CoDrone lets you program your own drone

---

Robolink has developed a drone that anyone can learn to program and fly. 

---

Not only do most drones these days seem to be centered around aerial photography, many require you to shell out a couple hundred bucks. However, Robolink is looking to do something a bit different: the San Diego-based team wants to help you learn how to code. CoDrone is an inexpensive, pint-sized flying electronics kit that can be programmed in under five minutes to do whatever you want — whether that’s tracking your movements, following you around, flying custom paths, navigating through a maze or engaging in laser battles.

CoDrone comes with a series of step-by-step video tutorials that enable you to bring all sorts of cool applications to life. Each kit includes a variety of sensors (air pressure, IR, gyroscope, accelerometer and optical flow for hovering), a controller set, a LiPo battery, a USB charger, a Bluetooth 4.0 module, a USB programming cable, and an ATmega32-based, Arduino-compatible board for its brain. With the ability for you to configure its behavior, the possibilities are truly endless.

Each CoDrone can be manually operated from a remote-control or programmed to perform various tasks. What’s more, it can even drive around using some convertible wheels.

The idea for such a product was conceived as a unique, more engaging way to introduce kids and adults to the worlds of coding, engineering and robotics. As Robolink CEO Hansol Hong puts it. “Programming can be tedious to learn. But when a few minutes of coding can put a drone in the sky, programming brings a smile to everyone’s face.”

Weighing in at just 37 grams, CoDrone boasts eight minutes of flight time on a single charge and a maximum distance of 160 feet. Not only is it easy to program, it’s even easier to afford as well. The kit will retail for $179 and only $139 during its crowdfunding campaign. Intrigued? Fly over to its Kickstarter page, where the Robolink crew is currently seeking $50,000. Delivery is slated for this spring.

4moms’ car seat will install itself

---

Installing a car seat? There’s an app for that! 

---

Being a parent is tough enough, and keeping your children safe at all times is even tougher. With hopes of giving moms and dads everywhere one less thing to worry about, Pittsburgh-based startup 4moms has introduced a Self-Installing Car Seat.

The seat — which was on display at CES 2016 — aims to take some of the guesswork out of the often-frustrating installation. This is a pretty big deal, too, when you consider that four in five seats are improperly lodged inside cars. Making matters worse, there has never really been an easy to way to check.

The unit is designed for infants from four to 30 pounds, and employs a robot in the base of the seat for proper installation every time. Once the parent connects the carrier to the vehicle’s LATCH anchors, the base automatically levels, tightens the straps and then provides verification that it safe for child use. From there, it triggers a continuous monitoring system that will notify parents if anything is amiss, like a disconnected LATCH or loss of tension, as well as provide guidance on how to correct via a display on its side.

Although the seat works without its accompanying app, a smartphone will help streamline the process. By reading a vehicle’s identification number (VIN), the app can recommend the best position for the seat and where to find the LATCH anchors based on make and model of the car. It also enables the parent to ensure the car seat base is installed at the right level, even if parked on an incline.

To accomplish this, the Self-Installing Car Seat uses the phone’s internal accelerometer and gyroscope to calculate the incline. The app relays this information to the base, which then compensates for this measured slope when auto-leveling. As the 4moms crew explains, most of today’s premium car seats only have a gravity ball within the base, which require the parent to move their vehicle to level ground for a correct installation.

Additionally, the app utilizes the seat’s sensors to check on the baby’s growth in order to alert parents when the child is becoming too big for the carrier.

Sound like a must-have item for you and your young one? The $499 accessory will be available in June. Until then, you can check out their website here.

This may be the techiest Christmas sweater ever

---

Be the talk of your next holiday party with this epic sweater.

---

Got an old, ugly sweater hanging in your closet? Or just an old one in general? Well, now you can breathe new life into the out-of-date garment with the help of a few MCUs and LEDs.

That’s exactly what UK-based Makerspace fizzPOP along with electronics retailer Maplin has done. The wearable — which they’re calling the “techiest Christmas jumper ever” — is equipped with an Adafruit FLORA (ATmega32U4), an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560), four 8×8 LED matrices, as well a bunch of NeoPixels and NeoPixel Minis. It also features a portable 10,000mAh power bank and a pair of electret microphone amplifiers so it can react to those Yuletide jingles.

As you can see in the video below, the RGB matrices allow for some pretty cool graphics to come across the front of the sweater, including a tree, snow, a bird and even some text for the ultimate holiday greeting. And who’s to say that it has to stop at Christmas? With a bit of programming, you can transform your boring pullover or turtleneck into an epic New Year or Hanukah outfit.

