Build your own Arduino-compatible, remote-controlled lights

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Maker hacks his own Arduino-compatible, Philips Hue-like bulbs with LYT and Souliss.

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Looking to control the multi-colored lights in your home? Sure, you could always go out and buy your own set of Philips Hue bulbs. Or, you can do what a Dario Di Maio has done and build your own that plugs into a standard light socket. As the Maker points out, while smart LEDs have become quite common today, none have been Arduino-compatible.

For this project, the Maker used the Authometion LYT — an ATmega88PA powered RGBW LED bulb with an Arduino shield as a gateway, which enabled him to freely create his own custom behaviors and code. Both the Arduino and shield run the Souliss framework, while the lights are controlled through the Souliss App.

The shield is equipped with two radio modules, an ESP8266 Wi-Fi SoC that connects the Arduino with the home router and a PL1167 2.4 GHz transceiver wired to the Atmel MCU to control the bulbs. (Di Maio recommends either the Uno and Leonardo.)

Meanwhile, the ESP8266 and the Arduino are linked via USART. According to Di Maio, you can download the necessary libraries and examples from the Authometion store. These allow you to bridge command over Wi-Fi to the USART and then to the PL1167.

“We will run two instances of Souliss, one on the ESP8266 and the other on the Arduino board, this because Souliss embedded the communication between different nodes and this let us skip the writing of a custom code to link these two devices,” Di Maio writes.

The bulb itself is a 9W RGBW LED, which generally should fit in most lamps with an E27 plug. The Maker provides an elaborate breakdown of his project along with the necessary code on his page here.

VGADuino is an Arduino VGA graphic shield

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This small graphic card shield lets you connect your Arduino boards to any kind of TV or monitor with RGB or AV ports. 

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If you’re like Masih Vahida, the thought of having a large color display connected to your Arduino to show values, text and other information on the screen has certainly passed through your mind. With hopes of making this a reality for developers and hobbyists alike, the electronics engineer has created what he calls VGADuino. It’s a small graphic card shield that enables you to expand your Arduino project to any TV and monitor with RGB or AV ports. 

The shield fits nicely on an Uno (ATmega328) and is compatible with the Arduino IDE as well as any Arduino boards using pins VCC, GND, RX and TX. Moreover, it offers Arduino VGA (DB15) and AV composite ports to link to the display.

“The screen resolution is 640×480 VGA. It has 17 text lines and one text scrolling line. Each line can show up to 27 characters and the scroller line can show up to 60 characters,” Vahida explains.

“You can change the colors from your code and easily can show your text where ever you want on screen. The device support standard ASCII codes for English, Persian and Arabic fonts.”

Interested? Head over to its official Kickstarter campaign, where Vahida has already surpassed his $1,000 goal. With a price tag of only $29, the units are expected to begin shipping in October 2015.

Build a smartwatch remote for your car with Arduino

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Maker controls his Honda CR-Z using a Pebble watch, an Android phone and an Arduino. 

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The advent of high-tech, connected vehicles and wearable gadgetry has provided drivers with a new way to remotely unlock their doors, start the ignition and even find parking spots. Take for instance, Hyundai, whose Blue Link app now fully supports Android Wear devices and enables users to do everything from flash its headlights to call roadside assistance.

However, Mika Wee didn’t own the latest and smartest car. And so, he decided to take it upon himself to bring this functionality to his 2013 Honda CR-Z with the help of Arduino and 1Sheeld. Using his Pebble Steel watch, he was able control its hazard lights, flash its high beams and honk the horn, among a number of other things — though he could do it all from his Nexus 5 smartphone as well.

“The idea of this project is to be able to turn on/off lights (or any electrical component) of a car without being inside the car, or physically pressing dashboard buttons/switches,” Wee writes.

The Maker used a bunch of shield-based components to simplify the project, including a DFRduino (ATmega328), a 1Sheeld (ATmega162) as an input receiver to communicate with the phone, and a relay shield as the output to complete the circuit.  Aside from that, he created the watch’s menu with the help of PebbleTasker.

“The next step is to find out which wire in your car does what. Now this is completely dependent on the car that you have, as every car would have a different circuit,” the Maker adds. “I used a multimeter and the help of the car’s service manual to find out which wires/relays conduct electricity when a switch/button is pressed. This tells me which wire/circuit I’m looking for. Then, I tapped relay wires into that circuit to simulate a ‘button press.’ This is not intrusive as I do not go into ECU, OBDII or CAN bus hacking. I merely simulated a ‘button press.’”

