Interested in learning more about the Atmel-powered vibrating timepiece? You can check out the project’s official Instructables page here.
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