Want one of your own? You’re in luck because fizzPOP has put together a nice little tutorial video. If you loved this, then you may want to check out Adafruit’s recent NeoPixel Matrix Snowflake Sweater, too.

Rewind: 100 wow-worthy wearables from 2015

---

As 2015 comes to a close, let’s take one more look at the wearable devices that caught our attention over the last 12 months.

---

At the moment, the wearables landscape is being dominated by brands like Fitbit, Apple, Motorola, Xiaomi, Samsung and a number of other tech giants. Total shipments are expected to reach 214.6 million units by 2019, reflecting a five-year CAGR of 28%. While today’s market may be limited to basic designs such as smartwatches and trackers, we’re on the brink of a wider wider proliferation of wearable gadgetry.

For instance, 2015 saw the rise of several attention-grabbing, homebrew devices and prototypes — some of which boast mainstream appeal, while others could potentially have a lasting impact on our world. Here’s a look back some of the wow-worthy wearables from the last 12 months. (Sorry if we forgot anyone… there were just so many!)

Crowdfunding Stars

Pebble Time

ŌURA Ring

BLOCKS

ShiftWear

UnaliWear

DrumPants

ReVault

FUSAR Mohawk

Lumos

LIVALL

Athena

Soundbrenner Pulse

MYLE TAP

Deus Ex Aria

WellBe

Gest

Eyecatcher

OnCourse Goggles

Futuristic Prototypes

EM-Sense

NailO

KickSoul

iSkin

Belt

Bioamp

Tomo

Hairware

IrukaTact

TagMe

Key Bod

Strike

Health and Wellness

LifeQ

Tech Tats

Doppel

Digitsole

Myoware

Wearable Fluid Status Sensor

TZOA

SMILE

Virtual Reality

GloveOne

Impacto

Salto

UnlimitedHand

Life-Changers

OpenBionics

Pathfinder

BuzzClip

Tact-Tiles

Sunu Band

SixthSense

SignLanguageGlove

For Our Furry Friends

TailTalk

Buddy Collar

Talking Bluetooth Dog Collar

Disco Dog

As You Sleep

Silent Partner

Napz

Pillow Talk

REMzen

Young Makers

O Watch

Jewelbots

TinyScreen Necklace

Gemio

Bright Ideas

EasyJet Uniforms

Zac Posen Made With Code Dress

BLINKY.SHOES

Firewalker 2.0 Sneakers

Orphe

SMSsenger Bag

CAT Clutch

Anthrolume Trench Coat

Glowing LED Snow Fairy Dress

LED Matrix Bluetooth Snowflake Sweater

Wacky Yet Wonderful

Netflix Socks

JöLLY Tracker

Running Christmas Tree

The Toothbrush Machine

Wearable LEGO Exoskeleton

AJAX Exosuit

Belty Smart Belt

Auto-Drying Jacket

Self-Lacing Nike Mags

Environment Dress

Wearable Beacon

VIDEOBLΛST_R

Personal Space Defense System

Subway Dress

#CHOOSE

Spring Hoodie

Geeky Timepieces

Apple II Watch

DECKO

The Nerd Watch

Enigma Machine Wristwatch

Homemade Arduino Pedometer Watch

Supercapacitor LED Watch

TinysIt

Watchduino 2

Eyewear

Macetech LED Shades

Pedosa Glass

#Ravespecs

This glove lets you feel for objects below the water’s surface

---

Inspired by dolphin echolocation, IrukaTact is an underwater haptic glove that helps find sunken objects.

---

Developed by Ph.D. candidates Aisen Carolina Chacin and Takeshi Ozu at Japan’s Tsukuba University, IrukaTact is a submersible haptic glove that enables users to “feel” objects that are just out of reach in underwater environments. A wearable such as this could prove to be useful in scenarios where there’s limited visibility, like sinkholes or flooded streets.

Inspired by the dolphin, IrukaTact (‘iruka’ means ‘dolphin’ in Japanese) employs echolocation to detect sunken objects, and translates solar signals into haptic sensations in the form of pulsing waterjets. The closer a wearer’s hand gets to the targeted item, the greater the pressure that’s exerted onto either the index, middle or ring finger.

The thumb and pinky are left free in order to reduce clunkiness, save battery power and improve movement. IrukaTact itself is fairly compact and unobtrusive, which lets a user easily pick up and grasp things once they’ve been found.

Initially designed as a kit for hazardous situations, IrukaTact is open source and can be built using off-the-shelf materials and 3D printing. The glove is based on a MaxBotix MB7066 sonar sensor, three small motors and an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328), and is programmed to send signals to the three middle fingers in silicone thimbles.