Intrigued? Head over to the project’s page on Hackster.io where Wee shares a step-by-step breakdown along with the necessary code and schematics. Watch it in action here.

DIPDuino is Arduino-compatible board in a DIP32 package

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DIPDuino is an Arduino-compatible board that combines a number of useful interfaces in one DIP32 package.

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While the idea of having an entire MCU platform in a DIP format isn’t all that new,  Alex Gornostayev just wasn’t satisfied with some of those on the market today, like the Teensy and Arduino Nano. And so, the Maker decided to create his own Arduino-compatible board that crams many useful interfaces all into one easy-to-use DIP32 package.

The aptly named DIPDuino goes a step further than most of today’s breakout boards. Based an ATmega1284RFR2 along with a 2.4GHz ZigBee transceiver, the unit is equipped with a 128×32-pixel OLED display, a microSD card reader, a serial FTDI port, 1MB of SRAM, a full JTAG debugger port, USB and pin power supply, LEDs, and a stabilized 3V and 3.6V power output.

Looking ahead, Gornostayev is planning on using the board for a number of DIY projects, ranging from an OLED watch to a weather station and a home automation system. Aside from that, one of his friends even wants to build a DIPDuino-based RepRap controller. The possibilities are endless! However, first he would like to improve its software so that the firmware can be programmed and updated from an SD card.

“I want to be able to be able to program DIPDuino from SD card. Just save BIN file on SD card and boot the device. The bootloader must be able to flash the firmware and it does not look too complicated. (I call this project ‘DIPBoot’).”

“I want to implement a simple BASIC translator for DIPDuino to be able to write programs in BASIC using simple text editor, save it on SD card and execute it form file on DIPDuino (which will be DIPBasic in this case),” Gornostayev adds. “This is really cool, because I will be to write programs on any devices, including smartphones or even DIPDuino itself, and execute them without any compilers and connections.”

Intrigued? Read more about the project on its Hackaday.io page here.

uStepper is an Arduino-compatible board with an integrated stepper driver

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Tired of the messiness? uStepper combines an ATmega328P MCU, a stepper driver and an absolute encoder in one ultra-compact design.

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The brainchild of Mogens Nicolaisen and Thomas Olsen, who together make up Danish startup ON Development IVS, uStepper is an ultra-compact, Arduino-compatible board with an integrated stepper driver and 12-bit rotary encoder.

Since it can be mounted directly on the back of your NEMA 17, uStepper makes it possible to develop applications using a stepper motor, without the need for long and messy wiring to an external Arduino or stepper shield. Aside from that, the 12-bit rotary encoder ensures that the absolute position of the motor shaft can be tracked, enabling the uStepper to detect any loss of steps.

The uStepper can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, giving you access to a wide range of easy-to-use libraries. With an ATmega328P at its core, key specs of the board include:

• Clock speed: 16MHz
• Input voltage: 8V – 30V
• I/O voltage: 5V
• Digital I/O pins: 12 (6 of which provide PWM capability)
• Analog I/O pins: 4
• Up to 2A stepper drive current (adjustable)
• Up to 16x microstepping (user selectable)
• 12-bit encoder resolution

The position of the shaft is tracked using a neodymium magnet and a magnetic encoder chip. This chip is able to sense the position of the north and south pole of the magnet, and use this information to determine the angle of the motor shaft. The encoder has a 12-bit resolution, meaning that the shaft position can be tracked in steps of 1/4096, corresponding to a resolution of 0.088 degrees. What’s more, since the location of both the magnet and the encoder chip is fixed, the measured shaft angle will not be reset between power cycles.

Communication between the MCU and the encoder is done through the I2C serial protocol. The uStepper is completely expandable, thanks to the vast number of I/O pins available, which include SPI, UART and I2C interfaces. The I2C bus is equipped with the required pull-up resistors, eliminating the need to mount these externally. Additionally, the encoder enables the uStepper to perform closed loop regulation of the stepper motor position, with a sample frequency as high as 6.6 kHz.

“On our first prototype a linear regulator, regulating supply voltage down to the 5V I/O voltage, was implemented. During normal operation the linear regulator, regulating 12V down to 5V, will have a temperature rise of approximately 50 C° — that is above ambient temperature! This is because of the low efficiency, which is only 42% — supplying the uStepper with more than 12V would not be a wise thing to do with this type of regulator,” the ON Development IVS crew writes.