The motors are placed on top of each digit and collect water from a surrounding environment to create pressure feedback. Meanwhile, a silicone ring around the middle finger — which is connected to the MaxBotix sensor at the wrist by a small tube encasing the wires — keeps the sensor parallel with the hand and allows it to read information from whatever direction the palm is facing.

At the moment, the sensor can receive and send signals from up to two feet, but its creators hope to extend that distance in the near future. Beyond just an aid for rescue workers, the glove could also be paired with a device like Oculus Rift and outfitted with gyroscopes and accelerometers to emit haptic feedback in virtual reality.

Intrigued? Head over to the IrukaTact’s page here, or watch its demo video below!

 

Monitor your fridge door with Arduino

---

With this simple hack, you can receive alerts whenever your refrigerator door is open.

---

We’ve all heard of the IoT, and many probably wonder what exactly that means. Sure, connecting your toaster to the Internet is interesting, but not useful for everyone. On the other hand, there are certainly devices that people would like to connect to “the cloud,” but are not capable of doing so by default. Filling in this gap is MySensors, which describes itself as “IoT + DIY.” Put another way, it’s an open source system of libraries for the Arduino using a transceiver to communicate with the world.

As seen on the MySensors forum, one useful example for this would be to monitor whether or not your refrigerator is properly closed. The brainchild of Pete Will, the setup for this is relatively simple using an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328) with two temperature sensors and a NRF24l01 transceiver. Temperature sensors go in both the freezer and refrigerator, as well as strips of copper formed to complete a circuit when the door is closed.

As demonstrated in the video below (at 0:45), if the door is left ajar, your smartphone can audibly notify you of this, and an email alert is sent in case you don’t hear the alert.

If you’re wondering what to actually do with the contents of your fridge, why not check out this Arduino-controlled pizza oven? Something like that could probably use an IoT upgrade as well!

This running Christmas tree is spreading holiday cheer in Tokyo

---

“An Uber for illuminations.” 

---

A British inventor living in Japan has decided to spread Christmas cheer in a rather unusual way this year. Dressed up as a Christmas tree, complete with flashing lights and decorations, Joseph Tame is turning more than just a couple heads throughout Tokyo’s streets, sidewalks, stores, train stations, and even in the back of its pulled rickshaws.

The aptly named Running Christmas Tree costume consists of an aluminum frame wrapped with a pair of backpacks, each stuffed with branches from two fake trees. The attention-grabbing getup — which took two months to build — is equipped with 99 batteries, 1,500 LEDs, 100 feet of wiring, nine microcontrollers (a combination of Arduino and Raspberry Pis), three onboard cameras, as well as a built-in library of 153 Christmas songs. From the looks of the video below, he is even wearing some slick Adafruit Firewalker-like kicks.

Tame says he is taking bookings for personal appearances in the suit, which he is billing as an “Uber for illuminations.”

“The tree is available on-demand via your smartphone using the links below, and from Dec 26th 2015 via our new iOS app. The tree can come to you wherever you are in the world, but please note that depending on your location it may take a bit of time to reach you; with a combined weight of 93kg (68kg of Joseph + 25kg of Tree) it is currently too heavy for delivery by drone, and is not yet available from Amazon Prime due to there only being one of him,” its creator explains.

See the costume in action below!

30 stats that prove the IoT has arrived

---

Numbers don’t lie! 

---

If you’re still unsure as to whether the Internet of Things has arrived, just take a look at these figures.