To increase efficiency, reduce temperature and at the same time allow supply voltages of up to 30V, the final version of the uStepper will include a switch mode regulator. The team adds, “Besides the benefits of increased efficiency and thereby lower temperature, the possibility of increasing the supply voltage to the stepper, will also increase the possible operating speed and torque!”

The uStepper stepper driver chip has a selectable microstepping level from full-step to 1/16 microstepping (using jumper configuration), giving a resolution of up to 3,200 steps/revolution with a 1.8-degree stepper motor and up to 6,400 steps/revolution if choosing a 0.9-degree stepper motor. The output current is adjustable using the on-board potentiometer, making smooth adjustment up to a maximum of approximately 2A possible.

For ideal operating conditions, a large ground plane is connected to the thermal pad of the stepper driver chip. This makes certain that the large amount of heat is spread out and away from the stepper driver. For applications requiring high current (above 1.5A), its creators recommend a heatsink, and note that under very intense use (currents approaching 2A and/or high ambient temperatures), active cooling may be necessary.

On the bottom of the uStepper, a NTC resistor is embedded as close to the stepper driver thermal pad as possible. This lets you monitor the stepper driver temperature and take action if the temperature drastically rises. The stepper driver chip has an internal safety circuit shutting down operation should the temperature reach too high of a level, preventing damage to the board.

For its crowdfunding debut, the uStepper comes in two forms: a base and premium kit. The base set includes the board, four standoffs, along with a a magnet and bracket for the encoder. Meanwhile, the premium kit features all of that plus a NEMA 17 stepper motor. The open source kits are super simple to assemble, requiring nothing more than a Philips screwdriver, a wrench and five minutes of your time.

Sound like something you’d like to have? Head over to the uStepper’s Kickstarter page, where ON Development IVS is currently seeing $8,882. Delivery is expected to get underway in March 2016.

Atmegatron is an 8-bit mono synth

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The miniAtmegatron is a DIY shield kit that will turn your Arduino Uno into an 8-bit synthesizer. 

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Back in 2014, Soulsby had introduced an 8-bit synth called Atmegatron which combined the sounds of 1980s home computers with the flexibility and power of a modern-day synthesizer. Now, its creators have relaunched a new and improved version of their sound MIDI machine along with an Arduino Uno shield kit, the miniAtmegatron.

Key features of the ATmega328P powered Atmegatron include 32 waveforms, 15 digital filter types, two ADSR envelopes, one LFO with 16 waveforms, an arpeggiator with 15 patterns and loads of FX including phaser, distortion and Wavecrusher. The gadget comes pre-loaded with 16 preset sounds — ranging from bass to chiptunes — and unlimited expandability via the Atmegatron Librarian software (Mac or PC), which enables it to shape-shift between a drum machine, a duophonic synth and a delay synth.

There are two ways to edit and manage the sounds: six knobs on top along with a value and function knob on the bottom. Turning the left-hand dial selects the parameter to concentrate on, while its value is updated by turning the right. Audio is generated by modulating a PWM output of its built-in AVR processor and filtering off the modulation frequency. The Atmegatron employs analog circuitry in the form of a steep third order Chebyshev filter to maintain the high end, while still filtering off the modulation frequency.

Meanwhile, the Atmegatron’s software utilizes two loops to create its unique tunes. One loop leverages an interrupt to update the PWM output at audio frequencies, with the slower, second loop tasked with the remaining functions (MIDI input, process the wavetable, update LFOs, envelopes, arpeggiators, etc). As expected, the synthesis engine can be completely altered and modded by uploading software to the sleek-looking synth.

What’s more, Soulsby has unveiled the miniAtmegatron, a synthesizer shield kit for the highly-popular Arduino Uno platform. Based on the sound engine of the Atmegatron, the DIY set is comprised of a PCB, all of the necessary electronic components and an instruction manual. It should also noted that the build time will vary (from 30 minutes to an hour) depending on a user’s soldering experience.

The shield is attached to the Arduino and the source code is easily uploaded. Aside from that, the miniAtmegatron features a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones and two LEDs (left shows function, right indicates value) which are controlled by four buttons. Similar to its older sibling, the device boasts a wide range of capabilities. These include a pattern generator, 16 wavetables, 15 digital filter types, two preset envelopes, 16 LFO shapes and speeds, and FX like Wavecrusher and Portamento. Six on-board knobs can be employed to adjust 12 different parameters, such as filter cutoff, distortion, resonance and pitch. The miniAtmegatron can be even be converted into a MIDI instrument by hacking your Arduino Uno, then played via USB.

Sound like something you’d love to play with? Head over to the Atmegatron and miniAtmegatron’s official page here.

Building a barebones Arduino Zero

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One Maker has created a minimalist Arduino Zero-like board with an OLED display and LEDs.

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Looking to migrate from the world of 8- to 32-bit Atmel MCUs, Maker “kodera2t” — who you may recall from his SD card-sized Arduino — decided to build a barebones version of the popular Arduino Zero. His goal? To design a board that packed the punch of the Cortex-M0+ using nothing more than a few key components.

First, he created a minimalist MCU with only a USB interface — no output. With an Atmel SAMD21G18 at its core, the board included zener diodes, an XTAL for the clock, a 3.3V regulator and some supplemental capacitors. According to the Maker, this helped him “learn the difference between AVR and the SAM D [family].”

From there, kodera2t proceeded to develop another one, this time with a little more functionality. For this iteration, the Maker once again included a SAM D21 along with a I2C OLED, three LEDs for operation check, and a USB connector for uploading code. The Arduino Zero-like device is also powered by a 3.3V battery pack.

Intrigued? Head over to the project’s Hackaday.io page here, or watch kodera2t provide an overview of the two boards in the video below.

Bluefruit LE Micro is a BLE board for Makers

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Bluetooth Low Energy + ATmega32U4 = Bluefruit LE Micro 

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Makers who are looking to create a Bluetooth-enabled project will be excited to learn of Adafruit’s latest product. The newly-unveiled Bluefruit LE Micro rolls the versatility of the ATmega32U4 MCU and the wireless connectivity of the SPI Bluefruit LE Friend all into one board.

What’s nice is that the Bluefruit LE Micro makes is easier than ever to add BLE capabilities to any number of DIY projects. Makers can program the ATmega32U4 over USB using its built-in USB bootloader, either directly with AVRDUDE or the Arduino IDE. The board runs at a 8MHz clock speed, boasts a logic level of 3.3V for compatibility with a wide range of sensors, and features more than 20 GPIO pins, including I2C, SPI, a UART and six analog inputs. On top of that, the chip packs 28KB of Flash, 2KB of RAM, and of course, native USB for programming and communication.

As Adafruit points out, Makers can add a rechargeable LiPo battery with the help of a LiPoly backpack as well. Simply solder it on top of the Bluefruit LE Micro and it’ll juice up the battery via the microUSB connector. When the USB is unplugged, it will run off the battery.

“The Bluefruit LE module is an nRF51822 chipset from Nordic, programmed with multi-function code that can do quite a lot! For most people, they’ll be very happy to use the standard Nordic UART RX/TX connection profile. In this profile, the Bluefruit acts as a data pipe, that can ‘transparently’ transmit back and forth from your iOS or Android device.”

“Thanks to an easy-to-learn AT command set, Makers will have total control over how the device behaves, including the ability to define and manipulate your own GATT Services and Characteristics, or change the way that the device advertises itself for other Bluetooth Low Energy devices to see. You can also use the AT commands to query the die temperature, check the battery voltage, and more, check the connection RSSI or MAC address, and tons more.”

Additionally, the Bluefruit app enables Makers to quickly prototype their projects by using their iOS or Android device as a controller. Adafruit has a color picker, a quaternion/accelerometer/gyro/magnetometer, an eight-button gamepad and a GPS locator. This data can be read over BLE and relayed to the on-board ATmega32U4 for processing.

Interested in this un-BLE-ievable board? Head over to Adafruit’s official page to order yours.

Screwduino is an Arduino Uno-like board with screw terminals

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Screwduino takes the Arduino design and replaces the headers/pins with screw terminals. 

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Like countless other Makers out there, Doug Gilliland fell in love with the Arduino Uno for its simplistic functionality and rapid prototyping abilities. However, he quickly grew frustrated with some of their limitations, namely those associated with deploying a final project. What he found was that, as great as these boards may be, they lack useful mounting holes and fragility of pins in sockets, thereby making it difficult to implement in real world applications.

“We find most of the approaches to Arduino breadboarding annoying. They work okay if you don’t know what you want to make and you just want to mess around, but they are painful when you are ready to really make something useful,” its creator admits.

As a way to overcome this challenge, Gilliland did what any good Maker would do and decided to devise a DIY solution on his own. The aptly named Screwduino features four solid mounting holes, allowing for anywhere between four and 40 screws. Aside from that, it has 5mm screw terminal blocks that enable users to seamlessly wire up pretty much anything they’d like.