• 50 percent of IoT solutions will originate in startups less than three years old by 2017. (Gartner)
• 50 million smart gadgets will be sold during this holiday season. (MediaPost)
• 6.4 billion connected things will be in use by 2016. (Gartner)
• 5.5 million new things will get connected every day in 2016. (Gartner)
• 20.8 billion devices will be connected globally by 2020. (Gartner)
• 34 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020. (BI Intelligence)
• 4 billion connected things will be in use by the consumer sector in 2016. (Gartner)
•  13.5 billion smart gadgets will be used by consumers in 2020. (Gartner)
• $698 billion spent globally on IoT this year. (IDC)
• $546 billion in will be spent on connected objects by consumers next year. (Gartner)
• $868 billion will be spent on connected things by the enterprise in 2016. (Gartner)
• $1.3 trillion will be spent globally on the IoT in the next four years. (IDC)
• $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions over the next five years. (BI Intelligence)
• $11 trillion is the total impact that the IoT applications can have on the economy by 2025. (McKinsey)
• $7.4 billion in investments over 887 deals have been made in the IoT space in the last six years. (CB Insights)
• $14.4 trillion is how much the global IoT market will be worth by 2022, with the majority invested in improving customer experiences. Industry-specific use cases will generate $9.5 trillion (66%) including smart grid and connected personal vehicles, while cross-industry applications will generate $4.9 trillion (34%) including future of work initiatives and travel avoidance. (Cisco)
• 174 million smart homes are in existence worldwide this year. (MediaPost)
• 339 million homes will become smart in 2016. (MediaPost)
• 21% of all U.S. households are already using smart home technologies. (Strategy Analytics)
• 45 percent of all Americans will either own smart home technology or invest in it by the end of 2016. (Coldwell Banker)
• 250 million connected cars will be on the road in 2020. (Gartner)
• 1 in 5 cars on the road will have some form of wireless network connection by 2020. (Gartner)
• 1.6 billion connected things will be used by smart cities in 2016. (Gartner)
• 518 million connected things will be used by smart commercial buildings in 2016. (Gartner)
• $101 billion in revenue will be generated on commercial building automation systems in 2021. (Navigant Research)
• 76.1 million wearable devices shipped in 2015. (IDC)
• 228 million smart wearables to be shipped in 2020. (Berg Insight)
• 173 million connected wearables will ship in 2019. (IDC)
• 34.3 million smartwatches will be shipped around the world in 2016. (IDC)
• 88.3 million smartwatches will ship by 2019. (IDC)
• 21 million wearable devices shipped in Q3 2015 alone. (IDC)
• 1.43 billion smartphones shipped in 2015. (IDC)
• 40 billion wireless connected devices will be active in 2020. (ABI Research)
• 19 billion Bluetooth-enabled gadgets will ship over the next five years. (ABI Research)
• 400 million BLE Beacons will ship by 2020. (ABI Research)
• 40 percent of the top 100 discrete manufacturers will rely on connected products to provide product as a service. (IDC)

While not all of the forecasts match up completely, they all share the same upward trajectory. Safe to say, the IoT is here!

This R2-D2 drone has all the bells, beeps and whistles

---

An aerial cinematographer has created an R2-D2 drone that not only beeps and whistles, but can capture footage through its camera eye.

---

Just when we thought we’ve seen it all, we happened to stumble upon this impressive Star Wars project from a Makerspace in a galaxy far, far away. Meet Arturo, the world’s first R2-D2 drone. And with The Force Awakens now in theaters, the timing couldn’t be better.

Equipped with four propellers, Arturo features a moving head, LED jetpack lights on his feet and a speaker that emits R2-D2’s appropriate beeps and whistles. Aside from that, the drone includes a DJI GPS autopilot navigation system and a CCD camera installed in its eye.

The brainchild of aerial cinematographer Don Melara, the quadcopter made its debut only days before the much-anticipated launch of the blockbuster flick at the International Drone Expo in Los Angeles.

The build itself took just over a week to complete and the result is awesome. Not to mention, it’s even more amazing to watch fly through the sky at dusk. See for yourself below!

Modulowo launches Explore boards for Atmel Xplained

---

Modulowo’s new boards want to make IoT development a breeze.

---

Development tools are becoming increasingly popular and are often used for prototyping, designing new devices, educating and programming. Well, one Poland-based startup has decided to take it one step further by devising a solution to streamline the process for Makers and engineers alike. Modulowo has announced the availability of their new Explore boards for the Intel Edison and Atmel Xplained platforms.

The Modulowo Explore E is an IoT dev board for Intel Edison Compute Module (with dual-core Intel Atom, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE), compatible with Arduino, Linux, C, C ++, Python and JavaScript. Meanwhile, the Modulowo Explore X is a dedicated board for Atmel Xplained.

The Explore is equipped with a connector for Intel Edison platform, two Modulowo duoNECT connectors for expansion modules, GPIO, SPI, UART and I2C interfaces connectors, two microUSB (USB OTG and USB/UART converter), 12-bit ADC (optional 16-bit) for measuring analog signals, logic level translators (tolerates +3,3V/+5V signals), a battery charger (only for Intel Edison) and a connector for additional power supply to the add-ons.

One of Modulowo’s most notable features is that its modules can be mounted via pin connectors or directly on the board by castellated holes. These add-ons include sensors, tactile switches, motor controllers, LED drivers, GPS, wireless communication and Wi-Fi connectivity with the ATWINC1500.

Intrigued? You can head over to Modulowo’s page to explore the wide range of development boards.