“We saw a screw shield and it looked like the ideal solution for loose wires and builder frustrations. Easy to connect with just a small screwdriver. No connectors to install for simple wiring but no accommodation for I2C connections. The stackup height has less of the same height problems as a sensor shield. The screw shields got me thinking,” Gilliland revealed when explaining his inspiration. “It’s a great idea, but why add the shield? Why not just take an Arduino design and replace the headers/pins with screw terminals?”

Based on an ATmega328, the Screwduino is equipped with an ICSP header for downloading programs, a reset switch, a recommended input voltage of 7-12V DC, a  power selection jumper (FTDI, regulator, screw terminals), a standard six-pin FTDI connector, as well as a four-pin I2C connector for easy attachment of an LCD display and other sensors. What’s more, Gilliland added 10K Ohm pullup resistors (R3 and R4) from the I2C SDA/SCL to +5V. This way, if the user chooses to forgo the resistors, they can snip them out of the circuit.

Gilliland advises using its through hole parts to make assembly a cinch. He adds, “The sole exception is the voltage regulator which is surface mount for heat transfer.”

Intrigued? Head over to the Screwduino’s Kickstarter page, where Gilliland and the Land Boards team are currently seeking $500.

Modulo is now based on the Atmel | SMART SAM D21

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Modulo is a simple, modular solution for Makers looking to build electronics.

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Back in May, former Pixar developer Erin Tomson unveiled a new set of plug-and-play boards designed to take the headache and hassle out of building electronics. Not long after its Kickstarter launch, Modulo flew by its $10,000 pledge goal having garnered over $50,000 from 315-plus backers. Since then, the Richmond, California-based startup has experienced tremendous popularity at Maker Faires and has even demonstrated its simplicity with some DIY projects of their own, ranging from a tea-brewing robot to a smart sous vide machine.

Essentially, Modulo is a series pre-made circuit boards that provides Makers with all of the necessary tools to bring their gizmos and gadgets to life, without the messiness of wiring and soldering. Each module is equipped with its own little processor (ATtiny841) that is tasked with handling its operation and communicating with a controller board. While the Modulo Controller had been built around the mighty ATmega32U4 for its crowdfunding debut, Tomson has since upgraded its design to include the much faster and powerful Atmel | SMART SAM D21 — the same Cortex-M0+ MCU at the heart of the Arduino Zero. What this means is that the Controller will work nicely with Arduino and will be well received by the flourishing DIY community.

“This new chip is four times faster, has eight times the Flash storage, and has 12 times the RAM of the ATmega32u4 used in earlier prototypes,” Tomson explains.

Using a connector on its back, Makers can slide their boards right into the so-called Modulo Base which securely holds them in place. Following a successful Kickstarter run, Tomson had decided to switch the connectors, both for attaching each Modulo to the base and for cables that link the bases together. These improved connectors are easier to assemble and more compact. Furthermore, those wishing to employ a Spark Core, Photo or Electron instead of the Controller can do so by selecting a Spark Base.

The Arduino-compatible Controller boasts six I/O ports that can be used as digital or analog inputs and digital outputs. Four of the six ports can even be used to control servos or output a PWM signal. Additionally, each port has its own power and ground pins to help keep things nice and neat, while circuitry on the board will protect it from any potential wiring mishaps.

Similar to other DIY dev kits like littleBits, Modulo features a number of different modules with varying capabilities. These include a color OLED display, a push-button illuminated knob, a motor driver, a thumb joystick, a temperature probe, I/O and extension cables, as well as an IR transceiver and a Blank slate that lets Makers devise circuits from scratch. Any four modules can be connected to the Base, or can be daisy chained together for larger projects.

The ARM Cortex-M0+ driven Controller can also act as a bridge, enabling users to manage their modules from Python running Raspberry Pi or a Mac, Windows or Linux computer. Beyond that, they can choose to use the Arduino IDE to reprogram the Controller or connect to the Internet via Spark. Communication between devices is accomplished through the standard I2C bus.

The Modulo Protocol allows for the Controller to dynamically discover connected devices, assign addresses, retrieve device capabilities and detect bus errors. It is an extension of I2C and can be utilized on a mixed ­protocol bus along with SMBus and traditional I2C devices.

“Modulo wouldn’t have been possible without the contributions of the open source community, so we’re giving back by open sourcing our protocols, hardware designs, firmware and libraries,” Tomson adds.

Those wishing to learn more, explore technical specs or pre-order a Modulo set can head over to its official website here.